SEETHING UNREST

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24034, 4 August 1941, Page 7

SEETHING UNREST

' OCCUPIED COUNTRIES SABOTAGE INCREASING WORRIES FOR GERMANS (Rpcd. 0.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 2 News reaching London from various sources and areas' of Germanoccupied territory in Europe suggests that the anti-Nazi activities of the people of these countries is on the increase, says a British official wireless message. • The vast scale of the war against Russia must have compelled Germany to mobilise the largest forces that were in her power in the eastern front, and it is considered in London as certain that the German forces in occupied territory must have been reduced to the limit that the Nazi authorities deemed safe. It is considered doubtful, indeed, if Germany possesses manpower sufficient to police the whole of occupied Europe and at the same time conduct a full-scale war against Russia. Balkan Situation For instance, the news that General List has been sent from the Russian front to Athens has confirmed impressions that the Germans are seriously worried about the situation in the Balkans, and that they doubt the ability of their satellites to perform properly the duties of gendarmes in the conquered countries. Reports agree that Yugoslavia, ! Greece and even Bulgaria are seething with unrest. Yugoslav rebel bands are increasingly active in committing sabotage, and it is reported that the Germans have been forced to send 25,000 men back into the country to maintain order.

Reports show that the Greeks, too, are becoming restive. The Germans have given up sounding alarms of Royal Air Force raids on aerodromes in Greece because they have become occasions for popular rejoicing, with cheering crowds surging on to the roofs of houses. The Germans also fear that the situation in Bulgaria might get uncomfortable if their failure in Russia becomes more pronounced. Strikes in Holland Elsewhere in occupied territories, resistance is crystallising. , A wave of strikes is sweeping Holland, and the Dutch people are successfully preventing the Germans from transporting food from Holland to Germany. A number of journalists have been arrested and some papers have been suspended. Workers in armament factories are reported to have been turning out faulty arms, and in this connection many arrests have been made. Acts of sabotage by Belgian workmen are also said to be becoming almost commonplace. In Denmark, the secret police have their hands full in investigating the cutting of the surface cables of the German Wehrmacbt, especially in Jutland. Antipathy toward the Germans is now so pronounced that occupying troops have been heard to complain that their lot is harder than that of their comrades in Poland and Czechosolvakia, because the people of Denmark are just like ice. Clash in Norway It is reported that a fight developed between German marines and civilians in the port of Aalesund, Norway, when Norwegians tried to prevent the deportation of about 70 hostages collected from the city and its environs, who were to be taken away in a guarded steamer at a secret time. The latest issues of an illegal Norwegian newspaper, Det Frif Norge, have been printed and distributed in amazingly large editions, and it is reported that no Norwegian newspaper ever attained a higher circulation. The paper appears regularly and attempts by the Gestapo to stop it have' been completely fruitless. In spite of repeated raids on printers in Oslo and observation of persons believed to be connected with Det Frif Norge, the paper is still appearing uninterruptedly. To-day's announcement by the Reich Commissioner for occupied Norwegian territories, that a state of emergency exists throughout Norway, under which martial law can be proclaimed over the whole country, will therefore cause no surprise. DUMMY WARSHIPS

AIRCRAFT TARGET PRACTICE (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 1 The United States Government intends to build four dummy warships to serve as practice targets for stratosphere warplanes. An army spokesman said the vessels, which will cost £312,500 each, will be 125 feet long, with a speed of 20 knots. Each will carry a crew of 40. The ships will be provided with flat decks of extra thickness to prevent penetration by the sandbombs used in target practice. ARK ROYAL AGAIN ("Reed. 6.35 p.m.) LONDON, August 3 The Borne radio claims that the aircraft carrier Ark Royal was among the British warships damaged when 416 Italian aeroplanes attacked a British convoy in the 'Mediterranean recently. TRAIN DERAILMENT (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, August 2 It is reported from Sofia that a diplomatic train carrying the Vichy Government's Ambassador' to Moscow, M. Bergcry, was derailed between Dragoman and Carribod. No one was injured.