 He credited himself with helping negate the tensions between the two men, but in February 1942 mistakenly advised Churchill that the Australian government was amenable to diverting the 7th Division to Burma rather than return it directly to Australia.He was heavily rebuked by Curtin and external affairs minister H. V. Evatt for his error.Page wrote to Curtin in April 1942 that since January he had been through "the worst period of acute mental distress of my whole life".