FAMINE IN GREECE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 October 1941, Page 4

FAMINE IN GREECE

CHILDREN CRY PITIFULLY FOR FOOD SHIP CAPTAIN’S REPORT. SUFFERING BUT DEFIANT PEOPLE. LONDON, October 26.

The Istanbul correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that the captain of the steamer Kurtulus, after his return from Greece reported that haggard crowds greeted the ship in Piraeus. Barefooted children almost stormed the Kurtulus crying pitifully for food. The captain when he went ashore found fully 80 per cent of the port’s shops closed. He saw no horses, dogs or cats, he said, because all had been eaten. Residents described Athens to him as a gaunt, hungry city, its streets and parks deserted and the women rarely venturing out of doors because the danger of assault was too great. The captain of a Greek merchantman on his arrival in 'Turkey after making an escape from Greece reported that the R.A.F. has destroyed all the stocks of oil in Piraeus in fires which burned for four days. The harbour was strewn with sunken shipping, which the Germans were desperately striving to salvage. Only a’few official cars belonging to the army of occupation were seen in the streets. Though the conqueror’s flag now flew from the Acropolis, the Greeks did not regard the.. Italians as their masters, and showed contempt for them. The Germans were still in control of the Piraeus, though Italians were used for policing the city. Street brawls were frequent.