ARMY OF GREECE SHINES

Southland Times, Issue 24338, 20 January 1941, Page 2

ARMY OF GREECE SHINES

j BRILLIANT WORK OF GUNNERS ATHENS, December 22. | Despite the stiffening of the Italian I Army with fresh drafts just arrived I from Italy, and counter-attacks in force, ; the Italians are still failing to hold the I Greeks, who are maintaining a steady pressure all along the front, and claim successes in all sectors (writes the correspondent of The Sydney Morning Herald). A feature of the campaign from the outset has been the brilliant work of the Greek gunners, who have served their pieces in country so rough that the Italians deemed artillery support impossible. The Greek push in the south has resulted in a further enemy retirement to Himara, and the abandonment of defensive positions on the Bayof Pauormos. In the north, where the Greeks have stormed further heights, Italians losses have been very heavy. The Greeks at one important point came up against nests of Italian heavy machine-guns skilfully sited along the mountainside. The Greeks manhandled light mountain guns up a precipitous ridge, and from the summit of deep snow cleaned up the nests rapidly. I Infantry then went in with bayonets i and took the position. ■ The bloodiest fighting, however, has j occurred in the Klisura sector, where, I it is believed, Italian Grenadiers of the King’s Guard have been engaged. They I put up a stiff fight, but the Greeks adI vanced with bayonets in a blinding I snowstorm and flung back the Italian j lino ARMY OF THE FIELDS There is another battlefront besides the Albanian front. It is being fought in all the fields of Greece—the fight to keep agriculture going with most of the able-bodied men called ud for .military service. Hundreds of farmers have exchanged the plough for the sword, and moderate prosperity for two drachmas, or one penny a week, which is all the Greek private gets. But the work on their farms must go on if Greece is to have i her bread. It is not an easy problem. ' Not only have the men been called up, I but in some districts also a percentage of farm animals, which do most of the farmwork in Greece, have been “called to the colours.” Tractors also have been put to sterner use. The Greek Government’s solution has been “agricultural mobilization ” Commissioners were appointed in each commune. They drew up lists of men not called up for active service, and also all women between J 8 and 60. Under the leadership of Government agricultural experts, this Army of the Fields has gone into action. Little children and aged men arc toiling beside their 1 women-folk. Their offensive, like that of their soldiers, has been crowned with success. Nearly 90 per cent, of the whole wheat area of Greece already has been sown and the sowing of other cereals is virtually completed. “Our peasants have done marvels,” said an agricultural director after completing a tour of the country areas. “Work has been going on in the fields not only in the daytime, hut also by moonlight. ” WOLVES ON BATTLEFIELD The roads to Albania are blocked by landslides and snowdrifts, sometimes three feet deep, and the terrain abounds in positions of such natural strength that a few resolute men could laugh at the efforts of armoured divisions to dislodge them. These factors, as well as the difficulty of supply and opposition by guerilla fighters of proved skill, are a tow of the hazards that a winter campaign in the Albanian mountains presents. Wolves already have been active on the snow-covered battlefields, where Italian dead lie thick. Soldiers tell gruesome stories of corpses torn by hunger-mad wolves, while many a lonely sentry outpost has had to shoot for his life to keep off the “circles of green eyes” which drew in when darkness fell. Cold is taking a terrible toll of the retreating Italians. Greek reconnoitring patrols found numerous unwounded Italians frozen to death. Others who had been slightly wounded had died from exposure.