INVADERS DRIVEN OUT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1940, Page 5

INVADERS DRIVEN OUT

ACCORDING TO ATHENS STATEMENT STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY IN AIR. POSSIBLE REINFORCEMENTS FOR ITALY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 18. The British United Press correspondent in Athens says it is authoritatively stated that the last Italians were jdriven from Greek soil yesterday. The Athens correspondent of “The Times” says the Italian Commander-In-Chief, General Soddu, appears to be drawing reinforcements from Scutari, Elbasan and Valona, but the rapid Greek thrusts are hampering the regroupment of his forces. General Soddu must also' be perplexed to discover the direction from which the main Greek attacks are coming. He is threatened in the Epirus sector by a Greek thrust on the flanks and also harried in the Pindus sector, while the position is growing desperate at Koritza. Local counter-attacks designed to test the strength of the Greek thrust have been repulsed everywhere. The correspondent adds that, from the satisfaction expressed in Athens regarding the Yugoslav attitude, it is assumed that fresh assurances have been received from Belgrade. Moreover, information has been received in Athens that Yugoslavia is calling up 10 more classes, in addition to 700,000 already with the colours. Simultaneously the Bulgarians are reported to be calling up more men, but the Greeks have confidence in Turkish assurances, which are understood to be based on further assurances from Moscow both before and after M. Molotov’s visit to Berlin. The correspondent also issued a warning that the improved diplomatic prospects in the Balkans as the result of the success of the Greek arms should not blind observers to the prospects of certain over-riding considerations. The outcome of the campaign increasingly depends on the question of air superiority, by which supplies for the Italian air force in Albania may be

cut off. There is a serious possibility of the enemy being able to employ important aerial reinforcements after Marshal Badoglio’s conferences with General von Keitel.

After crippling the Italian naval striking power at Taranto, it should be possible to improve the previous decisions aerially to assist Greece and conduct an aerial offensive against Italy, thus enabling us to capture the initiative and also, be ready for any reinforcements that Marshal Badoglio may be able to enlist. From calculations of the carrying capacity of the Simplon railway, such reinforcements are hardly likely to be troops, though Marshal de Bono, after attending manoeuvres in Albania, declared that it was impossible to attack Greece with less than 1.000,000 men. This phase of the war, like the others, is becoming a struggle for emphatic air superiority. It would be a grave blunder to imagine that Britain has done all that is possible, though she has had three weeks in which to do it.