ARE GREEK REBELS SUPPLIED WITH BRITISH AMMUNITION?

Grey River Argus, 1 September 1948, Page 5

ARE GREEK REBELS SUPPLIED WITH BRITISH AMMUNITION?

Press Charges Follow Find of Bullets (Rec. 9.0). LONDON, August 31. The correspondent of the Times at Athens says: The Greek newspapers are attacking Britain following on a statement by General Van Fleet, the head of the American Military Mission to Greece, that three thousand rounds of British .303 ammunition, made in 1946, have been found in the Communist rebels’ dumps in the Grammes Mountains. The Times Athens correspondent says: .General Van Fleet is reported to have told American press correspondents that ammunition of this type has not yet been issued to the British Army, and that the British military observers who were with him when it was found, had never seen any like it. Some of the Greek newspapers are alleging that British armament manufacturers, through Russian satellite countries, are indirectly supplying ammunition, and possibly also arms, to the rebel forces in Greece. REBELS MUSTER IN NEW AREA ATHENS, August 30. The Greek Government has sent mobile artillery and British 30-ton Centaur tanks with air support, against General Markos’ "Free Greece No. 2”, which is in the Vitsi mountains. Thirty-five hundred guerrillas are believed to be concentrated in the area. A Government staff spokesman claimed that the Greek army has advanced in. two sectors of the Vitsi i perimeter, capturing three vantage! points near Kastoria and driving within a mile of the main Vitsi summit. Albania’s Aid For' The Rebels LONDON, August 30. Britain, France, and the United States are consulting on the possibility of stopping Albania’s aid to General Markos’ guerrillas. It is believed a protest will be delivered in Tirana within a few days. The Greek Foreign Office has already informed overseas ambassadors that Britain and America will protest to Albania. The Greek Government to-night indicated- its willingness to negotiate non-aggression and friendship pacts with Albania, provided Albania ceases giving aid to the guerrillas and satisfies the Greek claim to the Albanianheld territory in Epirus.