 On 28 February, he formally relieved Hutton (although Hutton had officially already been superseded in command by General Harold Alexander), and on the following day he sacked Smyth, who was in any case very ill.Although the Australian government refused to allow its troops to be committed to Burma, some British and Indian reinforcements, including the British 7th Armoured Brigade (equipped with new M3 Stuart tanks) and the 63rd Indian Infantry Brigade, landed in Rangoon.Alexander ordered counter-attacks against the Japanese at Pegu, northeast of Rangoon, but soon realised that there was no hope of defending Rangoon.