DEAD BODIES IN STREETS

Southland Times, Issue 25548, 16 December 1944, Page 5

DEAD BODIES IN STREETS

BOYS FIGHT FOR ELAS BITTER FEELING NOW EVIDENT (Rec. 10.30 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 15. Dead bodies lie in the streets of no-man’s-land in Athens and debris fills the roads, says a correspondent of the British United Press who has just reached central Athens after being trapped in no-man’s-land for three days. The dead include women. Some bodies lie in the streets for days before they can be removed. Hundreds of refugees, many of whom are searching for food, move through the streets at night time. The food problem is serious around the fighting zones but some shops appear to be open with an improvised rationing scheme. ELAS is using a church as a hospital in which the correspondent counted 160 wounded. Fourteen-year-old boys are fighting with ELAS. They are carrying rifles and bayonets almost as big as themselves. The Athens correspondent of The Times says the feeling between both sides in Greece is growing very bitter. The British troops who went in to carry out their orders to restore order without the slightest animosity, are now beginning to feel less friendly, not only because they are sniped at and have seen friends killed and wounded, but because ELAS is using underhand tactics. Both sides are playing up atrocity stories for their propaganda value. The Government Right Wing elements are spreading them among the British and ELAS is systematically disseminating false news among their supporters. DANGEROUS SITUATION The longer the conflict lasts, the more dangerous it becomes for the immediate issue and for the future relationships between Greek and Greek and between Britain and Greece. There is no doubt that ELAS has seized many hostages indiscriminately from Right Wing supporters. The police continue to make large-scale arrests among people suspected of Left Wing tendencies. Extremists have, in fact, succeeded in rendering Greece in two and fomenting class warfare. The issue now, in reality, is simplified as a fight between the Right anti the Left. The Prime Minister, M. Georges Papandreou, had a 90-miriute conference today with Mr Harold Macmillan, the British Resident Minister. No statement was issued at the conclusion of the conference.

A correspondent of the American Associated Press correspondent says that strong rumours persist that ELAS is attempting to come to terms with the British Commander, LieutenantGeneral R. M. Scobie. It is emphasized at British headquarters, however, that the terms for a cessation of the struggle are unaltered.