BULGARIAN ARMY

Grey River Argus, 14 October 1941, Page 5

BULGARIAN ARMY

REPORTED MOBILISATION.

LONDON, October 12. Reports that general mobilisation has been ordered in Bulgaria are denied in important quarters in Sofia, according to Mr Dimbleby, the 8.8. C. observer in Ankara. Mr Dimbleby says the Bulgarian authorities are putting blame on bands .working from Salonika. The Bulgarian Air Force is reported to have bombed several villages in Grecian Thrace to get at the centre of the trouble, and a Bulgarian armoured brigade has been sent there. An earlier report stated that tne mobilisation was announced by the ringing of church bells and the reading of proclamations, and it was feared that this might presage a further' occupation of Grecian Thrace. Mr Dimbleby says, however, that no alarm is felt in Ankara at these reports. It is thought, in view of the recent Ankara-Berlin statement about Turkish-German friendship, such mobilisation is not directed against Turkey, but that Hitler will use the Bulgarians to hold reserve positions on the- Russian front, or more probably to keep order in the occupied countries, especially Jugoslavia. This report is another indication that Hitler is throwing everything available into the Russian offensive. The mobilisation of the Bulgars means that about 20 divisions will be called up. All communications between Turkey and Bulgaria are cut off. Efforts to telephone' Sofia from /.Ankara met with announcements that “all the lines between Turkey and Europe are down.”

NO MOBILISATION. FALSE ALARM OVER BULGARIA. (Rec. 8.50). LONDON, October 13. Reports of a mobilisation of ths Army of Bulgaria were denied when the neutral correspondents at Ankara made contact with the capital, Sofia, after telephonic communication was re-established.

Travellers arriving at Ankara from Yugoslavia say that Germans are patrolling by planes the railway between Belgrade and Sofia to prevent sabotage.