ATTACKS ON SOFIA

Otaki Mail, 15 December 1943, Page 1

ATTACKS ON SOFIA

BRING HOME REALITIES OF WAR LONDON, Dec. 13. | ‘‘Both the Bulgarian army and the ! Parliamentary Opposition are demandI ing that the Bulgarian Government take Bulgaria out of the war or make way for a popular Government, ’ ’ said a Bulgarian colonel who has just arrived at Istanbul frem Sofia. He added: ‘‘The crisis in Bulgaria is due to the army’s opposition to the Government’s pro-German policy. The Parliamentary Opposition voted a lack of confidence in the Regency, which it declared was too pro-Nazi.” The Associated Press’s Ankara correspondent says that the puppet Bulgarian Government, backed by German police, is fighting the incipient revolt, while the Nazis tighten the last screws in the Balkan defence machine. The Bulgarian crisis w r as created by an implied threat from the Teheran and Cairo conferences that the Allies will soon he striking at the Balkans, and the conviction that the Russians can no longer be expected to save Bulgaria from the responsibility of helping Germany to dominate the Balkans. The recent air attacks against Sofia have brought home to Bulgaria the realities of war and convinced the people that their lives and property are. endangered by the Government’s alliance with Germany, and the country faces a real catastrophe if the alliance is not broken. According to the Paris radio, Sofia was again bombed on Saturday night. The Budapest radio stated that several time-bombs exploded in Sofia on Saturday, 24 hours after the Allied raid on Friday, causing considerable material damage but no casualties, as the areas had previously been evacuated. A German official has called upon P.umania, Hungary and Bulgaria to give a clear answer to Mr. Cordell Hull’s warning to these countries. The German News Agency’s diplomatic correspondent (Dr. Horn) stated that the enemy recognised the hopelessness of attempts to impress the German people by paper manifestos and was now try- I ing to lever Germany’s smaller allies from the front line. These allies have replied to the sugary offers from ; Teheran in a fashion which already I anticipates their answer to Mr. Hull’s threat with a whip. Berlin nevertheless considers that a reply to this direct enemy attempt to put pressure on them would be a valuable contribution to the manifestations of Saturday of solidarity in Europe and East Asia.