ALBANIAN REVOLT

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21190, 13 August 1940, Page 7

ALBANIAN REVOLT

CAMPAIGN OF HATE REFUSAL TO JOIN ARMY FRICTION WITH GREECE (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Aug. 12 As Italy, in the -name of Albanian nationalism, began a hate campaign against Greece, demanding the liberation of a 60-mile zone of Greek territory, a revolt against Italy flared up in Albania, says the Daily Express Belgrade correspondent. The Mriditi tribe rebelled when the Italians tried to force them to join the army. Italian officers are reported to have been shot while requisitioning Albanian food and cattle. Revolts in Albania began last Friday, says the Daily Mail’s Athens correspondent, and are spreading. The leaders of the Kurveles tribe notified the Italians that they would refuse to supply foodstuffs and would disobey mobilisation orders. They demanded the release of Albanians imprisoned at Tirana. The Italians are said to have suffered 100 casualties. They included seven officers, among whom was a lieutenant-colonel. Many Sent to Gaol Many Albanians have been sent to gaol for distributing leaflets urging young men to flee to the woods and escape being forced into war “ against the liberators of small nations.” Reports of an Albanian uprising are denied in Rome, being described as British propaganda. A Rome message says that sharp Italian warnings against “ blind Greek despotism ” followed the Stefani report that Greek terrorists had entered Albania and assassinated and beheaded an Albanian irredentist, Daut Hoggia, allegedly due to his demands for the return to Albania of Ciamuria Province annexed by Greece after the Balkan war in 1913.