IN THE BALKANS

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22154, 28 September 1943, Page 3

IN THE BALKANS

SUCCESS OF PATRIOTS GERMANS HARD PRESSED DEFENCE LINE BREACHED (Received Sept. 28, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 27. While Yugoslav Chetniks and Croat patriots are fighting desperately to maintain their hold on the Dalmatian coast Germans are reported to be pouring reinforcements to the Balkans.

It is difficult to get a reliable picture of the situation in Yugoslavia, but it appears that the patriot armies have badly breached what military experts consider the probable Axis defence line along the east Adriatic coast.

Patriots hold Split and great stretches of the Dalmatian coast.

The Berlin radio says that the patriots are receiving supplies by sea and many Allied officers are aiding them.

Axis sources also tacitly admit that the patriots have cut rail communications between Yugoslavia and northern Italy by the statement that seven trains are held up on the line between Trieste and Yugoslavia. Some disbanded Italian troops are aiding the patriots, but to what extent it is impossible to* ascertain. It is certain, however, that the patriots have taken over quantities of Italian equipment, which is enabling them to extend their operations. The Daily Telegraph’s military commentator says that the mountainous shores of the east Adriatic, Albania, Greece and the Aegean quadrilateral surely constitute a front which the Germans will still try to re-establish and hold. This front line is at present breached both in the Balkans and the Aegean area and the Germans, reacting violently, are pouring in reinforcements because they must re-establish this front at all costs. Anti-Nazi Campaign Cairo will soon become the centre cf a Russian organised campaign to stir up anti-Nazi unrest in the Balkans. The Soviet Government has been granted the use of the Egyptian broadcasting system for news broadcasts to the Balkans. The programmes will be arranged by M. Georgi Dimitrov, who was Secretary-General of the Communist International until it was disbanded last May. M. Dimitrov, it was reported, then visited Bulgaria secretly to assist his brother, Ivan Dimitrov, Bulgar guerilla leader, in arousing opposition to the Nazis. The capture by Yugoslav partisans of Plevlja, 60 miles south-east of Serajevo, Gacko and Avtovac, 60 miles north-east of Dugrovnik and Savnik and 40 miles north of Cetinje is announced in a communique from the headquarters of the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Army, broadcast by the “Free” Yugoslav radio.. In the Split area the patriots have taken the initiative and are strongly pressing the Germans in the direction of Sinj, 16 miles north-east of Split.