ROAD TO CONFLICT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 75, 25 September 1941, Page 9

ROAD TO CONFLICT

CHOSEN BY BULGARIA

VARIETY OF REPORTS

LONDON, September 23,

There are many indications that Bulgaria is slipping nearer to war with Bussia.

The newspapers in Sofia strongly criticise Russia and describe relations between Russia and Bulgaria as most strained. The Ankara correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says that a complete black-out has been ordered in the ports of Varna and Burgas and that a curfew has been imposed in Sofia. The correspondent adds that the American Minister to Sofia, Mr. George Earle, warned Bulgarian editors that if Bulgaria chose the wrong side, it would go hard with her after a BritishAmerican victory. The Moscow radio said that 400,000 Bulgarian troops have already been mobilised. German engineers are said to be pushing on the construction of special military roads. MILITARY PREPARATIONS. Reuters Ankara correspondent says that travellers from Bulgaria report the continuation of military prepara- i ti'ons, and the Germans are com-' mandeering railways. Foreigners are closely watched, and the Gestapo is paying particular attention to the staffs of the Russian Legation and consulates, who are followed everywhere. The British United Press correspondent in Ankara says that the Bulgarian and German General Staffs are holding close consultations, and that the withdrawal of Bulgarian troops from the Turk|sh frontier indicates that they are to be used elsewhere. i Fairly widespread disorders are reported from Bulgaria. An » artillery barracks at Sofia is reported to have been destroyed by fire. MEANING OF RETURN. "The Times" Istanbul correspondent says that the arrival back in Turkey .of the German Ambassador, Franz yon Papen, accompanied by his wife,, may be taken to mean that his policy of the "velvet-gloved fist" has prevailed, and therefore that Germany, at least in the immediate future, will not take harsh measures against Turkey. This would be in line with the recent German propaganda, though the Wilhelmstrasse insists that the presence of German troops in the Caucasus would create a new situation to which Turkey should adapt herself and shape her policy accordingly. • The Wilhelmstrasse has not attempted to minimise the gravity of the situation.