HEAVY ATTACKS ON ALLIED LINES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 90, 17 April 1941, Page 7

HEAVY ATTACKS ON ALLIED LINES.

ENEMY PRESSURE.

Greeks And Empire Forces Hold Onslaught.

I I'rrss Association.—Copyright

i Ret-d. 1 -JO p.m. i LONDON", April 16.

Military circles in London have declared that enemy pressure on the Allied lines in Greece is increasing'. Empire forces and Greek troops holding a zone from Mount Olympus on the right, stretching north-west towards Koritza, are facing ficrce German attacks.

An AnkaYa report that the Germans penetrated the Allied lines is emphatically denied. Further, there is no truth in a report that the British are withdrawing from Greece.

The Athens correspondent of th« Associated Press of Great Britain says the Greek Army is waiting confidently in the new defence lines, which have been shortened and run across mountains difficult for mechanised units. The peaks tower 3000 ft over rocky valleys and are strongly held.

German motorised units after battering their way to Kozhani and Siatista are now confronted with what appears to be almost a suicidal path through the Sarandaporo and Kalambaka passes, the only two passes negotiable.

A Berlin communique claims the capture of Sarajevo.

A report from a Bulgarian source states that Bulgarian troops have begun to occupy part of Thrace, marching on the area between Alexandroupolis and the Struma River.

A Budapest communique say* Hungarian troops have occupied the southwestern portion across the Danube to the Croat frontier. The Ankara correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says official quarters have categorically denied that Turkey is negotiating a nonaggression pact with Germany. Germans Reach Passes. The Greek Government spokesman in Athens said last night that German armoured columns in Greece had reached the western outlet of the Siatista Pass. and had occupied the Vlachoklisura Pass.

A communique from British General Headquarters in the Middle East states: "In Greece, on the right of our sector, several attacks by enemy mechanised troops were remised. Other areas are quiet,"

The Greek Pretfs Ministry last night described the general situation on the Greek fronts as satisfactory. It stated that German motorised detachments made small but determined in the west of Macedonia, and advanced slightly. The withdrawal of the Allied troops to prearranged positions wa a earned out in complete order. Road* were destroyed in the evacuated are* and bridges were blown up.