YUGOSLAV FEARS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 19 April 1939, Page 7

YUGOSLAV FEARS

AXIS POWERS’ PLAN MORE "PROTECTION” UNIFYING RIVAL PARTIES ) FA— Hv fSlecirv I r«uh -Oopvngh BELGRADE. 12th April. The Yugoslavian Government is thoroughly alarmed at the European outlook, but, like other small nations, has learned not to play into the hands of the Axis Powers by allowing the people to become alarmed and engage in demonstrations that might provide an opportunity for intervention.

The news that Italian war material is being shipped to Albania far in excess of what is needed to subdue the Albanians has had a most disturbing effect. The Yugoslavs fully realise that at the best they have an additional frontier to guard, and that at the j worst they are cut off from help by i sea and as tightly held in the pincers j of the Axis Powers as Poland. I KEEPING PEOPLE CALM I j In pursuance of the policy of keep- : ir.g the people calm, the Yugoslavian newspapers have published only the barest details of the Albanian invasion, with nothing except Government-in-spired comment. I This declares that Italy has given I an assurance to Yugoslavia that the present measures are provisional, and that the situation will become normal as soon as Italian interests have been guaranteed. The Italian aggression has unified the Yugoslav people, who genuinely fear that they may be the next victims. CROATS AND SERBS One observer at Zagreb, the Croatian capital, says that he has never known the Croats to be so closely in sympathy with the Serbs. Rival leaders are hastening to reach an agreement on points which have hitherto divided Croats and Serbs. The Premier, M. Zvetkovich, is again conferring with Dr. Machek, the \ owerful Croat! Peasant Party leader. At the same time, the people seem J to be fatalistic. They believe that an j Axis plan exists whereby Germany will | take under her “protection” Slovenia j and Croatia, and Italy will take Dal-j matia, leaving Serbia as it was in 1914. j The people, however, do not seem to I think that the time for carrying out such a plan has yet arrived. All say. nevertheless, that Yugoslavia will not join the Axis and will not yield any territory without a fight.