ITALIAN RETREAT

Grey River Argus, 5 December 1940, Page 7

ITALIAN RETREAT

RESUMED IN ALBANIA Greek Gains in two Sectors [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received December 4, 8.50 p.m.) LONDON. December 3. After making a stand northward of Pogradec Italian forces are again retreating. It is now revealed that two Greek cavalry companies drove an entire battalion from heights of the utmost importance, and that in consequence of this the main body of Italians there were forced to evacuate positions affording excellent possibilities for defence. “The Times’’ Athens correspondent says: The main Italian forces on the northern front in Albania will henceforth be able to do little more than fight rearguard actions until they are installed in their next defence line, fifty miles beyond their present positions. Considerable hard plodding confronts the Greeks if they should attempt to gain this line, but the intervening struggle, according to the present outlook, is unlikely to consist of more than methodical thrusts and mopping up, although the Greeks, if they should be successful, j will undoubtedly be able to give an j imposing list of captured villages. The latest dispatches received from Athens emphasise that bad weather is preventing major operations on the northern front, although there have been heavy artillery duels. Greek troops are advancing slowly northward of Pogradec, /along the lakeside road, where they have reached a joint just beyond / Mumuniste.! Greek advance posts in .some places are within one hundred /yards of the Italian forces. I The most marked tali an retreat on Monday was in th /southern sec-1, tor, where the ener / withdrew to Delvino Heights. / Italian and Gre ik infantry on Tuesday have been : /ghting a pitched battle in marshef. Greek forces surprised the Italians at dawn, attacking across bogs, which the Ital"ians considered impossible, as thick slime swallowed men up to the head. The Greeks are now twice as far into Albania as the Italians had ever penetrated into Greece.

Greek fighters in the Epirus sector, on Tuesday, destroyed three Italian ’planes in a fierce dogfight, lasting only ten minutes. Near Vojiuza River on Monday, Greek forces, fighting with unbounded courage, captured a height in the Politsani Mountains, where the Italians had possessed strongly-defended positions. Greek pressure has also being accentuated in the Permeti region. There was a vigorous Italian counter-attack, between the villages of Theri and Pestuna, south-west of' Pogradec. It was smashed by the Greeks. An Athens message states Italian soldiers continue to enter Yugoslavia, where they are being interned. PRISONERS TAKEN. BY ITALIANS AND GREEKS. ATHENS, December 3. Greek newspapers reveal that numerous Italian prisoners nave been taken to Corfu. , < The Ministry of Public Security stated that the retreating Italians carried off 18 notables from a town in. Epirus, including doctors, business men, and teachers. Their fate is unknown.

R.A.F. OPERATIONS. AGAINST ITALIANS. LONDON, December 3. The Air Ministry has revealed that three R.A.F. bombers, of which only one returned, stopped the Italians reforming their line and rushing troops in order to hold Koritza. The bombings followed an appeal from the Gfleek General Staff. The R.A.F. aircraft dived to wit’iin a few feet of the ground, and bombed and ma-chine-gunned lorries and troops on the Pogradetz-Koritza road, despite fierce groundfire. R.A.F. assistance given yesterday to the Greek armies, in repelling Italian aggression, included a successful raid on important military lobecfives at Valona. Dqspite bad weather and the presence of large 'enemy fighter patrols, the attack was pressed home, and all tho bombs were seen to fall in the target area. A fire started in a large building near the harbour, and was followed by a series of loud explosions. A stick of bombs fell on the main jetty, and a ship received a direct hit. One enemy fighter, a CR42, was shot down.

Tn the Argyrokastron area, one of the British fighters engaged and shot down in flames an enemy reconnaissance aircraft. R.A.F. headquarters at Cairo announced that long-range bombers raided Nanles, last night. A railway junction and oil refineries were attacked successfully. One well-placed stick of bombs straddled the oil re fineries, and started a fire visible 20 miles away. All the British aircraft returned safely. • The R.A.F. last night bombed objectives in Sicily. RAID ON CORFU. LONDON, December 3. The enemy again bombed the defenceless town of Corfu, and considerable damage was done. ITALIAN FOOD RATIONING. ROME December 2. Spaghetti, flour and rice are rationed, the total monthly allowance being four and a-half pounds. Restaurants are not permitted to serve spaghetti on Tuesdays or Saturdays. BRITISH BOMB AT TURIN. DELAYED EXPLOSION. LONDON, December 2. The Swiss radio stated that a British bomb, dropped in a recent raid over Turin, exploded yesterday, killing three and injuring six.