JOINT ACTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 October 1943, Page 3

JOINT ACTION

IN ATTACK ON BULGARIA REPORTED SOVIET PROPOSAL EXPECTATION OF WINTER , CAMPAIGN. DEFENCE PREPARATIONS IN HUNGARY. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright! (Received This Day, 10.35 a.m.) LONDON, October 27. Russia has asked the Allies to delay their invasion of the Balkans to synchronise with a Red Army attack on Bulgaria, says the “Daily Express” Istanbul correspondent. He adds that Hitler fears that an invasion of the Balkans this winter has been decided on at the ThreePower Conference now proceeding in Moscow. High Bulgarian officials recently explained to Hitler that the Bulgarian Army could not be trusted to fight the Russians. They declared that the defence of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast could safely be entrusted only to German troops. The Bulgarian leaders, however, reaffirmed the willingness of the Bulgarian Army to fight any AngloAmerican invasion of Greece or Yugoslavia.

The correspondent says this story is supported by reports from Hungary of movements eastward of large reinforcements of German troops for Bulgaria. The German force is estimated at about ten divisions. Meanwhile Hungary is preparing to strengthen her frontier 'defences. The German news agency stated that the Hungarian Government announced that a six-mile strip along its frontiers might soon be declared a prohibited zone.