LACK OF FOOD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 16 May 1941, Page 5

LACK OF FOOD

PRISONERS OF WAR IN GREECE TO BE TRANSFERRED TO GERMANY GRIM CONDITIONS IN OCCUPIED COUNTRY [U. P.A.-By Electric Telegraph-Copyright] London, May 15. The British United Press has learned from a neutral correspondent that British and Anzac prisoners of war at Corinth, Greece, are not getting enough to eat. A group | of the prisoners stated that within four days they had received only a J little rice and soup. i The camp commandant admitted that the food conditions were bad, and said : it was because of a shortage through- . out Peloponnesos, but this was temporary. He added that the prisoners would : soon be transferred to Germany. In addition to British and Anzacs the Corinth camp accommodates 1000 mem- i bers of a Jewish labour battalion, some refugees from Germany, four Yugoslav ; generals, and 1000 Yugoslav officers and Conditions in Gestapo-ruled Greece are very grim, says the Istanbul correspondent of “The Times.” The food situation is growing worse daily, speci- . ally 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. PEOPLE SEVERELY OPPRESSED Many Greek towns, except Athens, have been seriously bombed, rendering the housing problem acute, particularly because of the flood of refugees from Macedonia and Thrace. The Germans are doing their utmost to enlist support for the puppet government, but the public’s attitude is iliusti’ated by an injunction by the Athens radio that any cheering of British prisoners of war is being severely punished. The Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that a specious moderation which was shown in the early days of the German occupation of Greece is being dropped in favour of a progressively ruthless dragooning of the population. Several Greeks have been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for offering cigarettes to British prisoners, and the Germans have announced the death penalty for sheltering British soldiers. The puppet leader, General Killakoglu, has announced that all persons concerned with the Metaxas regime will be tried by a military council for preparing war against Germany.