Greeks' Gallant Stand

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23809, 9 November 1940, Page 1 (Supplement)

Greeks' Gallant Stand

THE Greeks have always loved freedom. I have heard one or two men ask why Greece has bothered to resist the treacherous attack of the Italians. To ask that question is to ignore the Greek character and to forget what makes a people great—the unconquerable will to survive, no matter how great the odds. That fierce determination bathes the Poles in a glory revealed in an ever stronger light since the fall of Warsaw. It would be strange if the Greeks, whose ancestors gave mankind the priceless heritage'of art and philosophy, liad not preserved an even more precious bequest—love of liberty. Criticise them as you will—and both Poles and Greeks have much to learn of politics—no nations deserve more than thev an honoured status in the new Europe. Greece did nothing to provoke Mussolini's attack. Circumspection could not have gone further, foreign newspapers had been suppressed and in their place the Propaganda Ministry issued a small sheet in English, French, German and Italian; to preserve impartiality the order of the languages was rotated. All public demonstrations of sympathy with any belligerent was rigidly prohibited. Such care was of no avail. A wanton attack was suddenly loosed by the Italian army. Innocents Killed That wicked man, Mussolini, had once before ordered the killing of innocent Greek women and children. We are so used to seeing these things in print, so accustomed to living in a land where such things do not happen, that our indignation is apt to be momentary and to pass in the current of our daily lives Not so the Greeks, who are good haters. In 1923, because an Italian general had been shot by brigands on Greek soil, Mussolini, without waiting for an explanation. sent some of'his warships to shell innocent people in Corfu. This terrible vengeance is parallel with the shelling of Almeria by a German squadron in the Spanish Civil War. Both the Italian and German navies delight in slaughtering the weak, the helpless and the innocent. The Greek Government

Their Country

a New for B Attacks

was forced to pay a ridiculously largcindeinirity for an act in which it had liu responsibility. In August of this year, in the midsi of a religious celebration, and while she was lying peacefully at anchor, a Greek cruiser was suddenly torpedoed. An Italian submarine did this. Mussolini lias a habit of choosing sacred days for the commission of his crimes.' Albania was suddenly seized on a Good Friday. The Helle was sunk on an occasion holy to the Greeks. Yet after other acts of intimidation, alter abuse from the .Rome radio and dire threats in the Italian press, Mussolini's pressure on Greece suddenly relaxed. The dictator was not quite ready. The Greek Government showed so determined a stand that it was deemed expedient, first to disrupt Rumania, and then to "protect" the pitiful remnant of that country. Yugoslavia was thus immobilised and German soldiers brought to the borders of Bulgaria, whoso people brood over ancient wrongs at the hands of the Greeks and the Serbs. The Balkan Entente had received a grievous blow. Of its four members, Rumania had ceased to exist. Yugoslavia. had entered the economic orbit of Germany and only Greece and Turkey were left. Bulgaria, lacking an outlet to the Aegean, was reported to he contemplating a march through Greek territory to the port of Dedeagatch. Greece redoubled her military precautions. A further sixty thousand men had already been called up. and their training was pressed forward. The cost of mobilisation bore heavily 011 the Sreeks, whose countrv is poor and ivhose exports are in luxury goods—tobacco and currants. Unscrupulous

Gerinhn trading methods had almost made Greece the economic slave of the Reich until after the of the war last September Great Britain came, to the rescue by buying up Greek products. Nevertheless, the times were bad for Greece, whose tourist trade was gone, and whose mercantile marine was ruthlessly sunk by the Axis navies. All the more credit, then, for the steadfast resistance by General Metaxas to Italian pressure. Although they defend passionately their external freedom the Greeks, strong individualists as they are, have reluctantly yielded their internal privileges to a dictator, General Metaxas. He enjoys the confidence of the King, whose policy lias been uniformly pro-British. George 11. lived for many years in exile in London where he was a wellknown figure in fashionable society. His father, Constantine, a notorious proGerman, lost his crown in 1917 for his pains, only to return_ in. 1920 after his son, Alexander, had died from a monkey, bite. Constantine saw his armies hurled in defeat from Asia Minor, and went into exile a second time. The throne remained vacant until the accession of the present monarch in 1935. Although King George, has inherited none of the' pro-Cermah tendencies of his father,-unjust suspicions rested on General Metaxas. A very able staff officer, the General was trained in Germany, was closely associated with Constantino, and has ruled his countrymen with a strong hand. But while he has deprived the press of its liberty,' a long history of discord has shown that the Greeks needed discipline, and the regime of the General has greatly improved the finances and agriculture of his country. If his rule is absolute, it has been fiercely patriotic, and has copied little from Nazism or Fascism. General Metaxas rejected unhesitat--1 ingly the ultimatum of the Italian

By HARRY MAITLAND

Government. Never a, pro-Italian,' his resistance to Hitler will be as resolute, should the occasion arise, as his prese'nfc stand against Mussolini. In their struggle against the aggressor, the Greeks fight to secure territory of which they have wrongfully l>een deprived l — Dodecanese Islands—some of whicii Italy had jjromised them in 1920, The promise was not fulfilled. The Italian occupation of this group has been a menace to our Mediterranean communications, to the Greek peninsula, and to the Turkish mainland. Although we accepted the Italian control of the Dodecanese in 1913, we have done so'reluctantly, and will relieve both Turkey and Greece of a load of anxiety when we wrench the islands from Mussolini. Turkey may well judge us by our campaign in tiie Aegean.' • •' The issue of the present struggle between Greece and Italy is watched anxiously by the Turks. The terms of the Balkan Entente %do not bind Turkey to come to the aid of Greece unless Bulgaria, should join the Italians. In 1937 Kemal Ataturk declared^,that whoever had designs on Greek frontiers would expose himself to the "burning rays of the. sun. So far the rays have flashed only from the suns of Greece and Britain. Indeed, .by the Anglo-French-Turkish agreement of last year, Turkey became bound tgiSght' on' our side once we were called on to fulfil our guarantee to Greece. She is probably released from this obligation by the defection of France, and in any event is not compelled to fight if entry into the conflict -would involve her in war with the Soviet.

Meantime the Greeks fight gallantly on, their country a base_ for British attacks on Italy., Mussolini, by. his act of wanton aggression, has roused', a flame which he may yet find impossible to extinguish. , .