GREEK CLAIMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25030, 21 October 1944, Page 7

GREEK CLAIMS

AWARD OF TERRITORIES ATHENS DEMONSTRATION KING'S RETURN OPPOSED (Reed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON. Oct. 20 The Prime Minister of Greece, M. Papandreou, addressing a vast crowd in the centre of Athens yes terday, made a strong national appeal. He demanded that Cyprus, the Dodecanese Islands. Northern Epirus (South Albania) and also considerable Bulgarian territories should be handed over to Greece, says Reuter's Athens correspondent. The crowd wildly cheered his claims, hut frequently interrupted with shouts of "No King, but rule by the people." Slogans demanding democracy, work and cheap bread were displayed. Thousands of Guerillas Thousands of guerillas marched through the city to the music of bands; hut no disturbances are reported. The correspondent adds that the whole parade was a most impressive demonstration for the Allies, for the E.A.M. and for democracy, but it was definitely against the King. King George of Greece, broadcasting from London to the Greeks on the occasion of the liberation of Athens, asked his people to continue the struggle for liberty and to remain united and obedient to the lawful Government. "Greece," he said, "must not lose in the diplomatic field the rights she has earned by her struggles and sacrifices. With absolute confidence in the support of our great Allies, 1 shall stop u,t nothing to safeguard Greece's just demands."

Lieutenant-Colonel Karl Jellicoe, son of a former Governor-General of New Zealand, Admiral Jellicoe, is the most popular figure in Athens today, according to correspondents. He commanded the small band of British troops which made their way to Athens over 28 miles of blown-up roads from the little airfield at Megara, to the west of Athens, winch they had captured a .few days before. Colonel Jellicoe entered Athens on a bicycle and the city went mad with joy when he and his troops arrived. Departures From Salonika Reports received from Ankara concur in describing the frantic efforts which the Germans are making to extricate their troops who are trapped in the Balkans, either by the only route which is left open to them through Bosnia and Croatia or by air, says the Times correspondent in Ankara. The correspondent adds that large troopcarrier planes arrive nightly at Salonika and take off for Austria immediately full of troops. Balkan Air Force Beaufighters made rocket attacks on ten vessels in Salonika Bay. Hits were scored on a warship, a merchant ship, six landing craft and a trawler •■'.-•

CESENA ENTERED EIGHTH ARMY IN ITALY ASSAULT BY INDIANS (Reed. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. -20 Indian troops of the Eighth Army in Italy have entered Cesena. They smashed their way into the outskirts from two directions. A reporter who watched the troops fight their way up the hill on which the town stands says the Germans opposed them strongly, but our dive-bombers assisted the ground troops in the attack. British troops of the Fifth Army have captured several-important hill features south of Bologna. Americans have cleared the Germans from another town.

REIGN OF TERROR MASSACRES IN ITALY OFFICIAL ALLIED WARNING LONDON, Oct. 19 "The fact that Italian patriots in some villages may have attacked Germans is no justification in any court of law for carrying out mass reprisals against the civilian population or for killing people without regular trial and sentence," was the warning given by General Sir Harold Alexander, Allied Commander-in-Chief in Italy, over the Rome radio to German troops in North Italy. "German officers and men who carry out such orders," he continued, "will be tried bv military courts."Giving instances of typical atrocities. General Alexander said the Hermann Goering Division in the village of Spira murdered a six-months-old baby and a woman aged 84. In the village of Civitella the same division machinegunned the whole male population, including a priest, aged 80, and the bodies were thrown into burning houses. Some of Kesselring's few remaining planes are being used to shower over the North Italian countryside leaflets which mark the climax of the German reign of terror in Italy, says the Daily Telegraph correspondent in Italy. One paragraph in the leaflet reads: "Every place where it is proved that there are partisans, where German soldiers are attacked or sabotage is committed, •will be burned to the ground. In addition all male inhabitants of the area over 18 years old will be shot, and women and girls will be interned in labour camps." The leaflets are signed "Commander-in-Chief, German Armed Forces." The correspondent savs they will be damning evidence when war criminals are brought to trial. RIOTING IN SICILY ALLEGATION OF SEDITION (Reed. 9.15 p.m ) LONDON, Oct. 20 Renter's Rome correspondent reports that 16 persons were killed and 104 wounded during noting in Palermo, Sicily, yesterday, when Italian troops fired on a crowd of workers demanding better living conditions. The Italian Government issued a statement that the rioting was instigated by seditious elements (probably meaning' Sicilian Separatists) who egged on the demonstrators. Shots were fired at army detachments, which were compelled to return fire. Router's correspondent points out that for some time the Sicilian Separatist Movement has been exploiting the island's growing economic difficulties in order to assist the agitation for its complete detachment from Italy.

MURDERS IN POLAND

GERMAN BREACH OF FAITH LONDON. Oct. If) The Polish Government in London has received reports of a new wave of German mass murders in Poland. The Germans said they would treat the Warsaw population humanely, but it is now disclosed that they have sent 12,000 people from the city to a notorious concentration camp. Large numbers of the internees in this camp are being killed in gas chambers.

NO LORD MAYOR'S SHOW (Reed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON. Oct. '2O There will he no Lord .Mayor's show in London in 1944. according to a decision made by the aldermen. The Lord Mayor said the show was not appropriate in wartime. "His Majesty has asked us to cut down ■ ceremonial parades," he stated. "Moreover, there is no absolute guarantee that the flying bomb menace in the daytime is completely over" '