Both Blamey's Allied Land Headquarters (LHQ) and MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) were increasingly alarmed by the situation on the track, with Australian forces suffering a series of reversals, and by the Japanese landings at Milne Bay (this battle was fought from 25 August to 7 September 1942). Vasey, then Blamey's deputy chief of the general staff, wrote privately to Rowell on 1 September, that "GHQ is like a bloody barometer in a cyclone—up and down every two minutes". MacArthur also had a poor opinion of the Australian troops and no real appreciation of the conditions under which the fighting in New Guinea was being conducted. On 6 September, MacArthur wrote to General George Marshall that, "the Australians have proven themselves unable to match the enemy in jungle fighting. Aggressive leadership is lacking." Jones observes, "The attitude that the Australians were poor fighters pervaded thinking at MacArthur's headquarters".