AXIS TERRORISM IN JUGOSLAVIA

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23447, 30 September 1941, Page 7

AXIS TERRORISM IN JUGOSLAVIA

Thousands of Serbs Massacred GUERRILLAS HIT BACK (Received September 29, 11.40 p.m.) (U.P.A.) LONDON, September 29. The Istanbul correspondent of “The Times” states that the German and Italian terrorist measures against Jugoslav patriots are inflaming instead of quelling the risings. Three new German divisions have been sent to Serbia to cope with the situation. Serb bands, operating west of Belgrade, and commanded by M. Lebeden, former Counsellor of the Soviet Legation at Belgrade, recently captured 63 German soldiers. The Belgrade-Nish railway has again been destroyed at Paracin. Traffic has also been interrupted on the railways in Bosnia. . From 1500 Serbs imprisoned in Belgrade, 50 are chosen at random and executed whenever one German soldier is shot. The Germans on a recent Sunday hanged six Serbs and left them exposed in the city square of Belgrade with the object of subduing the population,, but the people purposely thronged the square, pretending not to notice the bodies. Germans are compelling Serb gendarmes to shoot peasants in reprisal for killing German soldiers by placing machine-guns behind the gendarmes. This practice is continued be. cause all Serb commissars and gendarmes threatened to resign. The correspondent adds that the Ustasha, a terrorist organisation, is carrying out the systematic extermination of the Serb population. About 300.000, including women and children, have already been massacred, with refinements of sadistic cruelty. The entire Serb population has been wiped out in some places in Croatia. Knowing they cannot expect mercy from the Ustasha, Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia are leaving towns and villages and taking refuge in the mountains under the protection of Chetniks, a guerrilla leader. A Moscow communique says that the guerrilla movement in Jugoslavia is growing each day. Guerrillas attacked German and Italian detachments at Trebinje, killing 93 and capturing more than 100 rifles and much ammunition. Other guerrillas destroyed the railway between Dubrovnik and Herzegovina. Guerrillas in another encounter attacked Italians with machine-guns and grenades, killing 153. Others sank one German and one Italian ship in Dubrovnik harbour, SERVICING OF AIRCRAFT AMERICANS MAY HELP IN MIDDLE EAST FORECAST BY U.S. AIR CHIEF (Received September 29, 8.30 p.m.) CAIRO, September 29. The establishment of an extensive American civil aviation organisation in the Middle East to aid the Royal Air Force in maintaining American aeroplanes is forecast by Major-Gen-eral G. H. Brett, Chief of the United States Army Air Corps. After a fortnight’s inspection of British needs in the Middle East, General Brett stated that the United States Air Corps could not at present establish its own organisation, but there was no ban against a civil aviation maintenance organisation, the cost of which would be borne by the American Government and charged to Britain’s lend-lease account. The maintenance of American aircraft in the Middle East was now a greater problem than delivery. The flow of aeroplanes was now steady and should increase in October and November. Under the proposed plan the forward maintenance of American aeroplanes would be in the hands of Royal Air Force mechanics, with larger bases further back where aeroplanes would be serviced by American technicians familiar with the models. THE WESTERN DESERT WIDESPREAD R.A.F. ATTACKS LONDON, September 28. British General Headquarters at Cairo states that apart from some ineffective enemy artillery fire, the situation at Tobruk throughout yesterday was generally quiet. In the frontier area British patrols continued their aggressive activities, and yesterday a South African patrol captured a car containing four Italian officers. Air attacks on the enemy from Sardinia to the mountains of Abyssinia are reported. In Sardinia, aerodromes and a seaplane base were attacked, many aircraft being damaged. In Sicily, a wireless station, aerodromes, aircraft on the ground, b -’racks, bridges, and a power-house were attacked. In the Gulf of Taranto a merchant ship was bombed and set on fire. Stores and harbour installations at Bardia were bombed. In all these raids fighter opposition was encountered. During operations m North Africa a Messerschmitt 109 was shpt down and others were damaged. Five British machines are missing. SWEEP WITHOUT INCIDENT MEDITERRANEAN FLEET AT SEA (8.0. W.) RUGBY, September 28. Battleships of the Mediterranean Squadron, together with cruisers and destroyers, under the command of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, have been operating during the last two days from Alexandria. They have not seen any sign of the enemy, either m the air, on the surface, or under the water. The movement of the Fleet, a correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain considers, could not possibly have been unknown to the enemy, since recently he maintained numerous reconnaissance patrols over the eastern Mediterranean. “This lack of initiative,” says the correspondent “coupled with the recent freedom of Egypt from air raids for a number of days, would seem, to indicate that the Nazis are finding their hands full with the operations in Russia and the Western Desert.” The corresoondent said that the cruise was one of the dullest, because of the lack of action, but it was “news” because it was the first time the fleet had not been attacked from the air. “Battleships,-cruisers, and destrpyens swept along the Libyan coast unsuccessfully searching for enemy shipping. It was the biggest movement of warships I have seen since the evacuation of Crete,” he added.