As of 20 April there had been four German divisions engage along the Aliakmon line an the Olympus passes. were sitting between Elasson an Larisa. The German 5th Armoured Division. The armoured division had moved quickly from Sofia. They ha left Sofia on 7 April. They drove to the Northwest until they ha arrive in the vicinity of the Larisa-Lamia road. They then rove to Lamia where they "joined the 6th Mountain division. The next step was to move against the units near Thermopylae.
The plan was to send mountain troops "through the hills" to the west of Brallos. The largest force would advance following the coast road. A group would attempy to "encircle" the Anzac corps. This group had arrive in the vicinity oh Kato Dhio Vouna early in the day on 22 April. The Germans were having trouble. They were in contact with "British outposts". The Germans pulled back to the south and east.
Part of the German group were soldiers from an armored division motor battalion but without their vehicles. They got little rest an then were shelled uring the night. The men spent much of the next day resting trying to recover. They also thought that they neee to reorganize before being engaged.
Their commaner decided that they neee to attack in the direction of Brallos. Early in the morning thr Germans foun that the defenders' main body had pulled out. They sent one group to cut the road south of Brallos. The rest pushed towards Brallos. By 7:30am German divebombers attacked the Australians. The 2/11th Battalion was attacked by German mountain troops.
This is based on the account in "Greece Crete and Syria" by Gavin Long.
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