The veteran fighter Demetrios Petropoulakis, leader of a 1.000 man Maniot volunteer force, accompanied by his son Leonidas from Gytheon, landed in Mylopotamos in Crete in order to bolster the struggle in the island.

The first clash took place in Vryses near Apokoronas between rebels of the Transitional Committee and a Turkish army force of 3.000 men under the command of Tayyar Pasha. After a hard-fought battle that lasted the entire day the Turks were forced to retreat, leaving behind 200 killed and wounded.