E.A.M. NOT INCLUDED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 31, 5 January 1945, Page 5

E.A.M. NOT INCLUDED

NEW GREEK GOVERNMENT EARLY RESISTANCE PLANS (N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright.) (Rec. 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 4. The new Government formed in Athens by General Plastiras consists of seven Ministers arid five Under-Secretaries. The Ministers include the Socialist, M. Sofianopoulos, as Foreign Minister arid the Liberal, M. Sideris, as Finance Minister. The full list is not yet available, but the E.A.M. does not appear to be represented.

General Plastiras has announced that his first task is the restoration of order and respect for the law. He promised, too, that all who collaborated with the enemy during the German occupation would be punished. The of the Kaissariani Byron quarters" means the elimination of the main E.L.A.S. stronghold in Athens, says an Official Wireless message. Kaissariani was used by Greek refugees and was chosen by the Communists as their headquarters during the German occupation. The remarkable tolerance displayed by the Germans suggests that they knew the headquarters were being prepared for eventual resistance against the British. It is known that both defensive and offensive preparations were begun there long before the liberation of Athens and it was from there that the principal Communist demonstrations were made after the liberation. Kaissariani also constituted a threat to the Kolonaki Quarter, inhabited mainly by well-to-do persons, _ affording an easy centre for pillaging expeditions. It is now occupied by recently recruited battalions of the National Guard. Germans, Bulgarians and Italians were found serving in the E.L.A.S. forces in this quarter. MORTAR BOMBS IN CROWD. Hundreds of people in a morning shopping crowd panicked when an E.L.A.S. mortar threw six bombs within a few minutes into Constitution Square, reports the British United Press correspondent. The volley exploded before the people could find cover from flying fragments which hit the sides of the Grande Brctagne Hotel, which is British Headquarters. Some were killed and some were wounded.

British artillery last night and early today fired 1000 rounds against the roads leading into Athens from the the north. The artillery laid down two smoko screens and fired 300 shells containing safe conduct pamphlets telling E.L.A.S. troops that the British were now facing them everywhere. A senior British officer directly connected with the operations in Athens and Attica, addressing Press correspondents today, expressed concern at the reactions of British troops who on receiving mail from Britain generally feel that what they are doing in Greece is seen in the wrong light at Home. The officer said: "My sole object in Athens is to restore law and order and see that every man not authorised to bear arms is deprived of them. British operations in Athens governed by two main factors: The first is that we are fighting right in the middle of a civil population and nobody wants to hurt a single innocent civilian; the second is that the number of troops needed 'depends more on the number of houses in a given district than on the number of enemy troops in the district. We have been most careful to protect the population. As we liberate them food is distributed. There is no doubt about their gratitude to us." RECAPTURING PRISON.

British infantry supported by tanks on the eastern fringes of Athens drove 1000 yards westward this morning, broke into the compound of the Averoff Prison and occupied half the prison buildings against strong resistance, reports the British United Press correspondent. The E.L.A.S. resistance was particularly fierce around a home for aged people which our troops were forced partly to destroy before they could capture it. Beuter's correspondent says that, with the whole of the southern part of Athens and more than half Piraeus thoroughly cleared of E.L.A.S. elements, British forces are now engaged in the slow and difficult process of driving the E.L.A.S. from the maze of houses in the tightly built northern districts of the capital. The British perimeter in the past two days has been pushed forward a few hundred yards in some of the stiffe-ot street fighting so far fought in Athens. E.L.A.S. resistance has been particularly fierce in the area east of the Averoff Prison.