ITALIANS IN DIFFICULTIES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 42, 29 November 1940, Page 5

ITALIANS IN DIFFICULTIES.

THREAT TO A NAVAL BASE.

DESPERATE EFFORT IN DEFENCE

LONDON, November 28

The latest reports from Greece suggest that the Italians are making a desperate attempt to bold a limited area of Albania in the north, and that in the south the Greeks are threatening the Italian naval base of Santi Quaranto.

The Italians are reported to have shifted this base to th extreme north. Even Valona is not regarded as safe, and .most of the naval supplier are said to have been moved from there.

Home correspondent of the British United Press says it is admitted in Rome that the next Italian offensive against- Greece is not. expected to start before January. Thousands of reinforcements are preparing behind a new defensive line. Officials declared that the new push would not be. a blitzkrieg, but a “surprise push” revealing a new type of warfare. The Athens correspondent' of the “Daily Telegraph” says that the remnants of two Italian divisions on the coastal plain are still in a critical position. The Greeks drove hack Italians attempting to resist beyond Dolvino, while Italian bombers in this sector ineffectively raided bridges on the road to Janina.

The military correspondent of the Greek newspaper “Athinaika Nea” declares that Field-Marshal Badoglio, Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Army, arrived at Tirana on Tuesday and conferred with several high officers. Marshal Badoglio aims to regroup the Italian armies along, a new defence line, but as a result of the course of operations this regrouping appears impossible. The Italian retreat is becoming a race for the sea.

The latest communique issued by the Greek High Command says that Greek troops are continuing successfully their actions in Albania, Greek aircraft successfully bombed enemy communications, troop columns, and batteries in action. The Italians bombed the islands of Corfu, Cephalonia, and Crete, killing some civilians. A message from Belgrade says that more than 1000 Italian and Albanian conscripts on Tuesday deserted into Yugoslavia, near Dibra. Ten Italian tanks were surrendered near Lake Ochrida.

British and Greek airmen are excelling themselves in sowing confusion among the retreating forces. ,

It is confirmed that a considerable number of the Albanian conscripts are mutinying and deserting to the Greeks. According to Italian Air Force prisoners, Signor Mussolini is bitterly critical of the inefficiency of the air operations in Albania. Airmen who operated against Patras, Corfu and Janina were reservists recruited from the civil air line, Ala Littoria, who are well acquainted with Greece, but some regular Italian Air Force pilots in mistake bombed Monastir and other Yugoslav districts.

Italian officers captured on the central front complain that their cavalry cut their own first line, and it also appears that Italian artillery were ordered to fire on its 'own infantry to prevent the retreat. Major Ali Mohmed, a leading Albanian officer, who fled with King Zog, is reported to have landed in Albania bv parachute well supplied with money. He quickly rallied tribal chieftains.