ON FIGHTING IN BALKANS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 April 1941, Page 6

ON FIGHTING IN BALKANS

Germans on Aegean Coast of Thrace REPORTED PENETRATION OF YUGOSLAVIA GREEK DEFENCE OF STRUMA VALLEY (Ey Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received This Dav. 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, April 8. According 1 to diplomatic quarters, the Germans have occupied Alexandroupclis, the British United Press correspondent at Istanbul states. A Berlin report claims that the Germans reached Skoplje. Ths Athens radio announced that British forces have penetrated Bulgarian soil. The Greeks today stood firm in the Rupel Pass, throwing' back Panzer divisions. They also repulsed other thrusts further eastward and captured 130 parachutists dropped behind the Greek lines. “The Germans lest heavily in their first attacks on the Greek and Yugoslavian lines,’’ says the Ankara radio. “Italy will be unable to save ten per cent of her troops in Albania if the Yugoslavs and Greeks establish contact.’’ The Exchange Telegraph agency’s Athens correspondent says a special Greek unit was formed and called the Battalion of Death, with the object of covering the main Greek forces as they fell back to prearranged positions. The battalion held the first enemy thrust, inflicting terrible losses. For 35 hours 150 men clung to one fort, even fighting in underground galleries after the Germans had occupied the main fort on the surface.

It is now revealed that the Yugoslav troops who withdrew, uncovering the Greek flank, did so under pressure. A Budapest message states that main line passenger traffic on the Hungarian railway has been curtailed owing to extraordinary circumstances. Air raid warnings were sounded in several Hungarian towns. An Athens communique says further important damage has resulted to the Piraeus through the explosion of a ship laden with ammunition. After yesterday’s raid on the port, the Italians bombed rural districts. Only insignificant damage was dene.