Confusion over the Rangers

 On 12 April 1941, Brigadier Vasey insisted that the 1/Rangers were still in position when they had infact withdrawn. The Australian battalion 2/8th were in position, holding "the heights". They had been attacked on their left, however. The 1/Rangers were as far back as two miles, sitting on the road. The dangerous situation was that five of six anti-tank guns were left without protection. The 2/8th Battalion's position was in fact a "salient". Without the Rangers in front of the 2/RHA, there was only a platoon of New Zealand machine gunners. For whatever reason, the 19th Brigade headquarters kept saying that the Rangers were still in position when they were not. "It was at 3pm that Vasey told the Rangers to hold until dark. That was then the Rangers were far to the rear" from the 2/9th Battalion. "It was soon after this that the Rangers withdrew to the position at Rodona." Somewhere about this time, the Germans attacked. By then, the Dodecanese Regiment had left the area. By then, the 2/8th Battalion was taking heavy machine gun fire. "This was coming from the heights on the right". The battalion headquarters, "ammunition dump and aid post were taking German machine gun fire. It was coming from the left side." It was by about 4:30pm that the telephone to the brigade headquarters stopped working. Without the Rangers being in position, that the "main road was cut". The 2/8th was now planning on withdrawing if possible. They would "withdraw to the southeast since the German tanks were in motion on the road". Things had deteriorated to the point that all the Australians could do was to move fast and keep to the hills. This si based on the account in "Greece, Crete, and Syria" by Gavin Long.