BALKANS HOPE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20490, 26 February 1941, Page 11

BALKANS HOPE

AVERTING DRIVE MARCH BY NAZIS FAITH IN NEUTRALITY ELEVENTH-HOUR GLEAM GREEK DETERMINATION FIGHT TO THE END (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Feb. 25, 3 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 24. Although the Germans are pouring ttiore planes and air force personnel into Italy and pushing on with preparations in Bulgaria and Rumania and throughout the Balkans there is the familiar eleventh-hour hope that the inevitable may not happen and that the policy of neutrality will still prove of some protective value. ' The visit to the Middle East by the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Anthony Eden, has aroused enormous interest throughout the Balkans, the Greeks linking it with the rapidly-develqping situation which they consider the motive for Signor Mussolini’s appeal to Germany for help. The Germans say they may not advance across Bulgaria, because the Greek “affair will possibly be liquidated peacefully.” All Greek circles, however, demonstrate the country’s determination to fight on to the end, whatever the cost. An important part of the immediate military situation is the race for Valona. Hopes in Bulgaria Official circles in Sofia still express the hope that the Germans may not cross the Danube into Bulgaria, and the Government is convinced that if the German troops do so they will pass through quickly, leaving Bulgaria outside the realm of. military operations. The Germans declare there is no need of Bulgaria’s assistance, but the carefully-prepared Bulgarian Iron Guard organisation in addition to “Quislings” can be used when necessary.

The leaders of all Opposition parties in Bulgaria, except the Fascists, have petitioned King Boris, insisting that Bulgaria should resist a German invasion.

Members of the staff of the British Institute and other Britons left Sofia to-day. Preparations have been made for the legation to leave immediately the Germans march. The Yugoslav Government remains silent, but popular feeling is indicated in Belgrade, where the police were forced to clear a cinema where a British newsreel showing Their Majesties aroused a violent pro-British demonstration. The newsreel is now banned.