NAZIS ASK ABOUT PACT

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 157, 29 March 1941, Page 11

NAZIS ASK ABOUT PACT

Germans Attacked By Street Crowds

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Received March 28, 10 p.m; LONDON, March 28. Yugoslav troops are moving to the frontiers. This movement began shortly after the new Ministers had seen King Peter, says a Belgrade message, which adds that after its first meeting the new Cabinet issued a communique emphasizing that Yugoslavia’s independence, territorial integrity and liberty had been maintained and expressing the hope for peace with all neighbours.

Another message says that preparations for war are being pushed on with lightning speed in Yugoslavia. Nearly 1,250,000 troops are at battle stations, and mobilization is almost complete. The centre of Belgrade, including the Government buildings, has been cordoned with tanks, machine-gun posts, and steel-helmeted troops. The Sofia correspondent of the Associated Press says that the German forces of occupation in Bulgaria have started moving toward the Yugoslav frontier. Germany is reported to have sent a Note to the Yugoslavian Government demanding an explanation of the speed-up of Yugoslavia’s mobilization. Germany has urgently requested the new Government to indicate whether its foreign policy endorsed the Axis pact. Berlin officials declared: “Yugoslavia must know that renunciation of the pact would be tantamount to giving Germany the signal to march into Yugoslavia.” Some Yugoslav leaders told the Belgrade correspondent of the Associated Press that the country’s foreign policy would conform to the Axis pact but not yield another inch. The army was in the meantime maintaining its full war strength in case of emergency.

Excited demonstrators in Belgrade beat up Germans and Italians in the streets, including an assistant German air attache, who was seriosly injured, says the Belgrade correspondent of the Associated Press. The Swedish Minister, M. Malmar, was dragged from his car and beaten up because, speaking German, he was mistaken for a German national. He is in a serious condition. Several cars carrying swastikas were overturned and wrecked. Herr von Herren, the German Ambassador, visited the Foreign Office and angrily protested. The German legation has warned all Germans to evacuate as soon as possible. The “Daily Telegraph,” in a leading article, states: "There has been no single event more significant in its influence on the ultimate issue of the war. It may well prove decisive." \ “The whole war situation has momentously changed in our favour,” says the “Daily Mail.” ‘The new Yugoslav Government is competed largely of men known to be more than passive supporters of the Allied cause. The inclusion of Dr. Matchek indicates that national unity has been preserved. General Simovitch is strongly pro-British and a man of action. His appointment shows that the army animates the revolt against the Nazis. Germany's reaction may be sharp, but whatever plans she has made she will now have to revise them in the knowledge that there is another nation in the Balkans who refuses to take German orders.”