A counterattack to take back the airfield and Point 107 was organised for the following day at Hargest's headquarters. He was exhausted and had to take a quick nap before a conference to work out detailed plans for the counter-attack, much to the disgust of some of the other participants. Afterwards, he became pessimistic of the chances of success and unsuccessfully sought to have the attack called off. The attack did fail but Hargest, still well behind the frontlines, mistakenly believed it to be going well until he found that his brigade had returned to their starting positions. His pessimism began to affect Puttick, who asked Freyberg to allow the 5th Infantry Brigade to withdraw, which it duly did. This began an eventual retreat and evacuation from Crete on 31 May, with Hargest flying out for Egypt by seaplane, his brigade following by sea.