GREECE PREPARING MILITARY RESISTANCE TO ALLIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16098, 11 December 1915, Page 7

GREECE PREPARING MILITARY RESISTANCE TO ALLIES.

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST A COMMERCIAL BLOCKADE. SEA ROUTES SWARMING WITH GERMAN SUBMARINES. CONSTANTINE TEMPORISING TILL PREPARATIONS FINISHED Times and Sydney Sun Service*. (Received December 10. 8.30 p.m.) London, December 9. Uncerisored despatches from Greece emphasise that Greece is preparing military resistance to allied compulsion, if necessary, also resistance to the blockade. Reports agree that preparations against a commercial blockade are being carried out with the utmost rapidity and on the largest scale. German agents state that the chief Greek commercial sea routes are thoroughly protected by submarines. The seizure of Captain Leslie Wilson, M.P., and Lieutenant-Colonel Napier, former British military attache at Sofia, from the Creek steamer Spetzai, was probably intended as a dramatic coup which would revive wavering Greek confidence in German submarines. The pro-German press in Athens is teeming with Austrian and German interviews with General von Hindenburg and other military chiefs, promising that Britain's turn to feel the weight of German anger has now arrived. These factors combined render Greece less anxious to agree to the allies' requirements. King Constantino and M. Scouloudis, the Premier, are temporising until German preparations make it safe for Greece to come in on the German side, while every possible annoyance is placed in the way of the allies at Salonika, The Adriatic coast of Sicily is alive with submarines, which are stopping Greek steamers between Patras and Messina and arresting British travellers. The first British traveller was captured on Saturday, and this is likely to lead to diplomatic intervention. German spies in Athens undoubtedly succeed in ascertaining the status of travellers and the route of steamers, and communicate the information to the enemy's base. The action of the submarine which stopped the Spetzia was utterly illegal, as no blockade existed. It was a large German submarine, flying the Austrian flag.