The 2/8th Battalion would try to withdraw to the southeast, since the Germans had tanks moving south along the road. There was the additional problem of machine gun fire. Some men were told not to try and take weapons and equipment, because they might get slowed down and captured. The thought was that they needed to move fast over the hills, trying to find whatever cover was available.
On the left, one officer was looking to collect men as they came along as stragglers. From the top of a ridge, they could see the battalion moving south. In the dark, men were struggling through mud. The first men reached Sotir "the reserve position". The men who had reached Sotir had traveled some ten miles from where they had started. In another two hours, they had walked to the road fork at Rodona. They were able to meet the vehicles that were there, waiting for them.
Gradually during the night, more men arrived. At one point, the numbers had grown to 250 men. They were still missing half of the officers and about two-thirds of the men. In the center, the 2/RHA and "two of the Australian anti-tank guns" were able to block the German advance. That was sufficient to keep the Australians from being overrun. They were able to safely withdraw, as the Germans approached. This is based on the account in "Greece Crete and Syria" by Gavin Long.
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