BALKAN DEVELOPMENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 March 1944, Page 5

BALKAN DEVELOPMENTS

GERMANS IN RUMANIA BULGARIA NEXT ? LONDON, March 22. “The latest reports suggest that the Germans are about to occupy Rumania,” says a correspondent ol the British United Press in Ankara. “German infantry, with four panzer divisions, are proceeding towards Rumania through Hungary.” . Reuter’s Cairo correspondent says: “One of the largest troop movements in history is in progress in southeastern Europe. The German Army is pouring into Bessarabia from the east. German. technicians and engineers are meanwhile entering Rumania from the west, and the German army in the Balkans is transferring precious divisions from Jugoslavia to Hungary. The internal security of Bulgaria and Rumania is now hanging by a thread.” The Ankara radio says that the Germans have occupied the Sofia post and telegraph offices. The “Daily Express” says that the Rumanian Committee of Political Opposition has sent a message to Prince Stirbey indicating the urgency of his Cairo mission. “It lies in your power,” says the message, “to secure the armistice which alone can save Rumania from being laid waste.” However, says the “Daily Express, ' the key to the situation remains with the Rumanian Army, which is wholly loyal to General Antonescu. Reports indicate that the German High Command is very anxious following the Hungarian defection —the first among the south-eastern satellites—and is making a supreme effort to bolster Hungary. As the Russians drive on, 100 miles from the Hungarian border, von Welch’s crack battle divisions are moving into Hungary. “The Times” says: “No sympathy need be wasted on the rulers of Hungary, who thus meet the nemesis of the opportunism and greed that have served them for a policy during so many years. They have been jackals of the Nazi beast of prey. From the first they went in, ravening, thinking always to make themselves under German patronage the dominant race in the Danube Basin.”

The Swiss radio, quoting a private report from Berlin, said that German foreign policy was now to force the development of events rather than let Germany be surprised by events. HUNGARY’S NEW RULER (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, March 22. The German-Hungarian Governments agree that the measures which have been taken will contribute in accordance with the traditional friendship a comradeship in arms of the Hungarian and German peoples to mobilise all the resources of Hungary for final victory in the common cause. This statement was made in a Hungarian communique circulated by the German News Agency. The communique added: German troops arrived in Hungary on the strength of a mutual understanding to assist Hungary against the common enemy, within the framework of the joint prosecution of the war of European nations united in the tripartite pact, and in particular to intensify the effective struggle against Bolshevism by the mobilisation of all energy and to make comprehensive precautionary measures. The Regent has entrusted Dome Sztojay, hitherto Hungarian Minister to Berlin, to form a new Government. The real power in Hungary will henceforth be a new man whose appointment the Berlin radio announced thus: “The Feuhrer on the recommendation of the Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop, appointed Doctor Edmund Veesenmayer as Minister and Plenipotentiary of the Greater German Reich in Hungary.” The announcement added: Von Jagow, German Minister in Hungary, had been recalled to take up a post with the German Foreign Ministry.

BRITISH SUBJECTS ROUNDED UP

(Rec. 12.55) LONDON, March 22. The- Gestapo at Budapest have begun to round-up 508 British subjects, still living in Hungary, who hitherto were required only to report to the police once monthly, says Reuter’s Ankara correspondent. The Germanoccupying force is estimated at about five divisions of motorised infantry, totalling about 50,000. There is no confirmation of the arrival of any panzer divisions. The Budapest radio warned civilian traffic off the roads throughout Hungary. All Budapest bus services have been cancelled except on three main routes.

Military observers at Ankara believe the German reserves now entering Rumania will meet the German armies withdrawing from Bessarabia, in order to form a defence line covering Bucharest and Ploesti. Most military commentators agree that the Germans plan to use Rumania as a battlefield in an attempt to block the Russian drive from the east.

According to reports reaching diplomatic circles at Zurich, fighting on the Hungarian-Rumanian border be-_ tween troops of the two countries has developed into regular battles at some Doints. Fighting is reported to have started when the Rumanians tried to cross the frontier.

The only Wilhelmstrasse comment on events in Hungary is that “military events necessitated strengthening the fight against the common enemy. The total strength of the participants of the Three Power Pact must, be mobilised and intensified in' order to win the war. There is no cause for sensational suppositions because of the intensified collaboration between Germany and Hungary.” The British United .Press Madrid correspondent says: Nazi leaders fear the growing peace movement in the Balkans. They believe; the German forces in Southern Russia will be cut off if the movement is not checked. HITLER’S DEMANDS. (Rec. 1.20) LONDON, March 22. Hitler is reported to have made the same demands on Bulgaria and Rumania as he made on Hungary. These are believed to include the placing of the Bulgarian and Rumanian armies, communications, food supplies, and other facilities at the disposal of the GermanA.

The United Press correspondent in Switzerland says: Hitler hopes to force Rumania to use her army of 350,000 against the approaching Russians. Other Swiss reports say that the Germans occupied the puppet State of Slovakia. “The Times’s” Ankara correspondent says Hungarian troops were confined to barracks while the German occupation was proceeding. Martial law was proclaimed in some districts of south-eastern Hungary near the Carpathians. The correspondent points out that the difference between the co-operation accepted in Rumania and the occupation imposed on Hungary was ourelv one o" form.

going to become post-graduates, in crime.