Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Embarking troopson 26-27 April 1941

 On 26 April, both Wilson's and Freyberg's headquarters were located at Miloi. They knew little about the attack at Corinth. The attack at Corinth was made by part of the "2nd Parachute Rifle Regiment". They took some casualties in the attack: "63 men were killed, 158 were wounded with some 16 missing". That succeded in capturing 21 officers and abut 900 men. Thosewere British, Australian, nd New Zealand soldiers. About 1,450 Greek soldiers were also captured. 

It seems that on 27 April, General Freyberg was in charge. Wilson was preparingto leave Greece, leaving Freyberg in command until he was scheduled to leave. It seems clear that Wilson's decisions were ill-considered. Sending away Generals Blamey and Mackay on 24 April was a bad idea. Freyberg thought that the situation on 27 April was in chaos. There was a great deal happening. About 19,000 men were withdrawn from Greece "during the night of 26-2 April". 

By the morning of 27 April, the German attack at Corinth hadthe effect of "cutting off" a New Zealand brigade on the beaches at Marathon. There was another brigade "in the Peloponesse". Freyberg also didn't realize that there were 8,000 more soldiers at Kalamata, of which about 800 were New Zealand reinforcements. .There were also about twothousand soldiers near Navplion. 

So far about 39,000 men had been withdrawn, but that only included about a third of the New Zealand Division This is based on the account in "Greece, Crete, and Syria" by Gavin Long.

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