GERMANS LEAVING GREECE

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 September 1944, Page 5

GERMANS LEAVING GREECE

ALLIES’ SUSTAINED ATTACKS

TRANSPORT CENTRES BOMBED

LONDON, September 23 A report from New York says that a considerable part of the Greek mainland and several important lonian and Aegean Islands have been liberated and placed under the authority either of local representatives of the Papandreou Government m Italy or patriot bands. , According to the Cairo correspondent of the “New York Times the liberation followed’a combination of German withdrawals and guerrilla assaults. The liberated areas include most of southern anct .eastern P_eioponesus, large sections of Epirus, Eastern Crete and the islands of Chios and Mytilene. In addition the Germans largely have vacated Lemnos and Carfu Islands and jare steadily evacuating Crete and Rhodes .by air and sea. However, they are maintaining skeleton forces m the Cyclades Islands. . d „ The Germans have virtually evacuated the whole of the Greek west coast, according to reliable reports from Cairo. The . only remaining German concentration is round Janina. The Germans are trying to move all transport to Northern Greece. Royal Air Force medium bombers and heavy bombers on Thursday attacked Salonika in an effort to cripple German attempts to evacuate men and supplies from the * Aegean Islands, says the “Exchange Telegraph” correspondent in Rome, ine enemy is believed to be trying to sneak through the islands, using Salonika as one of the principal bases for this traffic. The bombers left the quays and port installations a mass ol smoke and flame. GUERRILLAS ACTIVE RUGBY, September 24. The dissolution of German rule in Greece has been carried several steps further. The Greek authorities m London announce that guerrillas have occupied Kastoria, 25 miles east of the Albanian town of Koritza. The Germans withdrawing from the Aegean Islands, especially Crete, are passing through Athens and leaving immediately for the north. The lonaih Islands are being liberated one after another. The Germans have evac- • uated Zante and Cephalonia. Greek paratroops have landed on Chios and Mytilene. The evacuation of Rhodes and Crete continues, with the Germans using Junkers 52’s to transport their personnel to the mainland. The Greek islands cleared of the Germans include Chios and Mytilene, in the Aegean Sea, and Cephalonia and Zante, in the lonian Sea. Guerrillas in Greece have been active in ambushing road convoys. They also blew up a German troop tram m Thessaly, the train disappearing into the Pinios River after exploding. The Germans carrying out reprisals in Crete executed more than 500 persons. More than 200 families, numbering some 10,000 persons, have been rendered homeless. FURTHER ATTACKS RUGBY, September 24. Allied heavy bombers on Sunday continued the attack on targets in Greece, when up to 500 Liberators bombed three aerodromes near Athens, railyards at Salonika, and submarine pens and harbour installations on the south coast. No fighters were met, but there was flak at all targets. Mustangs provided a continuous escort, and Lightnings flew sweeps over the Athens and Salonika areas. EVACUATIONS CONTINUED. (Rec. 11.25) LONDON, Sept. 25. German troops in South-eastern Europe are withdrawing everywhere, says the British United Press Cairo correspondent. It is believed that they will eventually try to reach the historic Danube-Sava-Adriatic Line. Many German garrisons in Jugoslavia, Greece and Albania are pinned down by guerrillas, and are unable to get away northward. They are always willing to surrender when they get the chance. The Germans are at present withdrawing from the important western Greek town of Janina to Salonika, but guerrillas are constantly hampering the evacuation. German transport planes continue to carry the garrisons from the Greek Islands to Athens. Some of the troops are being kept there to reinforce the Athens garrison and others are being sent to Salonika. The German High Command is nominally in charge in Greece but the guerrillas have cut the telephone cables, for which reason most of the Germans are forced to act on their own initiative.

MACEDONIA AND THRACE

RUGBY, September 24. A correspondent in Rome reports that the Greek Minister of Information (Cartalis) has said that Bulgaria must hand over at once unconditionally and without further discussion, all Greek territories in Macedonia and Thrace which Bulgarians are occupying. , ... Greece, under German domination, suffered to a greater extent than any other country. A recent medical examination of large numbers of children in Athens disclosed that 75 per cent, were suffering from consumption, due to lack of food. Many villages have been destroyed and millions of people are without shelter. GREEKS MURDERED RUGBY, September 24. According to evidence given by witnesses and published in the Soviet Press about 1200 Greek professors, doctors, and technicians died in Maidanek concentration camp, near Lublin, Poland, from excessive hunger, beatings, and execution squads. tn April, 1943, 300 women from Greece were shot. Among the 1,500.000 people murdered at Baldek were a considerable number of Greeks. DEAL WITH BULGARIA. LONDON, September 23. Reuter’s Sofia correspondent in a delayed dispatch says float the Bulgarian Government and the Greek E.A.M. organisation have concluded an agreement under which E.A.M. takes over the administration of Thrace and Macedonia and the Bulgarian army remains to help the population and the new authorities and carry on against the Germans who are still on Macedonian soil. DALMATIAN ISLANDS. (Rec. 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, September 25. With the elimination of the German garrison on Sulet Island by combined land, air, and naval forces the Allies have gained control of all the (Central Dalmatian Islands, says the Exchange Telegraph’s Rome correspondent. Our forces landed on Sulet Island on September 17, and by September 23 had completed mopping up. Naval patrol craft frustrated the Germans’ efforts to escape to the mainland.