The P.M.'s secretary woke me at 5.30 to tell me that Mussolini was starting in on Greece. I was annoyed with him waking me because there was obviously nothing to be done about it, more than we are doing, and I dissuaded him from waking Winston … I looked in to see Winston as I came away at 8.30 and found him very much annoyed after all with his Private Secretary who had woken him at 6.45. I told him that was a good deal better than 5.30.

You have taken a very bold and wise decision. I hope to reinforce you as soon as possible

(‘I had sent a flight of Blenheims over to Athens to assist in their air defence immediately the Italian invasion started. I did not ask permission to do so’ Note made by Longmore on this cypher)

… political considerations for the sending of some token force had obviously become overwhelming; in fact I suspect the British minister at Athens had gone a long way beyond his brief in his endeavours to get the Greeks to oppose invasion … it is important the Italians should not hold Crete … On the other hand it is a definite commitment to hold it ourselves, one which will grow rapidly and already the cries for fighter defence are being heard … In general the Middle East command bustles with problems … [T]here are four offensive [fronts] (Western Desert, Sudan, Aden and Kenya) and seven defensive (the above four plus Alexandria, Malta and Haifa). […]