So a defense line was created across the mountain passes near Mount Olympus consisting of British, Australian and New Zealand troops which would prevent the German forces from capturing Thessaly and thereby denying them the opportunity to advance into mainland Greece.

[2] Lieutenant-General Henry Maitland Wilson decided to withdraw all Allied forces to the Thermopylae line so they could mound a defence against the invading German Army, and possibly cover their own troops in case an evacuation out of Greece was deemed necessary.

Meanwhile, the 2/1st Australian Infantry Battalion (lieutenant colonel Ian Ross Campbell) was positioned in Livadero in able to defend the major Allied transport hub at Larissa further south.

[3] A final set of patrols were carried out along the Mavroneri riverbed in the night of 13 April after a German party had tried to cross a bridge over the Aliakmon River the evening before, but yielded no enemy contact.

The German soldiers called out to the New Zealand troops in English in order to confuse the defenders while they defused the mines which were placed by the Allies, but their attempts were unsuccessful.

[5] As the morning of 15 April rolled around, the soldiers of the 28th (Māori) Battalion spotted lines of trucks, troop carriers, tanks and motorcycles, stretching 22.5 kilometers (14 miles) back to Katerini.

As most of the defending force's transport vehicles had been destroyed by the German attacks,[9] the withdrawal had to be carried out on foot before they could be collected by trucks when they reunited with the main army.

[10] The defenders were still attacked by the German forces on their retreat and suffered light casualties before they reached the meet-up point of Pinios Groge across the Pineios river.

[12] The battle ended up wounding 50 New Zealand soldiers with 40 being killed in action and 130 taken POW alongside the loss of 9 Artillery pieces, 10 Bren gun carriers and 20 trucks.