TO BITTER END

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21246, 17 October 1940, Page 7

TO BITTER END

TURKEY DETERMINED MENACE OF GERMANY OFFENSIVE IN LEVANT (United Pres* Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 15 The Turkish Ambassador to Bucharest is rumoured to have told United States and Soviet representatives that Turkey is respecting all commitments to Greece. The opinion he is said to have expressed was that the concentration of German and Italian troops is aimed principally at the Dardanelles and Syria, which Turkey will defend to the bitter end. Turkish subjects in Rumania are reported to have been advised to liquidate their affairs before November and to prepare to repatriate at a moment’s notice. The German “training” of the Rumanian Army has begun with elaborate anti-aircraft precautions around Rumania’s chief railway junction outside Bucharest, in addition to the oil fields. The zone authorities in Bessarabia are reported to have admitted the presence of 20 Russian divisions beyond the Rumanian border “for manoeuvres.” Other Red units are supposed to have penetrated and crossed the most northern arm of the Danube delta and to have reached Sulina and reinforced the river fleet with four monitors. Following alleged incidents between Russian and German troops near Galatz, the Russians have installed heavy artillery at Reni. Rumanians, under German supervision, have mined Galatz. German officers hint that more. German submarines are to arrive. The British Broadcasting Corporation says that no decision has been made about the withdrawal of the British Ambassador, Sir Reginald Hoare, who will decide for himself it it is necessary for him to leave Rumania. AXIS POWERS WARNED Turkey has chartered steamers to evacuate her nationals from Rumania, according to reports from the Balkans. Turkish newspapers warn the Axis Powers against attempts to intimidate Greece and Turkey. A report from Sofia, Bulgaria, says it is reliably stated that Russia and Turkey are negotiating a pact of military assistance. Russia is reported to be offering armed support if the Axis Powers attempt to seize the Dardanelles. Trainloads of German soldiers are rolling across Hungary to Rumania. Probably 50,000 are already in Rumania. A motorised division ol about 15,000 men has arrived at Ploesti, the oil district. The Rome newspaper II Telegrafo says Germany has assumed control of the entire collecton of Rumanian oil, and is fixing quotas for Greece and Turkey. The German High Command spokesman says Germany * reserves of all types of fuel oil are 1.000,000 tons above the quantity at the outbreak of the war, and that Germany has an ample supply without Rumanian oil, but with it has more than enough. According t a Sofia despatch received ,in Istanbul, Hungarian diplomats expect that Germany will assist Bulgarian action against Greece and Yugoslavia as a preliminary to a campaign against Turkey. This belief is based on the number ol German “tourists” arriving in Bulgaria. It is reliably estimated that there are now 20,000 Germans in Bulgaria, compared with the normal numbei of 3000. The newcomers include 3500 German soldiers and also several hundred pilots and tank drivers, who fly the aircraft and drive the tanks which Germany has been delivering to Bulgaria in much larger numbers than could be used by the technical personnel of the Bulgarian Army. The Germans are concentrated aj large towns which are important railway junctions, or on the Black Sea. The vital role of these German troops will be to assist the police in the event of a revolt, which, may ba expected if Bulgaria is pushed into the war on Germany’s side, and il Russia disapproves. Nazi-Soviet Tension Evidence is accumulating, says the London Daily Telegraph, that GerI many is becoming increasingly heed--1 less of Russian feeling, perhaps because the German General Staff does not fear the Russian military machine. On this assumption, i 1 would be reasonable .o assume that Moscow is acutely .'.pprehensive ol what the early future may hold foi Russia. The apparition of an unbeaten Germany established on the Black Sea has long been one of Moscow’* worst nightmares. While perturbed at the succession of events and anxious to see the German eastward drive checked, the Soviet leaders hesitate to take overt action thal would be capable of interpretation in Germany as hostile or even unfriendly. In such circumstances it is understandable that silence is the only course open. A Bucharest communique states that the cause of the fires at three oil wells in the Ploesti region on October 14 is unknown. They were extinguished in 56 minutes, thanks to the presence of watchful German squads. The damage amounts to £4OOO. Work at the wells is functioning normally. BRITISH MINISTERS AUDIENCE WITH KING (Official Wlreleta) (Received Oct. 17. 11.40 a.m.) RUGBY. Oct. 16 Viscount Halifax. Foreign Minister, had an audience of the King His Majesty also received Mr Herbert Morrison on his appointment a* Home Secretary.