AMERICAN AID TO GREEK GOVERNMENT: MR TRUMAN REPORTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 August 1949, Page 6

AMERICAN AID TO GREEK GOVERNMENT: MR TRUMAN REPORTS

WASHINGTON, August I.—Presisident Truman said today that with American aid the Greek 'Government was making “solid progress” in the civil war against Communist guerrillas. He said, However, that the rebels were still strong in .spite of heavy losses, and ,were getting help from Albania arid Bulgaria... 11l a report to Congress, Mr Truman attributed the Greek Government’s progress to improved leadership, the accumulation of United States military supplies, months of training of Greek soldiers, arid “determination decisiveness, and aggressiveness” in the orders of the Greek High Command. He said that the rebels, at the end of March, numbered nearly 20,000, 6000 fewer than at the same time last year. Their losses between June, 1946, and March of this year were about 70,000. Over the same period the Greek Government lost nearly 30,000 killed, wounded, or missing.| The total number of Greek wounded was not known. Mr Truman said that American aid to Turkey had enabled the Turkish armed forces to make steady progress in improving their efficiency, but that they would require additional United States assistance to continue their progress towards a desirable standard of effectiveness.