Disturbing information on 7 April 1941

 <p>At Greek Army Headquarters, they heard that German forces in Yugoslavia were driving south in the direction of the Doiran Gap. That would put the Germans on the Greek flank, heading south to Salonika. The Greek 19th Division received a small reinforcement and to cover a larger area towards Axios. The leading German units had reached Doiran "by the evening of 7 April". At that time, a Greek offensive in Albania started, but did not have much success. There had been a Yugoslav division that was supposed to have "cooperated" but didn't. The commander said that "he would be ready the next day".</p>

<p>General Wilson now had the 19th Australian Brigade under command. The plan had been to put it to the left of the 16th Brigade, but ordered the 19th Australian Brigade to Kozani, with several possible assignments. At this point, the 16th Brigade began to move into the Veria Pass. The Australians were to dig in "above the snow line". This was a bit of a change from  Cyrenaica. The brigade was on a peak, some three thousand feet above sea level. There were other mountain peaks in sight above their position.The Australians on the heights had to borrow donkeys from the Greeks to carry their possessions up the slopes. From 8 April and beyond, the Australians saw falling snow. Sometimes in the morning, the men saw fog that didn't clear until after ten am. The Australians could see in the distance battles being fought "in the mountains of Yugoslavia". The Australians only had a few tents and they lacked interpreters to help them communicate with their allies. The Australians were surprised at the Greek equipment and how primitive it was. One Greek company only had one automatic weapon, but did have piles of stones to push down on the Germans. The rain and snow on 8 April pretty much made air reconnaissance impossible. Wilson's army had just a small amount of information about events happening. They heard that "the southern Yugoslav army had collapsed". Canadian commandos destroyed oil stocks at Salonika. British mobile forces blew up bridges. The 6th New Zealand Brigade also blew up bridges in their area. This is based on the account in "Greece Crete and Syria" by Gavin Long.</p>