FRONTIER FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 April 1941, Page 6

FRONTIER FIGHTING

DIFFICULTIES ADMITTED BY GERMANS HEAVY WORK FOR SAPPERS IN MOUNTAINS. STATUS OF BELGRADE. (Received This Day, 1.20 p.m.) LONDON, April 6. According to the latest reports from the frontier, the Greek troops are taking up new positions fixed in advance. There is the greatest enthusiasm among the people of Macedonia and Thrace, the regions most directly concerned. Berlin aclmits that the advance is meeting with difficulties in the Struma Valley. All the resources of German organising ability are being used to overcome the adversities of a mountainous country and climate. German units have erected signposts along the mountain road warning motorised forces of danger points. German sappers are blasting rocks and using pneumatic drills to open a passage even for the heaviest vehicles. It is claimed that during an air raid on Eelgrade a pontoon bridge built for troop transport was directly hit and destroyed. Other bombs destroyed bridge-building materials and stores. Forty-four grounded planes have now been destroyed. The Berlin radio claims that the Yugoslav Government has already announced its withdrawal from Belgrade. It is impossible to understand, the announcement adds, how Britain could have expected that Germany would recognise Belgrade as an open town, with its abundance of aerodromes, barracks and military objectives.