Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1940. MORE VICTORIES IN ALBANIA.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1940. MORE VICTORIES IN ALBANIA.

WITH the Greeks already extending rapidly the great success they won in their capture of Santi Quaranta and Argyrokastron, it becomes clearer every day that their counteroffensive against the Italians in Albania will stand in histoij as a remarkable military feat. They are to be credited already with achievements which might well have been supposed, when the campaign opened little more than a month ago, to be well beyond their power. . A note of caution and warning is still being sounded in London, notably by an expert commentator who has observed that it would be to arouse false optimism to say that an Italian rout is impending and that: “Although Italy has suffered heavy defeats, she is still militarily strong. At the moment, with'the Greeks pushing forward rapidly in the coastal zone and making promising headway on other parts of the front, talk of this kind may appear to incline to pessimism. Account has to be taken, however, of such factors as the winter climate of Albania and also of the extent to which an extended occupation of that country might lay the Greeks open to eventual outbanking attacks, possibly by way of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Campaigning conditions in both the Albanian mountains and plains in winter time are calculated in themselves to test severely the courage, powers and endurance of the hardiest troops. The military correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald’’ observed recently that the Italians were retreating over the same type of country as that through which the Serbs made their historic and tragic retreat in 1915, and under similar climatic conditions. The rains in Southern Albania Che added) • invariably mean floods in the valleys to which all transport has to be confined. The rivers overflow when the torrents come down from the mountain sides, and, even in peace time, the inhabitants rely on inflated skins to cross the flood waters. What such conditions mean to a fleeing mechanised army may be easily imagined. Naturally, the oncoming Greeks may be similarly hindered; but their army organisation has always been based on ease of movement in inhospitable mountain regions. With these conditions ruling in the mountains, the state of the Albanian coastal plains will also raise problems for both the contending armies. In the season of good weather the Italians would have every opportunity, in these lowlands, of making their tremendous preponderance in mechanised weapons tell with maximum effect. Of the great plain extending from Valona to Elbasan, however —an area the Italians must defend if they are to maintain any hold on southern Albania —onethird is normally under water during the winter. Although the Greeks are reported still to be advancing on the whole front, it seems possible that conditions of weather and terrain may before long bring the campaign largely to a standstill until the return of spring. Short of some development now totally unforeseen, however, the Greeks are assured of establishing themselves on mountain defensive lines well in advance of their frontier, and of being able to settle down for the winter with their lines well advanced in the coastal zone of southern Albania. As to what is to happen when the weather improves, much of course must depend on developments in other areas of war.

With Turkey taking a firm stand against, the Axis, and the attitude of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria stiffened at least in some degree, it seems rather unlikely that a new outflanking invasion of Greece will be attempted before the spring by either Italy or Germany. A Nazi thrust through Bulgaria no doubt is the greatest danger menacing the Greeks. With a small and poorly-provided army, the Bulgars are badly placed to oppose the use of their country as a corridor of invasion. The roads of Bulgaria are narrow and bad, but there are railways converging from the north on Sofia and another running down the Struma Valley to Salonika. The last-mentioned line is extremely vulnerable to bombing attack. If they were able to overcome the difficulties of bad and inadequate communications, the Germans might succeed in. developing an attack by way of Bulgaria and perhaps also by way of Yugoslavia, which 'would impose a heavy defensive task, not only on Greece, but on Turkey as well. Much will depend in any case on the general course of the war. The possibility of extended action by the Axis in the Balkans must be influenced greatly by the nature of the conflict in which Germany finds herself involved with Britain when the northern spring opens and also by the condition in which Italy then finds herself. Like much besides that has borne witness in Italy to growing dissatisfaction, unrest and opposition to the war, events like The resignations of Marshal Badoglio and of other high Italian officers may have, amongst other things, a very important bearing on the probable course of events in the Balkans.