UNEASY BALKANS

Evening Star, Issue 23811, 15 February 1941, Page 11

UNEASY BALKANS

THREATS AND RUMOURS GERMAN PREPARATIONS SPEEDED UP NAZI TROOPS MASSING IN NORTH ITALY Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, February 13. Germany has speeded up peparations in Bulgaria and Rumania, and has launched a campaign of theats and rumours, with diplomatic pressure against Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey. The quick fall of Cyrenaica has enabled General Wavell to remass his forces for despatch elsewhere, for which reason the Germans are expected to launch the Balkans campaign as soon as it can be arranged. There are indications also that the Germans, in the spring offensive, will seek to engage Britain on many fronts, possibly exploiting the weakest they find. Reports from Italy confirm that German detachments are massed in the north of Italy, some of which were awaiting embarkation at Genoa on the day the British shelled the city. Other units are simnltancourdy going to Italy over the Brenner Pass, increasing the German forces, which arc already reported to exceed the needs of the Luftwaffe in Italy and Sicily. The Genoese concentration is part of Hitler’s “ southern army,” consisting of young men specially trained in colonial warfare. The Italians hope these forces will still go to Tripoli to stave off further defeat. Rumours multiplied throughout the day in Belgrade, the wildest of which said there wore now thousands of German planes in Bulgaria, which the Bulgarian Legation in London denied on the grounds that Bulgaria’s aerodromes would not accommodate a thousand, especially in the winter. WAR OF NERVES. .‘The Times’ says the object of the rumours is, first, to alarm Turkey and Yugoslavia, especially the latter; secondly, to try to dispose the Greeks to consider a separate peace with Italy; thirdly, to tighten the German grip on Bulgaria and generally to prepare the ground for political domination or military aggression, whichever will best suit the German policy. The Belgrade correspondent of the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ says that it is now revealed that the Yugoslay-Hungarian pact of friendship was concluded after Germany had instructed Hungary to shelve her territorial claims against Yugoslavia for the purpose of immobilising Yugoslavia in the event of a Balkan conflict. ■

TURKEY’S ALLEGED ATTITUDE. The 'Germans have given an assurance to Bulgaria that Turkey will remain silent unless directly attacked, says the Sofia correspondent of ‘ The Times.’ The German-dominated Bulgarian Press gives prominence to German reports that Turkey will remain neutral in the event of military operations in the Balkans. Newspapers in leaders declare that this is learned from a very reliable source. The majority of the Bulgarian people sincerely believe that Turkey will raise no objection to a German passage across Bulgaria. The Belgrade representative of the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ 'says the Germans declare that King Boris is the chief obstacle to a German advance. He is apparently opposing any further approaches to the Axis. If this is accurate, it means that King Boris has revised his policy. It is reported without confirmation from Belgrade that King Boris went to Germany to-day.