MORE APPREHENSIVE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 5, 17 October 1940, Page 5

MORE APPREHENSIVE.

RUSSIA WATCHES THE AXIS. NAZI TROOP MOVEMENTS, LONDON, October 15. Thb "Daily Telegraph” says evidence is accumulating that Germany is becoming increasingly heedless of Russian feelings, perhaps because the German General Staff does .not fear the Russian military machine. On this assumption it would be reasonable to assume that Moscow is acutely apprehensive what the early future may hold for Russia. The apparition of an unbeaten Germany established in the Black Sea lias long been one of Moscow’s worst nightmares. While perturbed at the succession of events and anxious to see the German eastward drive checked, the Soviet leaders hesitate to take action capable of■ interpretation in Germany as hostile, even unfriendly. In such circumstances it is understandable that silence is the only course open. According to a Sofia despatch received at Istanbul, Hungarian diplomats expect German to assist Bulgarian action against Greece and Yugoslavia as a preliminary to a campaign against Turkey. This belief is based ou tlie number of German tourists arriving in Bulgaria. It is reliably estimated that there are now 20,000 Germans in Bulgaria, compared with the normal 3000. ' ,

The newcomers include 35,000 German soldiers also several hundred pilots and tank drivers who fly aircraft and drive tanks. Germany has been delivering to Bulgaria much larger numbers of tanks that can be used by the technical personnel of the Bulgarian army. The German troops are concentrated in large towns which are important railway junctions or on the Black Sea. The vital role of these German ti’oops will be to assist the police in the event of a revolt which cqn be expected if Bulgaria is pushed into war on Germany’s side and if Russia disapproved.