MORE TROOPS ARRIVE

Southland Times, Issue 25547, 15 December 1944, Page 5

MORE TROOPS ARRIVE

REINFORCEMENTS IN ACTION GENERAL SITUATION UNCHANGED (8.0.W.) RUGBY, December U. Lieutenant-General R. M. Scobie’s communique states: “There is little change in the general situation. The rebels, who are continuing offensive action, launched two determined attacks before dawn this morning. These attacks, which were directed against the Greek brigade in the eastern section and the British troops near the centre of the city, were both held. Further reinforcements arrived last night and were in action early this morning. Some progress has been made at Piraeus, but elsewhere in the city all activities yesterday were confined to clearing snipers from the areas already occupied by our troops. , The R.A.F. in support of ground troops silenced a 75-m.m. gun firing on the centre of the city. In another sortie, a rebel ammunition dump was attacked and hits obtained. There is no change in the situation elsewhere in Greece. Tension continues in the Salonika and Patras areas and there is considerable movement of guerrilla formations throughout the country, concludes the communique. The Greek Government is reported to have recalled from exile General Nicholas Plastiras, who played an important part in politics between the two great wars. GREEK BLOOD SPILLED The ELAS radio said that Lieutenant General Scobie desired to fight against the Greek people who had sacrificed everything for the Allies. “British soldiers have been turned into disciples of the German Security Battalion. They are drenching Athens with the blood of Greeks.” Correspondents report that the water problem in the capital is now acute. The question of feeding the Greeks has assumed major proportions. Relief columns carrying food have been brought to a standstill. The Associated Press says heavy explosions shook the centre of the city when ELAS forces late today started using trams loaded with dynamite against British tanks and paratroops. They turned the trams loose on rails headed for the opposing forces. More Greek regulars from the Middle East arrived in Athens today. Additional Greek National Guard classes have been called up. REBEL DEFIANCE “We shall fight on if it means smashing down all Athens,” shouted members of ELAS last night, answering Lieutenant General Scobie’s statement to M. Miltiades Porphyrogenis, setting out the peace terms. It is reported authoritatively that the object of last night’s raid on the British barracks was the release of 90 ELAS officers who were taken prisoner in the recent fighting. The British and Greek Naval Headquarters, which was previously besieged, has been brought into the British perimeter on Kallipolis peninsula, where Indian troops hold most of the main part of Piraeus. The Athens correspondent of The Times says desperate tactics are now being used in the fighting. The ELAS men surrounded the house of the Greek Chief of Staff and carried out his wife to be held with hundreds of other women as hostages. On the other side, the police carried out wholesale arrests and their stations and concentration camps are almost full, mostly with the wrong persons. It is almost getting to the point where anyone with Leftist sympathies is in danger of arrest. Fortunately, the presence of British officers at the police stations prevents beatings which were the order of the day earlier. BRITISH PRESTIGE IN DANGER (Rec. 10.45 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 14. The Times in an editorial on Greece, said it was inconceivable that the British liberation armies, in the event of a lasting deadlock, should be asked to coerce or conquer a section of liberated Allied people, which a few weeks ago was engaged in active, gallant resistance against the Germans. The alternative of continuing or extending the present hostilities indefinitely, with probably consequences of uniting and consolidating the extremist elements of EAM and ELAS and rallying many Greek patriots whatever their politics to the new resistance, cannot be contemplated. Considerations of British prestige must now become involved in the military success or failure of these operations, which already threaten seriously to harm British standing in the alliance and in liberated Europe where until now it has been justly hopefully high. The alternatives are ultimately a peace withdrawal. A withdrawal without pacification, says The Times, would in itself be a disaster for both Greece and Britain.