QUICKLY INTO ACTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 83, 8 April 1941, Page 7

QUICKLY INTO ACTION

R.A.F. in the Balkans

ENEMY CONCENTRATIONS BOMBED

LONDON, April 7.

The Royal Air Force has quickly gone into action in the Balkans. British aircraft replied to the German air attack on Belgrade by bombing German military concentrations in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, last

night.

The main railway station and marshalling yards, the railway junction, warehouses, motor transport, and a large factory were heavily bombed. Many explosions occurred, and one very large fire and other smaller fires were caused. In one case trucks were seen to be hurled into the air.

Aircraft also dived and machine-gunned objectives and motor transport in the Struma Valley, considerable damage being caused.

All the British aircraft engaged in these operations returned safely to their base. The Struma Valley is a succession of basins separated by deep gorges. The road on either side is dominated by rocky cliffs and leads south from Sofia to Salonika.

The German news agency this afternoon claimed that German troops had penetrated to a depth of 20 to 25 miles on what they vaguely called the south-cast front. No specific points were given. The agency message says that obstinate fighting all along the south-east frontier is in full swing. Although it seems certain that fierce fighting is going on on the Greek-Bulgarian frontier,, there is little news about it. It is reported that "in addition to ten German tanks which were destroyed, the Greeks have captured numbers of prisoners.

There has been little news of the land fighting on the Greek frontier since the Greek communique dealing with the violent engagements in the Struma Valley.

News from Yugoslavia is almost wholly confined to the war in the air. Yugoslav planes have made raids on neighbouring countries, and the Budapest radio reported that two Hungarian aerodromes had been attacked. It is also reported that there was a "dogfight" and that British planes supported the Yugoslav action. Both places attacked are near the Yugoslav northern frontier.

The Yugoslav radio station is reported to have broadcast, today that Yugoslav artillery had opened fire all along the Albanian frontier in preparation for an attack against the Italians in Albania. It was the fear of such an attack that made the Italians try so desperately to find a peaceful solution in the Balkans.

Hurricanes of the R.A.F. have had their first battle with German planes on the Greek-Bulgarian frontier. A Cairo communique says that five Messerschmitt 109"s were shot down and others severely damaged. The British planes came out of the fray unscathed, though they were outnumbered more than two to one.

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and towns in Rumania, two of them important road and railway junctions, are reported to have been bombed. All the countries in which German forces are operating are being used as jump-ing-off places by the Germans for their attacks.

The German High Command says that German planes last night made their fourth raid on Belgrade.

Several thousands of young Czechs who escaped from their own country have volunteered to serve with the Yugoslav army.

line between Corfu and Volos. Five British ships are • arriving daily from Africa loaded with men and materials. The British equipment includes a vast quantity of anti-aircraft guns and antitank guns, great numbers of light and heavy tanks, and also flame-throwers. Many shiploads of munitions have been landed at five ports.

Fresh New Zealand and Australian troops meanwhile are pouring into Egypt, reinforcing the Army of the Nile.

The Istanbul correspondent of the British United Press states that travellers reaching there tonight on one of the last trains that are expected for some time from Greece state that British troops and war materials landed from huge convoys have been moved up to the Yugoslavian. Bulgarian, and Albanian frontiers in Greece. Most of the troops are New Zealanders and Australians from Africa, and among them are many officers who served on the Macedonian front in the last war. Travellers had to wait several days in Greece for a train, because of the troop movements.