Thursday, May 05, 2011

No chance of reinforcements to Greece

While there had been plans to pull more troops out of North Africa to further build the British force in Greece, this was thwarted by new developments. In late February 1941, German units were arriving in Libya. By late March, they were in action. The Germans took El Agheila by 24 March. On 2 April 1941, they occupied Agedabia. They forced the short-handed 2nd Armoured Division and the incomplete 9th Australian Division eastward. In response, General Wavell changed his plans and sent the 18th Australian Brigade of the 7th Australian Division to hold Tobruk. In fact, now the entire 7th Australian Division was to go to Cyrenaica, not Greece. When General Blameny learned of this diversion, he complained that it jeopardized the effort in Greece. At the same time, the German 12th Army moved into Greece and Yugoslavia. This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Australian Official History.

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