HUNGARY'S FATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24850, 23 March 1944, Page 5

HUNGARY'S FATE

GERMANS IN CONTROL STILL SOME FIGHTING ARRESTS IN BUDAPEST (Reed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 2'2 Reports from neutral countries say that all strategic points and all communications in Hungary are now under German control. Messages from Ankara say that South-eastern Hungary has passed completely under German control as a military zone. It lias been placed under a special German military commander. The Associated Press correspondent in Berne, however," says that according to most reliable and direct reports from the Balkans, Hungarian troops are still fighting German and Rumanian forces near the south-eastern frontier of Hungary. An Hungarian radio station, operated by the military, is broadcasting regular appeals to troops to resist. Crack Battle Divisions Reuter's correspondent in Cairo save von Weichs' crack battle divisions are moving into Hungary. Von Weichs, who is the German commander in the Balkans, is believed to have arrived in Budapest. More than 6000 German soldiers controlling Budapest have already arrested about 600 prominent Hungarians, sa.vs the British United Press correspondent on the German frontier. The whereabouts of the Prime Minister, cle Kallay are not known. Some reports state that he has gone south to organise armed resistance. The German advance from Vienna, it is stated, encountered only slight resistance, but armed clashes are reported from the frontier of Rumania and Hungary. Hungarian troops and Home Guards in one place openly_ opposed German contingents attempting to penetrate Hungary from the south. Other Hungarians are reported_ to have fled to Yugoslavia, hoping to join the Partisans. ' Report of Air Raid Listeners in London say the Budapest radio has been giving out news items almost exclusively from German sources, but the bulletins otherwise contained nothing of special significance. Ihe Algiers radio says the Budapest radio last night announced that an air raid had interrupted transmission. Swedish business men who were m Budapest when the Germans occupied Hungary, say the first warning the people received was the dropping of paratroops on Hungarian airfields on Sunday morning. One traveller who has reached Sweden said that clashes occurred in some fields, but there was no organised resistance. A second traveller said that when he left his hotel on Sunday morning he found German soldiers guarding the street with machine-guns. Next day Budapest was full of German infantry with S.S. men and Hungarian Nazis searching everyone at the railway station, "probably looking for Jews."

JAPANESE SHIPS SUNK BRITISH SUBMARINES BUSY AMERICAN NAVAL SUCCESSES LONDON, March 21 An Admiralty communique reports more successful attacks on Japanese supply shipping by submarines of the Royal Xavv operating in Far Fastern waters. During recent patrols they sank seven Japanese ships, torpedoed and severely damaged one largo and one medium-sized supply ship, and drove ashore a smaller vessel which was set on fire. Off the east coast of Sumatra one action developed into a brisk gun duel with a large river steamer. The submarine scored more than 20 hits on the enemy ship and when last seen she was burning fiercely and was sinking. United States submarines have reParted the sinking of 15 vessels in operations in the Pacific and Far Fast waters, says a United States Navy Department communique. The vessels sunk consisted of one large transport, one medium transport, one large tanker, nine medium freighters, two small freighters and one medium tanker. These actions were not announced previously. The Secretary of the Navy, Colonel W. F. Knox, v said that British and American submarines were working together in the Pacific. He added, however, that the Admiralty announcement did not include any of the 15 vessels reported in the American communique. The skill of American submarine crews, he concluded, was increasing in such n rate that they were outdistanclnK, the improved Japanese anti-sub-Ifiarine technique*.