NEW FLARE-UP

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21150, 19 July 1943, Page 4

NEW FLARE-UP

BALKANS TENSION YUGOSLAVS IN REVOLT ANXIETY IN BULGARIA (By Teleprnph—Press Assn.— Copyright..) LONDON. July 16. The Allied invasion of Sicily has caused a flare-up throughout the Balkans. All leave for Axis troops has been cancelled. The Rome radio quotes a report from Baghdad that the commander-in-chief inspected British troops in Persia yesterday and that all military leave has been suspended. Reuter’s correspondent at Istanbul savs: "According to reports reaching here, the Allied landings in Sicily were the signal for renewed and widespread attacks against Italian garrisons in the Balkans. Yugoslav patriots killed at least 400 Italians in a lightning s.voop against a barracks in the Dalmatian islands on the Adriatic coast opposite Italy. The revolt spread unchecked and the Italian occupation authorities were forced to decree a general mobilisation in Albania before the situation could be got under control. “Members of the Macedonian Revolutionary Committee are believed to be co-operating with the Yugoslav patriots, who inflicted serious casualties on Bulgarian troops at. Skoplje and other Yugoslav towns. All leave was stopped lor Axis troops throughout the Balkans, while Bulgaria especially was in a state of tension. “There was panic in Sofia, where a special German radio installation jammed all Allied broadcasts to Bulgaria. Troop reinforcements have been rushed to Greece. The Bulgarian Premier abandoned his inspection of the defences in Thrace and rushed back to the capital, where a few hours after the announcement of the Allied landings in Sicily leaflets were distributed saying, ‘The Allies have disembarked in Sicily. Our turn to save Bulgaria from the Axis approaches.’” The Vichy radio stated that Bulgarian troops were to-day taking over from Italian troops several Yugoslav towns which Italy ceded to Bulgaria under the terms of recent agreements.

The Algiers radio, quoting a message from Ankara, said that patriots occupied 10 villages along the Ai-banian-Yugoslav frontier.