IN GREEK PRISON

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 141, 16 May 1941, Page 5

IN GREEK PRISON

IMPERIAL TROOPS. LACE OF FOOD. (United Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. May 15. The British United Press has learned from a neutral correspondent that British and Anzac prisoners of war a I Corinth, Greece, are not getting enough to eat. A group of (he prisoners stated that within four days they had received only a little rice' and soup.

Ihe camp commandant admitted - that the food conditions were bad and said it was because of a shortage throughout Peloponnesos, but this was temporary. Ho added that the prisoners would soon be translerrcd to Germany.

In addition to British and Anzacs the Corinth camp accommodates 1000 members or a Jewish labour battalion, some refugees from Germany, lour Jugoslav generals, and 1000 lugoslav officers and men.

Conditions in Gestapo-ruled Greece are very grim, says the Istanbul correspondent of the Times. ine rood situation is growing worse daily, specially in the islands, where the people are on the verge of starvation. Bread, which is the Greeks' main sustenance, has been rationed to less than half a pound a day, and almost all the meat is going to Germany. ■ The Germans have also requisitioned all the stocks of tobacco, turpentine, oils and minerals, and also all ships above 50 tons.

Many Greek towns, except Athens, have been seriously bombed, rendering the housing problem acute, particularly because of the flood of refugees trom Macedonia and Thrace. The Germans arc doing their utmost to enlist support for the puppet government, but the public's attitude is illustrated by an injunction by the Athens radios that any cheering of British prisoners of war is being severely punished. The Cairo correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says that a specious moderation \vhich was shown in the earlv days of the German occupation of Greece is !>eing di.ipped in favour of a progressively ruthless dragooning of the population. Several Greeks have been sentenced to five years' gaol for offering cigarettes to British prisoners, and the Germans have announced the death penalty for sheltering British soldiers.

The puppet leader. General K ill a - koglu, has announced that all persons concerned with the Metaxas regimte will be tried by a military council for preparing war against Germany.