INTO ALBANIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24491, 27 December 1940, Page 6

INTO ALBANIA

THE GREEK ADVANCE TRAPPING OF THE ITALIANS JOURNALISTS NARRATIVE t I swung by a rope over a blown-up bridge into Albania, becoming the first British correspondent to cross the Greek frontier since the war. wrote James Aldridge in a despatch from Albania to the Sydney Sun recently. The roads I followed to reach here are littered with Italian equipmentsmashed tanks and cars, and everything I have seen bears witness to tne hastiness and completeness of their rptrcst Alone the road where 1 am writing Greek guerrillas have advanced from 10 to 20 miles. There is the sound of bombing and firing, as this is being written, and Italian planes are flying overhead. On and over the border bridge, on • the Greek side of it, Italian equipment is strewn around, and also is Uttered inside a rough stone church. The equipment was the property of 47th Divisional Mortar Battalion, which had made the church its headquarters. The church yard is bloodstained now, and contains fresh graves 'of Italian soldiers. Bridge Wrecked Most of the battalion surrendered when they crossed the bridge. They were cut off when the Greeks blew it up and poured down on them from all sides. Further along, on this side of the border, there is an Albanian bridge blown up and Italian dead scattered about. _ To get here I had to cross Greece s highest mountain range in the dead of night through a rainstorm, the road running beside terrifying drops Then, early in the morning, m misty light, I set out for the final run to the border. Immediately through the fog we heard Italian planes. A soldier ordered me to camouflage the car, so I rubbed mud on the nickel Darts and put bushes on top of it. . Later, more Italian planes passed over and dropped bombs on either side of the road, which t winding, precipitous, and muddy, dotted with craters, mostlv caused by 501 b bombs. Bombs also fell in empty fields and on small villages . They were obviously dropped from a great height because of the mountains. Later, the Italians came over again and bombed the road ahead of us. We met a general returning from the front who said that the Italians were still retreating and the Greeks pushing forward. Caught at Crossroads He told us to watch out for a couple of tanks at the crossroads ahead. We found the crossroads, surrounded by bomb craters. The Italians-had come this far a few days ago, stopped at the crossroads, and sent out tanks to scout. The tanks actually had gone ahead and taken a small village. Then the Greeks brought in artillery and smashed them up. The Italian infantrymen behind the tanks were caught, and they fought as they retreated. Along the road where/this happened, I saw the smashed, burned-out tanks and cars. Clips of machine-gun cartridges strewn everywhere showed the hastiness of the flight. Boxes of small arms ammunition were still lying beside the road. We bumped across a couple of bomb craters and asked the road guard could we continue. "Sure," he replied in English. "There's a busted bridge you'll have to be careful of." Strewn with Equipment We crawled along, yard by yard, in the rain, ready to - leave the car quickly, because we had been warned of fighting ahead. Suddenly the sun burst out. We stopped dead, looked and listened, but there was no fighting, so we continued until we found a Greek soldier. We asked him. "Where's the fighting?" He replied: "Over there in Albania." and pointed the way. We passed more strewn Italian equipment, also newly-built small defences and rnachine i gujh posts at-'the roadside. . We skidded down a'steep incline, passing more bomb craters. Here shots echoed across the hill, and more bombers passed ovet. Then we looked out over a great winding river in a red sea of foliage, and found the smashed bridge and the little church that the Italians had stripped and used as headquarters, as I have described. Beyond this was Albania. Here the fighting is going on all day. and the Italians are retreating fast. I had doubted this, but the littered equipment behind me in Greece, and before me in Albania, proves the completeness of their retreat. The Italians here are using mixed troops, including some Bersaglieri. most of whom had been Stationed in Albania for some time. I found letters, pictures and papers from wives in Italy strewn in the Albanian mud. Fighting in the* Hills Fighting now is in the hills, just ahead of this border place, and the roads are the centres of the fighting. Greek soldiers here told me that the roads get worse further into Albania Judging by the difficulties I had getting here"}'l should say that the Italians have had a terrific job. Captured tractors, cars and motor cycles are always coming back. A train of mules passed me a while ago, captured from the Italians in Albania They were carrying Breda machine guns, which the Greeks quickly put I back into. use. \ Looking at the inventories of Italian regiments, picked up here, it seems that most of the transport in this direction had been with mules, and the mules are .the quickest in the long run. '. As the rains streak across the high Albanian mountains, it is becoming more difficult for the Italians to .use their aircraft.