DEFENCE OF GREECE

Evening Star, Issue 23729, 9 November 1940, Page 11

DEFENCE OF GREECE

RAF/S BIG PART \ ITALIANS CAUGHT HAPPING AGAIN ALBANIAN BASES HEAVILY BOMBED Press Association—By Telegraphy-Copyright LONDON, November 8. (Received November 9, at noon.) Informed military circles in London state that Koritza appears to be still in Italian, hands. There has been & small Greek advance about the region of Slemnitsa. No further news has reached London of the contingent of Italian alpine troops reported to be cut. off further aouth, and the exact strength of this force is not known. There are no certain reports of more than about 100 prisoners. Further south, on the coastal front, the Greeks are reported to have gone back to Akharon River—the Styx of ancient mythology. The line runs from there north to the upper region of the Kalamas River. There is heavy Italian pressure on this front. The air raids on Monastic aerodrome on November .5, when it was bombed and machine-gunned, are regarded by military observers in London as possibly an attempt to intimidate the Yugoslavs, SHOCK f-OR ITALIANS. Further evidence of the important contribution which the British Air Force is making in the defence of Greece is given in the latest communique dealing with the attacks on Wednesday on Italian aerodromes at Valona, on the coast of Albania. A communique states: Enemy aircraft on the ground were bombed and machinegunned. A large number of airmen standing on the tarmac were also attacked. A number of bombs were seen to score direct hits on aircraft, which were completely destroyed, and near misses severely damaged other aircraft. Our aircraft were attacked by enemy ■ fighters, but without effect, all our aircraft returning safely to their base. One airman was killed by a stray bullet. Th* leader of the British formation, on his return to the base, said: “ We . took the enemy completely by surprise, and were able to make lour runs over the tarmac without interference. Our observers watched* the bombs bursting among aircraft on the ground and saw very heavy damage inflicted.” General Metaxas, broadcasting, said that British aid was now flowing into Greece regularly and in accordance with plans. DARING GREEK SORTIE, A Greek communique states: There has been an artillery duel on the entire front. Local attacks on our positions on the Epirus front were repulsed. Greek infantry and sappers in a daring night sortie on November 5-6 destroyed nine ltalian tanks. The enemy bombed Corfu and towns and villages in the interior. Some persons .were killed and injured. No 'damage was caused to military objectives. It is reported from Belgrade that there is fierce fighting at Lake Presba. The Italians are heavily bombing the Greek positions;

An agency correspondent in Athens describes the recent bombing of Corfu. He says that a large part of the city’s most picturesque quarter, with its winding streets and stone steps, is a pile of ruins. Most of the people had taken shelter in the olive groves, and not many were killed.

LOCAL GREEK SUCCESSES

ALBANIAN REBELS BUSY FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES FOR IMVADERS LONDON, November 8. (Received November 9, at 1 p.m.) It is reported from Yugoslavia that the 'Greeks’ right wing, advancing across the Devoli River, occupied the village of Hocista, on the road to Koritza, four north-west of Bechlista. An Italian major, four officers, and 59 troops were taken prisoner.

The Greeks also scored local successes on the Janina sector, and continue to resist the Italians’ southernmost drive. Albanian rebels ambushed an Italian column, killing 21 and taking prisoner 40 soldiers and capturing ammunition. The Italians again bombed Mouastir (in -Yugoslavia). The high morale of the Greeks was to-day strengthened by new reports of local successes on the right and centre, but a more severe testing of the people and the army is expected, following reports that Marshal Badoglio is taking over the command of Albania, and that the Italians are sending stronger forces of fast planes to the front. The Greeks, for their part, are continually strengthening their defences, improving their artillery positions in the mountain caverns, digging strip after strip of barbed-wire trenches across the ridges, blocking the Italian troops’ supply columns by landslides, and dynamiting bridges and road bends. ITALIAN APOLOGIES. A message from Rome says Signor Ansaldo, in * II Telegrafo,’ says blitzkrieg tactics are impossible in Greece and Egypt owing to the terrain. The Germans in Western Europe had excellent roads to help them, he said.

ITALIAN DILEMMA

TRAPPED IN EASTERN SECTOR MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY FAVOURS GREECE LONDON, November 8. The ‘ Daily Telegraph’s ’ Istanbul correspondent says it is reliably reported that Italy has eight divisions in the southern sector against Greece, four in thoe eastern sector, and three in the interior of Albania for maintaining order. Allied and Turkish military experts cannot see any advantage for the Italians if they occupy Janina, except the possible moral effect. Even if the Italians’ operations based on Konispolis are successful they will find themselves in a huge basin from which there are only two possible exits, of which one is eastwards over the Pindus Mountains, crossing a pass at an altitude of 5,000 ft which the Greeks would vigorously defend. The other exit goes to the south to the Gulf of Corinth, passing for many miles through marshes. The Pindus Mountains, over which wheeled transport is impossible, separate the southern and eastern sectors and the despatch of reinforcements one to the other would be posfrole only through Albania In the eastern sector it seems strategically possible for the Italians to extricate themselves ■ from the present dilemma only by trying to turn the Greek flank by penetrating Dibra and then going down the Vardar Valley. This would seriously complicate matters for Italy, as it would involve a violation of Yugoslav territory.

The Istanbul correspondent of * Tho Times ’ says that travellers from Bulgaria report the movement of Bulgarian troops from the direction of the Turkish-Bulgarian frontier, presumably to the Greeb-Bulgarian border.

BRITISH WORKERS MESSAGE OF HOPE TO GREECE (British Official Wireless.) \ RUGBY, November 8. The Minister of Labour, Mr Ernest Bevin, replied to M. Dimitratos, the Greek Under-secretary of Labour and Secretary-general of the National Confederation of Labour, who broadcast on October 31 an eloquent appeal to the workers of the world—enemy, neutral, and allied. To British workers in particular M. Dimitratos said: “ Workers of Greece declare their solidarity with you and your organisations and' admiration for t}ie titanic struggle your glorious country is waging. They proclaim as Greeks their unshakeable determination to live as free men and know that to achieve this the forces of right must triumph.” „ In reply, Mr Bevin said: “ Greetings and sincere wishes for a great victory for great nations. Rest assured that British work-people view with disgust the attack made upon you, but it is in keeping with Mussolini’s gangster policy of" reducing work-people to slavery. The working people of this country will give of their best and assist you in the titanic struggle .with all the help and supplies possible.” TURKISH PRECAUTIONS ROUND-UP CF SUSPECTS ISTANBUL, November 8. The police are reported to have rounded up nearly 100 suspected spies and potential “ fifth columnists,” including Italians, Germans, and Bulgarians. BLACK-OUT TIGHTENED __ APPREHENSION IN ROME FEARS OF BRITISH REPRISALS ROME, November 8. ‘ II Tevere ’ admits that Italian airmen during the daytime attacked the London area and elsewhere. It. claims that the only objectives were military centres and war industries. Mussolini inspected all Romo’s antiaircraft batteries. The black-out has been tightened. All buildings must be equipped with shelters by November 15,