MORE PRISONERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 March 1941, Page 5

MORE PRISONERS

GREEK SUCCESSES CONTINUE MOST IMPORTANT SINCE TAKING OF KLISURA. OPERATION ON CENTRAL SECTOR. According to a report broadcast by the 8.8. C., the Greeks, who have captured 1000 Italian prisoners for the second day in succession, have gained the most important victory since the capture of Klisura. HEIGHTS OCCUPIED DEFENDERS EJECTED FROM HIGH ESCARPMENT. BRITISH AND GREEK AIR FORCE SUPPORT. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 8. Important captures of Italian prisoners and war materials are revealed in a Greek communique. “As a result of operations carried out with complete success in the cental sector on March 7 we chased the enemy from his positions which, while naturally strong, had been carefully organised. We captured 1050 prisoners, including several officers and large quantities of material. Our aviation successfully assisted in the operations, bombing objectives on the field of battle with very apparent results. All our aircrcaft returned to their base. The Greeks aimed at occupying certain mountain peaks, the positions serving as natural ramparts. Artillery bombarded the positions from all directions from midnight, and an infantry assault was delivered at 6.30 a.m. The Italians resisted stubbornly, but three successive rushes tumbled them from the mountain escarpment. A second Greek force attacked on a parallel line of peaks, and a third drove in from the west, while a fourth attacked from vantage points to the westward, which were over 6000 feet high. The battle was decided by 5 p.m., the Greeks occupying six heights each of 5000 feet. At the main points of resistance the Italian defenders were annihilated. On heights above the River Drin when, at the climax of the battle, the Italians saw Greeks leaping eagerly over barbed wire, they fled in confusion and shortly afterward were rounded up. Among the forces beaten were troops of the July Division, which had already been reconstituted twice since the beginning of the campaign. An R.A.F. Middle East communique says: “In support of Greek army operations in the Tepelene area, R.A.F. bomber formations attacked Italian troop concentrations near Beshist and Dragotu yesterday, inflicting considerable damage. Our fighter patrols were also active, but no engagement with the enemy resulted.” An Athens message says it is reported that General Cavallero, who replaced General Soddu as commander of the Italian forces in Albania, has been replaced by General Gelosa, commander of the Italian Eleventh Army, now in Albania.

From Budapest it is reported that bands of Macedonian hillmen are filtering into Greece from Bulgaria and offering their services to the Greek army. Others are forming guerrilla bands, and the Macedonian, leader, Mihailoff. has reappeared from his hiding place