There had been an effort to work with Greek troops, but roads and bridges were blown "in front of the British line". That meant that "some Greek troops were cut off". They could see "Greek troops and refugees passing through the British lines all day". There was concern that the Germans might employ paratroops in Greece the way that they had in Holland. There was also nervousness about troops disguised as refugees.
On 11 April 1941, the weather was fine in the Florina Valley. They could see, though, that "there was snow on the heights". The men were in the middle of snow and mist. That meant that they were wet all the way through their clothes. Not only were the men wet but they were cold. The snow and mist also reduced visibility to some "50 to 100 yards". The plans as executed were very hard on the men. The 2/8th Battalion had been forced to march all day on the 10th. They "had only reached their positions at dusk". They were supposed to meet up with the men of the Rangers. That put then "in exposed positions on the forward slopes".
To make matters worse, they found that the ground was rocky so that they were not able to do a good job of digging in. After a while, they could hear men speaking in English, trying to get the men to answer and let the enemy know their positions. A variety of men were taken prisoner, including New Zealanders, Rangers, and Australians. By daylight, they could not see the enemy troops. This is based on the account in "Greece Crete and Syria" by Gavin Long.
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