DEFIANT NOTE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 295, 13 December 1943, Page 3

DEFIANT NOTE

10,000,000 MEN READY

"Reports Of Mobilisation

Exaggerated"

N.Z. Press Association—Copyright

Rec. 2 p.m

LONDON, Dec. 12,

While reports of mounting tension in Bulgaria continue to come in, the Bulgarian Minister of the Interior, Dr. Christoff, declared that the Allies are trying through air raids and propaganda to weaken the morale of the Bulgarian people.

According to Berlin radio, Dr. Christoff said: "The enemy is mistaken because he will cross the bor'der of Bulgaria only over the bodies of ten million Bulgarians. The Bulbarian peasant loves his soil and is never defeated except when his political leaders are not united. The united Bulgarian nation will present an obstacle which the enemy will be unable to overcome."

Sofia radio states that the Prime Minister, M. Dobri Boshilov, in a speech at a public meeting in Sofia, said Bulgarian foreign policy had the approval of 99 per cent of Bulgarians. It aimed only at the defence of Bulgaria's legitimate rights, safeguarding her unity and future independence. The Ankara correspondent of the Associated Press reports that the Bulgarian Government crisis is accompanied by apparently greatly exaggerated reports of Bulgarian mobilisation. The best information, he adds, is that some Bulgar reinforcements have moved to the Turkish frontier as a reaction against the conferences between President Inonu of Turkey, President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, but Bulgaria has carried out a similar manoeuvre several times since the outbreak of war. Similar exaggerated reports are being circulated regarding Turkish military preparations. The best evidence is that Turkey's Army of 750,000 is not being heavily reinforced at the moment and there is no indication that Turkey is making any preparations for a winter campaign. However, an additional 1,250,000 trained Turkish reserves could swiftly be brought under armis. .

The correspondent concludes: "Despite the current feeling here that Turkey will not soon become a belligerent the war clouds are definitely thickening over the Balkans."