METHODICAL GREEK ADVANCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 31 December 1940, Page 5

METHODICAL GREEK ADVANCE

PROGRESS TOWARDS BERAT ITALIAN COUNTER-ATTACK REPULSED j BERSAGLIERI TROOPS DEFEATED > [British Official Wireless J 'Received 31st December, 10.2 a.m.) RUGBY, 30th December. According to the latest information available in military circles in London the Greeks have made further small advances towards Herat and also went of Tepclene along the road to Valona. The Italians have made a counter-attack in the Pogradec area, which the Greeks repulsea. The Athens official spokesman referred last night night to the defeat of another Italian attempt to halt the methodical Greek advance which is being made quietly and efficiently under the most difficult conditions of the country and the weather. According to this statement some Bersaglieri troops were brought specially by aeroplane from Itaiy to make a counter drive along the road from Berat towards Klisura and Kelcyre. The Greeks are at Dobrushe, a village some fifteen miles south-east of Berat. The Bersaglieri were heavily defeated by the Greeks. TANKS USED BY ITALIANS ATHENS, 29th December. A Government spokesman announced that the Greeks captured three villages northward of Himara after storming the mountains dominating them. Tha rtalians. including Bersaglieri specially flown in, were heavily defeated north of Kelcyra, where the Italians used tanks in an attempt to drive along the Kelcyra-Berat road. LONDON, 29th December. A Greek communique states that local operations of limited scope were successful, and prisoners were taken. The Ministry of Security stated that Italians retreating from Himara took ten prominent Greek citizens as hostages. A correspondent of the Belgrade newspaper ‘Politika,” on the frontier, stated that Greek advanced forces penetrated close to Lin on Lake Okhrida, launched an offensive at 2 a.m. on 28th December, and continued to attack relentlessly until they were within a mile of Lin. with the advance guard fighting on the outskirts. The Greeks, despite heavy losses, outflanked the town and surrounding mountain passes, fighting in snow. A Greek Government spokesman said that another Greek offensive has been • launched to the north-west of Himara.l Mountain patrols have broken the Ita-1 lian defences and occupied the heights, though storms are making attack increasingly difficult. The Italian rearguard fought hard to ccver the retreat.