REGENCY IN GREECE

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24445, 20 December 1944, Page 5

REGENCY IN GREECE

King Objects BRITISH GAINS IN FIGHTING (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 19. “King George of Greece has sent a cablegram to the Greek Prime Minister (Mr Papandreou) objecting to the proposed Regency on the ground that it would be making a concession to Elas,” says the British United Press correspondent in .Athens. t “The King is also reported to have asked all the Greek political parties to make, a joint declaration condemning the ELAS revolt as a minor rebellion. He is also said to have suggested that it would be helpful i!£ all parties stated that they favoured a democracy with a King ” - • 'A member of the EAM (the political organisation behind the ELAS forces) is expected to meet the British commander (Lieuten-ant-General Scobie) to-day. Mr Papandreou on Monday night announced that the various Greek political leaders inside his Government were submitting their views to King' George of the Hellenes, who is m London, on the proposal to appoint a Regent. The Greek Cabinet as a body was not submitting its views. Mr thus indicated that unammity had not been reached. Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent said yesterday: “The King of Greece, so far as can be ascertained, has not yet made a decision on the regency question. There has been apparent in circles close to the King an unwillingness to approve the creation of a regency, bn the ground that this would constitutes blow at the monarchy in advance of a plebiscite. It is pointed out in answer to this argument that the regency would maintain the principle of the monarchy in being. The question of the possible abdication of the King is not raided by the creation of a regency.” A British Official Wireless message says: “Some light has been thrown on the situation in Greece by the publication of an agreement signed on September 24 at Caserta. near Naples, by. General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, Mr Harold Macmillan, Mr Papandreou. General Serafis (commander of ELAS), and General Zervas (commander of EDES). It was agreed that all Greek guerrilla forces should place themselves under Mr Papandreou’s coalition Government, which then placed them under Lieutenant-General Scobie, British commander in Greece. The guerrilla leaders promised to forbid any attempt by their forces to take the law into their own hands, anG to punish such action. The ‘security battalions’ were to be treated as hostile Unless ‘ they surrendered. The two guerrilla generals were made responsible to Lieutenant-General Scobie for the maintenance of law and order in their respective territories.” Offensive Against ELAS “British troops, taking the offensive for the first time in more than a week, struck out before dawn on Monday from both Athens and Piraeus, and met surprisingly little resistance,”! reported the Athens correspondent of the British United Press yesterday. “The British without opposition occupied Arditos Hill in the Stadium area, which had been an ELAS stronghold almost since the outbreak of hostilities. “Two British forces are operating, one pushing south from Athens and the other driving from the sea with newly-arrived reinforcements of tanks and armoured cars. Military circles say that the' operations aim to raise the siege on the certtre of Athens by securing lines of communication with the base at Phaleron Bay and securing direct lines to Piraeus. , “British forces which are moving up the main road from Phaleron nave occupied a brewery from which ELAS troops were machine-gunning British and Greek traffic between Athens and Piraeus,” “A prison for political prisoners m north-eastern .Athens was on fire on Monday night' following .a battle lasting all day, during which ELAS forces nearly occupied the prison building,” said Reuter’s Athens correspondent. ■ “A Greek company counter-attacked, and' British troops had restored the situation before the prison was set on fire. The prisoners are stated to be now in British hands. The prison housed about 700, including the Quisling, Rallis, who was Prime Minister of, Greece during the German occupation. "Fierce fighting raged in Athens all Sunday night, increasing in intensity towards dawn. Therfe was machinegun fire and continuous shelling, with heavy aeroplanes droning overhead.” “After regrouping in the Piraeus and Phaleron areas British and Indian trOops have made considerable progress in the last 24 hours,” said British Headquarters in Athens yesterday. “Control is rapidly being regained of the Phaleron-Plraeus coast road and the main Phaleron-Athens road, which the Insurgent troops have been holding in some force. The commander of a strong concentration of insurgent forces in the Volos area has presentedMhe commander of an Allied relief unit and the small Indian garrison with an ultimatum to quit the town.” “ELAS forces on Monday afternoon from two directions counter-attacked on Arditos Hill,” said the correspondent of the British United Press. “Royal Air Force Spitfires, with cannon and machine-guns blazing, broke up the attacks. British tanks moved in behind the attatkers. One tank rolled into the entrance to the Stadium near the hill and drew fire from the grandstands, which were then sprayed with machine-guns.’’ PROTESTS AGAINST BRITISH POLICY SCOTTISH WORKERS HOLD MEETING (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 18. About 150,000 factory and shipyard workers from 200 plants in the west of Scotland held a protest meeting against the British Government's attitude to Greece. Resolutions demanding that the Government arrange an armistice were telegraphed to Mr Churchill. A demonstration by 2000 people in Manchester passed a resolution “deploring Britain's intervention in the internal affairs of the Greek people,” and declaring “it is outrageous that British forces are being used against proved Greek anti-Fascists.” ESCAPE OF GERMANS PREVENTED LONDON, Dec. 18. “The vigilance of British guards at a prisoner-of-war camp in south-west England frustrated a carefully prepared plan by 7000 Germans to break out and seize a nearby airfield,” says the “Daily Express.” “Guards watching the prisoners from a raised pillbox noticed groups of prisoners in furtive conversation. Suspicions were aroused and the guards were instructed to keep a closer watch. At dawn they seized aprisoner who was trying to pass on fast-minute instructions for a mass escape. , , t . “A paper captured revealed a plan prepared to the most minute detail for ruthlessly killing the guards, seizing the armoury, forming up at an assembly point outside the camp, and rushing the airfield. Most of the prisoners are fanatical Nazis, members of the Luftwaffe and U-boat crews.”