ANZAC BARRIER

Evening Star, Issue 23864, 19 April 1941, Page 10

ANZAC BARRIER

NAZI HORDES THROWN BACK FRUITLESS ATTEMPTS TO FORCE PASSES LONDON, April 18. (Received April 19, at 1 p.m.) The New Zealand and Australian troops have met and repelled incessant attacks in Greece in the past six days, states the Associated Press correspondent, Mr Edward Kennedy. The German loses in attempts to force the passes have been enormous, and it is likely that 50,000 are already dead in the invasion of Greece. The Greeks further west fought with inadequate equipment, but the utmost Va The". Germans have advanced from Grevena, but steps have been taken to prevent the drive cutting the British forces from behind. The correspondent says he has just traversed much of Yugoslavia and watched its gallant army, with rifles and ox-driven artillery, try to drive off Hitler’s hordes. He did not see at asy time masses of refugees fleeing from bombed towns. They died in their homes. The bombing of Belgrade was a massacre in which at least 10,000 perished. Berlin commentators stress that the Yugoslav capitulation releases large forces to Greece. “The swiftness of the German advances shattered the hope of Anglo-American help,” they said. The ‘ Voelkischer Beobachter ’ holds that President Roosevelt was largely responsible for the fate of Yugoslavia. DEATH OF GREEK PRIME MINISTER LONDON, April 19. An Athens message reports the sudden death of M. Alexander Oorisis, the Prime'Minister of Greece. Messages of condolence have been sent from London. The formation of a new national Greek Government will be announced shortly. [M. Corisis became' Prime Minister, also Minister of the War, Navy, and Air, on the death of General Metaxas on January 29. He was 51 years old, and had held many important positions connected with banking and economics.] YUGOSLAVIA'S POSITION REGARDED AS ENEMY'OGGUPIED TERRITORY (British Official Wireless.) , RUGBY, April 18. (Received April 19, at noon.) The Board of Trade and Ministry of Economic Warfare announced to-night that Yugoslavia is to be regarded as enemy-occupied territory for the purposes' of the Trading with the Enemy ' Act and of the blockade. As from today Yugoslav-ia is to be regarded as an enemy destination for contraband purposes, and all goods of Yugoslav origin or ownership will be liable to seizure. ■ ,» CAPTURE OF MATERIAL VALUE OF WAVELL'S CAMPAIGN GREEKS FEEL THE BENEFIT (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. April 18; (Received April 19, at 2 p.m.) It is now revealed that the magnificent resistance put up by the Greek forces has to some extent been possible owing to the transfer for use by Greece of a considerable quantity of the immense stores of arms, ammunition, and equipment captured from the Italians in General Wavell’s victorious sweep in North Africa, when enemy forces numbering 108,000 men were put out of action. This equipment has also probably been put to good use by the patriot forces in Abyssinia. , The rapid liquidation of the East • African campaign could not have been achieved so expeditiously but for the fact that Libya had already been swept clear of enemy forces, and, in its turn, the reduction of Italian resistance in East Africa made it possible for‘President Roosevelt to declare the IRed Sea outside the combat zone forbidden to American shipping. A further general consideration, of which the full significance is only now •being realised, is that General Wavell’s Libyan successes made it necessary for the Germans to support their tottering ally in North Africa, and has resulted in the further dispersal of German forces —a process cumulative in its effects which will become important. CENTURY UP SPITFIRE SQUADRON'S BAG OF ENEMY PLANES RUGBY, April 17. When a Spitfire squadron shot down two Messei-sehmitt 110’s this morning they raised their total bag of enemy aircraft destroyed to 100. The squadron leader had gone up with other pilots, says the Air Ministry News Service, on a practice flight over shipping, when they wore warned of enemy aircraft nearby. In a few minutes they saw four Messerschmitt 110’s, which were taken completely by surprise. The flying officer attacked two of the enemy machines in turn. He killed the gunner of the second, and as the Messerschmitt was crawling into a cloud layer he fired two more bursts that sent it in a slow spin into the sea. A third Messerschmitt 110 was chased in and out of the clouds by the squadron leader, who, after several hursts, saw a large piece of the starboard wing tip fall off the Messerschmitt, which turned over on its back and fell into the sea. It was the squadron leader’s sixteenth confirmed He is a 22-year-old Scots mining engineer, who_ until recently was flight commander in a City of Glasgow auxiliary squadron. His new squadron is the thirteenth in the Fighter Command to score a century..