Major Marshall met Lt. Lunn at Suda. He hoped that the rear companies would be brought forward. Marshall kept driving with the two lead companies. The first part of the column seems to have left Georgioupolis at about or 6pm. The back end of the column was E Company, the headquarters company. They were serving as a rifle company. They left Georgioupolis zt about 8pm. This was when the leading elements of the column reached the 20th Battalion. The 20th Battalion relief was completed by about 11:30pm.
Brigadier Hargest arrived at Platanias village a little before midnight on 21 May. He was waiting for the attackers to arrive. The Maoris had arrived at 11:30pm. The first units from the 20th battalion only arrived at 2:45am. The attackers only started moving at 3:30am. Two companies from the 20th Battalion were on the right. The Maoris were on the left. The had arrived early and had to wait for almost four hours.
The 20th Battalion were soon fighting on their whole front. The German defence toughened as they got near the airfield. While it was dark the Maoris made good progress. Tanks were on yhe road following the infantry.
This is based on the account in "Greece, Crete and Syria" by Gavin Long.
No comments:
Post a Comment