The defenders at Aliakmon, circa 15 Apil 1941

The force defending the Aliakmon River position was mostly comprised of battalions with Australian a few Australian battalions in a aadly depleted state. They belonged to the 19th Australian Brigade. The 4th NZ Brigade headquarters was south of Servia. Further to the southeast were the 6th Australian Division and New Zealand Division headquarters. Communication was complicated by the fact that the Australian radios did not work reliably. Still, General Blamey's corps was largely in place by 15 April 1941 at the Aliakmon line and the Olympus passes. The initial plan was to fight on the Aliakmon line for an extended period of time. That relied on their ability to stop the Germans, which was not a given. This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Australian Official History.