SITUATION IN GREECE

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24446, 21 December 1944, Page 5

SITUATION IN GREECE

Papandreou Advises Regency

MESSAGE SENT TO KING (N.Z. Press Assqclatlon—Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 20. “Mr Papandreou to-day (Tuesday) sent a cablegram to the King of Greece recommending ‘the appointment of Archbishop Damaskinos as Regent," reported Reuter’s correspondent .in Athens yesterday. “Mr Porphyrogenes, the EAM emissary, told General Plastiras that the EAM was prepared to accept Lieuten-ant-General Scobie’s military conditions, but before doing so he wished to settle various political matters. Mr Papandreou, announcing this, added that General Plastiras had suggested that Mr Porphyrogenes should visit Lieutenant-General Scobie, but up to this afternoon he had not called at British Headquarters.” Reuter’s Athens correspondent says that 4800 men have so far responded to the Greek Government’s call-up in the Athens area. They form nine battalions of the new National Guard. . The British position in the Athens area as a whole has been improved by the clearing of the main road connecting the capital with the coast, but bitter fighting for key points in and round Athens continues, particularly for the Royal Air Force headquarters at Kiphias.

British Headquarters reported yesterday that further progress had been made in clearing the area astride the Phaleron-Athens road and the situation in Piraeus was. quiet. The British garrison in the Avoff prison, which was attacked on Monday, had been successfully withdrawn, wgether with some of the political prisoners. Operations to clear the quarter round the chemical laboratory began yesterday morning. British tanks, with cannon and machine-guns, cleared streets and demolished barricades.

“Reconnaissance pilots report that a British relief column is nearing the air headquarters north-east of Athens where the Royal Air Force garrison was still holding out on Tuesday against 600 ELAS troops,” says the British United Press correspondent in Athens. “The British last night withdrew from Arditos Hill because the position was too exposed. ELAS forces are believed to occupy the far' slope, which is protected from strafing attacks.”

“The most hunted man in Greece is the quisling former Premier, John Rallis. who -was among 400 prisoners who disappeared from the Avroff pnsop during the battle there on Monday,” says the Associated Press. ‘The hunt for Rallis, who was the creator of the notorious Greek security battalions during the German occupation, was taken up by the Greek and British authorities. The British are said to consider the capture of Rallis to be of the highest importance. The ELAS forces have taken' over the prison, which they have made into a fortress.” The National Council of Labour, meeting in London, unanimously endorsed the resolution carried at the Labour conference last week, urging the British Government to facilitate an armistice in Greece without delay, and to secure the establishment of a provisional National Government. The National Council of Labour includes representatives of the Trades Union Council, the Co-operative Union, and the Labour Party.

COMMONS DEBATE ON GREECE

CHURCHILL ACCEDES TO DEMAND

(Rec. 11 p.m.)

LONDON. Dec. 20

“After a long emergency meeting last night the administrative committee of the Labour Party sent a demand to the Government for a debate in the House of Commons on the Greek situation,” says the political correspondent of the “Daily Express.” “Mr Eden conferred with Mr Churchill at Downing Street. Mr Churchill has reversed his earlier decision and is now agreeable to a debate being held on Wednesday. “Mr Arthur Greenwood will open the debate for the Labour Party, and Mr Eden is likely to reply. It is improbable that Mr Churchill will intervene.”

Earlier, Mr Churchill had informed the House of Commons that he could not make a statement on Greece at present. Asked by Mr Arthur Greenwood to give facilities for a debate on the “developing and deteriorating situation,” Mr Churchill said: "I do not consider that the situation is deteriorating. I think it has greatly improved.”