Greek Joy Bells Ring Again: Himara Falls

Northern Advocate, 26 December 1940, Page 5

Greek Joy Bells Ring Again: Himara Falls

LONDON, December 25,

In a communique issued from Athens, Greek headquarters states: “We occupied Himara and compelled the surrender of the 141st Battalion of Blackshirts, consisting of 29 officers and 677 men. “We also took prisoner the commander and staff from a Bersaglieri battalion, and captured a quantity of material.” Church bells throughout Greece are again ringing for victory and towns are bedecked with flags for the Greek capture of Himara. The town fell after an all-day battle and intense artillery bombardment for 48 hours. The Italians abandoned large quantities of material, but in spite of their haste to evacuate the town they carried off several prominent people. The Blackshirts taken prisoner at Himara were part of the special forces sent to Albania early this month in order to. stiffen Italian resistance. The British and Greek naval excursions into the Adriatic have had an important effect on Italian morale. Drivers of army cars and lorries from Valona spread the story of the British naval bombardment, which profoundly impressed the troops, who felt they were being struck from the rear. The Greeks are inflicting heavy losses on the crumbling Italian formations defending the line to the right of Himara. The Greeks in the Klisura sector have occupied heights rendering the passes useless. Hard fighting in bitterly cold weather continues on many parts of the northern fronts, where Greek advance guards found more Italians frozen beside their machineguns or dying in holes in the snow.