MOVE IN BALKANS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20185, 1 March 1940, Page 5

MOVE IN BALKANS

NEXT FEW WEEKS GERMANY AND RUSSIA EXPECTATION IN EUROPE ' * NEW YORK, Feb. 21. The Australian troops may go into action shortly, if information received by the Carnegie Institute from Europe is correct. Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, head of the institute, states that the basis of its reports is that Russia and Germany may move in the Balkans in the next few weeks. These reports indicate that Russia and Germany have renounced their original programmes for the time being and reached a compromise by which the Soviet’s zone of influence includes East Rumania, Turkey and Bulgaria, while Germany’s is West Rumania, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Italy’s attitude is uncertain. If she decides to enter the combination she will have to be content with the Dalmation coast and a protectorate over Greece, excluding Salonika, which will go to Germany. Professor Butler says he considers that Russia and Germany have the advantages of contiguous territory ana interior lines. Moreover, as the Allies are not likely to violate the neutrality of the Western neutrals, Hitler believes that small forces can hold the Siegfried Line, while the mass of the German armies is hurled against the Balkans.