AXIS DESTRUCTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 29 October 1941, Page 5

AXIS DESTRUCTION

BITTER DESTITUTION IN GREECE (OMMI’NK ATIONS HKHAK DOWN LAND DIVIDIgD INTO TlllllCK PARTS London, Oct.. 27. The Axis has reduced no country except. Poland to such bitter destitution as Greece, says a special correspondent of ‘‘The The invading Italians burnt , many towns in the Epirus, and their air attacks greatly damaged Corfu. Cephalonia. Salonika, Pi--1 raeus, Patras, Kastoria, Volo and Larissa. The Germans wrought j destruction throughout the country. The Luftwaffe destroyed or - heavily damaged 2.i towns. The German land operations caused equally extensive devastation, , because' the Germans were compelled to fight down the whole 1 length of the country. Land communications were completely , broken down, and the losses of Greek shipping were enormous. I The i onquernrs divided the* desolate . land into three zones. Bulgaria took western Thrace and eastern Macedonia to Struma, including the island of Thasos and Samothrace, and the Germans retained central Macedonia, with Salonika. Elmnos, Mitvlene and Chios. ' The Italians nominally took over the remainder, but the Germans retained ■ control of the most important strategic points and all aerodromes, and they 'maintain a substantial number of troops I in the Italian area. GREEKS FOR SERVICE The Bulgarians are vigorously denationalising arid exterminating the -1.000.000 Greeks in their area, where ■ no Bulgarian had lived for 20 years. * Tlie Bulgarians have caile 1 up Greeks - for service in the Bulgarian army and deported many to Bulgaria for labour service. The German and Italian areas "f occupation arc* virtually one. be cause the Germans have the upper hand The Greek population receives only what food is left over from the oceif : piers needs. Athenians often faint in the streets for lack of food. The famine particularly severe in the islands be - cause of the seizure of shipping and J the indifference of the Axis to the fate | of the communities which are thus cut 1 j off. The Greeks are carrying on svs- ! lemalic guerrilla warfare and destruc 1 ! ion ol A 1 i is frequent. 1 The strength of the Greek resistance L ’ necessitates the presence of 15 Italian - ''‘lid three German divisions in addition to the large Bulgarian forces in the Bulgar occupied territory. BRITISH PRESS COMMENT The condemnation by Mr Churchill and President Roosevelt of the Nazi frightfulness in the murclor of inno , cent hostages has received unanimous approval throughout Britain. Emphasis 1 is laid on the fact that both the Brit “ n»h and American declaration contain " the word “retribution "; in President Roosevelt’s words] the Nazis are __ only sowing “the seeds of hatred ’ which will one day bring a fearful retriDEEIBERATE PUBLICITY . The Press also draws attention to I the deliberate nature of the Nazi , policy. "The Times’’ says; "The caljulated fj-ic'Lifulness of the- Nazi re- ; prisais in France for the assassination of two German officers is the culmination of the campaign of terror which 1 has been raging for many months through German-occupied Europe. This is no case of atrocities resting on hearsay evidence. These are deeds officially announced, justified and boasted of by the Hitler agents." Tlie “Manchester Guardian'' says: ■ "The importance of these latest crimes c not. in the blacker guilt, for it would ' be impossible even for the Nazis to t ; surpass their crimes but in the de >' liberate publicity. Some of the worst cruelties they have practised clse- '• herei were screened froi ll Western 1 i yes. Only gradually have the tales - of wrong from Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia reached the L ' . Western world. In this case the Nazis * described publicly and formally the s crime they meditated before they earc : rierl it out. • s I "They tell the whole world that the * ! basis of their ‘new order’ in Europe is '• mass murder.”—U.P.A.