Wednesday, November 25, 2020

The British command structure only created confusion

 By 10 April 1941, you had the Australian general Blamey making plans, because he was commander with responsibilities. Then you had General Wilson, who figured that he was the British commander and should be making decisions. Wilson had a meeting with General Mackay and the Greek general Karassos. They had decided to take three nights to withdraw from the Vermion-Veria position. they wanted more time since the Greeks didn't have "motor vehicles". Wilson's plan was for the Greeks "to withdraw across the valley and occupy the passes". Mackay would move south . This left the Greeks on the left. This seemed to simply the setup so that the Greeks would only touch the British in one spot. One issue was that Mackay was left to hold the line for "three nights and two days".

General Blamey had made plans in term of his corps. He was concerned with the Olympus-Aliakmon "position". He expected to receive orders to pull out from Veria. He notified the Australian 16th Brigade and the Greek 12th Division about Blamey's plan. Blamey planned to pull vehicles to the south, "ready for protracted defense". His plan for the Greek division was to cross the Aliakmon on a foot bridge to be built. Blamey's plan was affected negatively by Wilson's orders. The Australian historian thought that Blamey should have been the overall commander.  This is based on the account in "Greece Crete and Syria" by Gavin Long.

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