WAR SYMPHONY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1941, Page 4

WAR SYMPHONY.

ALBANIA'S HILLS.

BELLS AND SHELLS.

BEFORE ARGYRO FELL

(By JAMES ALDRIDGK.!

SOUTH-WEST ALBANIA, Nov. 20

The greatest artillerv duel of this

war i» going on here on the road to Argyrokastron. This ie the only point left on the whole front where the Italians are offering any strong resistance. Two regiments, three miles inside Albania, are still holding out on a ridge, but they are surrounded by Greeks. The Italiane still have supplies of artillery and ammunition enough to keep up a continuous barrage, and this is their only remaining defence. All yesterday and last night I watched the Greeks dusting off Italian guns and supplies on the ridge.. All yesterday and last night I dodged Italian replies, but they must run out of ammunition eoon. The Italians tried to rush eupplies from Argyrokastron last night, but I watched Greeks, sniping them with their mountain guns, smash up columns which were visible along the road. The. result has been an Italian barrage which is not so tough this morning as it was yesterday. Meanwhile, the Greeks are sitting atop this windy berg and dropping shell after shell into Italian positions. This morning, after a few hours of sleep, I crept, at dawn, up hill and ran the gauntlet of machine-gun fire from the ridge to get to an advance Greek observation post and watch the artillery duel. From the. ridge between the' Italian lines I got an aetonishing midille view of the war. Silencing Italian Guns. Greek artillery was bursting under my nose in front of the hill. Italian artillery was bursting a thousand yards be-

hind. By turning my head from side to side 1 could see. them both. I could certainly hear both overhead.

I wiib told by the officer commanding the post that the Italians had lost two guns on the left salient just before I pot up here. Greek shells apparently hit their rear supplies, because there "were two terrific explosions, and their guns are not firing this morning. A Greek patrol is out now investigating. It ie not back yet, but I heard their light machine guns just a moment ago.

Actually most actions that require the movement of men are done at night. It is too eat?y to see even a single man moving around on a mountain in the daytime, and there are too marry spots that are natural observation posts covering the whole of surrounding territory. The warfare during the day is carried on by artillery. Yet. paradoxically, it. is hard to detect anything from the air. Italian reconnaissance 'planes and bombers are over all day, but they cannot see better from the height thev fly because batteries just cease their fire.

At the place where I was scratched by a bomb splinter tho other day it was only blind bombing on the part of the Italians. They juet dropped their bombs through to where they thought batteries might be. I cannot say whether batteries were there or not. I can say, though, that the Italians are not worrying the Greeks up here overmuch with their bombing. There is plenty of it, but that is all that can be said for it. This is all I can write for the moment, because it is impossible to sit here any longer without taking a look outside to see what is going on. Noise of artillery, machine guns and occasional bombing just cannot be accepted sitting down. I muet be outside looking at what is going on. " e

A Night Patrol. The patrol on the mountain that went out to see about silenced guns has returned. They brought back three prisoners, <all wounded and the moat scared men I have seen for a long time. AH were Albanians. Greek patrols say the rest of the gun crews were killed, including the Italian officers. There were a couple too badly wounded to be moved. Those who were brought in were in bad shape. The Greeks unhandaged their wounds, which were mostly deep skull wounds or chest cuts. Tliey had been moved back already toward a first aid p,ost.

The Greeks found smashed up guns, too. They ere 75's. The officer here says they probably are Ansaldo mountain types. With these guns definitely out of a-ction, this lookout post becomes a little more comfortable, but not much.

At the foot of this ridge, about 500 yards from Italian batteries, is a small village. I visited this village last night with patrols to see whether tho Italians were trying to use it. It is really in the middle of this mountain No-Man's Land. We hid in a few craeked-up houses, deserted and bullet-spattered, while two men moved forward. They had orders not to give themselves away at any price, but just look around.

I sat in a one-room poor peasant's hut with two older soldiers, silenblv awaiting their return. Only artillery, every now and then, broke tlie mountain stillness. I couldn't speak to the soldiers, because they spoke only Greek. So we just waited. The other two Greeks came back in J5 minutes. They were very agitated, and I thought the Italians were coming, but did not know because of language difficulty.

I motioned to go out, but the Greeks ehook tbrir heads and motioned for silence. We waited 15 minutes more, and the Greeks were silent except for an occasional whisper. Being .accustomed to the darkness I could see their rifles, held ready in their hands. The hut smelt of manure, and it was getting hard to sjt still because of little animals. One of the Greeks went out, and after a whiie came back and motioned to the •others. We crouched from the hut up the hill oa all fours and back to the lookout poet again.

Blowing Up Their Powder. Here the Greeks reported to an officer who told me in French that two of the patrollers had seen Italians movin* ammunition, or some sort of stores down hill. They had come back into the hut because they thought the Italians might use the hut for storing ammunition, but they didn't., for two of the eoldiers had gone out and seen them putting ammunition under rocks and crags. Thie fact was telephoned back to the Greek guns, and five minutes later Greek shells were dropping among the nuts. After four or five shots there was a succession of ground explosion?, and we knew tfce Italians' stores were blowing up. We could hear for the next few minutes intermittent bullets going off lrke small packets of fireworks, a! fire spread fco small arms boxes. There is some sort of action going on over on the other ridge held bv the Greeks, too. There is plenty of machinegun fire from both sides now and occasional rifle volleys. We get a spent bullet dnftbng our way every now and then, but that k all we know about it We did see a mule shot this morning, though. I «on't know to which eide the animal belonged, but he had broken loose and was wandering down the ravine to a small stream which he crossed yesterday. In a fraction of a second there was a soft plunk and the old mule toppled into the water he was drinking. It will bo a nice feat by someone tonight to slip down to the ravine and take the boxes off the mule's back. A Tschaikovsky Symphony. I don't know what the Italians are doing for food. Maybe they are eating their mules. They certainly are not ting any supplies in. the Greeks are getting plenty. Last night I had a full dinner of sardines, hard bread, thin soup and cheese. A peasant, wearing a captured Italian's tin hat, came in yesterday with a couple of rounds of cheese. He eaid his wife had made it. He produced three eggs for the officer. Then he disappeared, saying he would be back to-morrow. Theso peasants don't worry much about the war. They mind their sheep down in the valleys and if shells start bursting around them they just move the herd away. Practically the whole time you can hear the tinkle of bells around the sheep'e necks playing a melody with the background drums of artillery. It's a real Tschaikovsky symphony. Even I am getting sick of the sound of artillery. It is impossible to sit still, and it probably will go on all night and to-morrow. By then the Italians arc through. It's just a matter of sitting '..?«*e am , , keeping out of the way of further bomfbs and shells, and listening to this noise, and waiting.—(X.A.N.A.")