General Wilson owed his position as British commander in Greece to his relationship with Churchill, not his experience or ability. GGeneral Blamey was no longer in Greece, so General Freyberg had to fill the role of wise and experienced commander. Freyberg's performance during the rest of 1941 exposed his shortcomings.
General Blamey wasnot a professional soldier, but he performed better than many of the professional soldiers in Greece. If we would criticize Blamey, it would be for his playing Australian army politics to ensure that he was as senior as possible and ssuing orders to his chief rival, John Laverack.
The revised plan was for embarkation on dats 24 and25th (5th Brigade),
25th and 26th (19th Brigade and part of the 1st Armoured Brigade),
26th and 27th (6th Brigade as well as part of the 1st Armoured Brigade).
The plan shows that Athens beaches were to be utilized despite previous statements
that they would not be used,
The 4th Brikade would be embarked at Magara,
The Corps and RAF as well as some other units would be embarked from Navplion.
Some base units, Robert Crisp's unit, the 3rd RTR with the 4th Hussars would embark from
Navplion on 26th and 27th.
Brigadier Allen and his group would not embark at Magara, but from a distant beach, about hundred miles away. Allen, at this point, had almost no staff.
This is based on the account in "Greece, Crete, and Syria" by Gavin Long.
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