HEAVY FIGHTING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22200, 10 December 1946, Page 5

HEAVY FIGHTING

GREEK BORDERS GUERRILLA BANDS YUGOSLAVIA CLOSES ROAD LONDON. Dec. 8. The road from Skoplje, Yugoslavia, to the Greek border was closed to motor traffic after persistent unconfirmed reports of heavy fighting across the frontier near Gjevgjelija says Reuter’s correspondent at Skoplje. He adds that UNRRA officials and other sources said that several days ago they saw planes diving and strafing and heard firing on the Greek side of the frontier. It was officially stated in Athens today that Yugoslavia had protested that Greek planes had flown again over Yugoslav territory. The Greek military spokesman said the situation on the Greek-Bulgarian frontier was serious. Rebel bands of about 1000 strong had been recruited from Svilengrad and Ortakio in Bulgaria and from Communists at Sufli and other Greek towns. Greek troops and gendarmes had begun clearing out the rebels and had reoccupied some regions. The troops had killed 100 bandits in four villages in the Koziani region in western Macedonia. Marshal Tito, while denying a.t the second Pan-Slav Congress that his mission was to create a Pan-Slav bloc, said all the Slavs found themselves united and would never again be divided or serve alien interests, reports Reuter’s correspondent in Belgrade.

Marshal Tito stressed the debt Yugoslavia owed to the Soviet and other Slav peoples.