Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. C Wayne Hitler's Spring Drive rive Into Balkans Follows Usual Pattern of Nazi Blitz As Greeks an and Fall a Back ac Axis Powers Register African Gains EDITORS EDITOR'S NOTE When NOTE When opinions are expressed In IA these columns column the theare they ther are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper Released by Western Newspaper i V vr f i L ISih is 1 va q YEL EL LIBYA Beyond Beyond this Nazi armored tank waves a swastika swastika tika Uka from a building in this Libyan coastal town Since the Nazis joined the I Italian troops in the Libyan sector previous sensational successes by the British have been wiped out and much territory formerly won is now in axis hands BALKANS Nazi Power The sudden onslaught of the Nazi troops on five fronts against Jugo Jugo- slavia and Greece came with terrifying terrifying terrifying terri terri- swiftness and in the early days of the conflict it was evident that a delaying action was the most that the Greeks could offer and that the prepared mentally but unprepared physically to resist could do little but harass the advance advance advance ad ad- vance of the invader Hungarian troops were also ordered ordered ordered or or- dered to enter territory separated from Hungary after the war of 1914 Events moved swiftly in those first few days Immediately the city of Belgrade perilously close to the border and in the center of a plain was declared an open city and that the would not defend it However the first act of the Nazi bombers was to deliver a series of assaults on Belgrade closely followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed by similar attacks on Sara Sara- Nis Zagreb and other points of military importance to the invading army The attack on Belgrade may mayor or ormay ormay may not have put the city entirely hors du combat but the immediate effect was to shut off all communication communication communication cation with the outside world and that caused the reports of the early phases of the new war to be fragmentary fragmentary fragmentary frag frag- and conflicting to the utmost utmost utmost ut ut- ut- ut most degree One heard that the were invading neighboring countries had taken Fiume were bombing Sofia Sofia Sofia- and in the same breath the Germans claimed the capture of Nis the razing razing razing raz raz- ing of Belgrade the cutting of vital railroad lines Only the British reports seemed to carry conviction together w with th those from Athens The former predicted predicted predicted pre pre- a general withdrawal and the latter told how that withdrawal was being carried out But from the start it had been expected expected expected ex ex- ex- ex by this country that would be defended and that the I British had to troops in that general neighborhood and were prepared to make a serious defense defense defense de de- de- de of the port Then the British announced that might fall and gave rise to the general belief that perhaps the British forces were not so numerous or so strong as at first stated Suddenly came the word that the British had only to troops on the scene and that they were in the second line of defense ready to veer to east or west as the situation demanded This was the answer to the dispatches dispatches dispatches dis dis- dis- dis patches of the first few days which did not reveal the British in contact with the enemy at any point They were in this report placed in the vicinity of Katerine which put them somewhat in the center between two main forces of Greeks Closely following this dispatch came a report from Berlin claiming that their troops had entered Salon Salon- ika and from Athens itself came the following terse yet disquieting report report report re re- re- re port The German blitz has split Greek forces in two with a wedge driven down west of trapping uncounted uncounted un un- un- un counted thousands of troops defending defending defending defend defend- ing the line of the Truma river Right on the heels of this report unpleasant to Americans who were hoping that the Nazi attack on northern northern northern north north- ern Greece might be halted came the word from London German troops have entered follow follow- follow I ing virtual evacuation of the port by Greek troops British troops have not yet gone into action One of the five fronts on which the Germans attacked was around in southwestern I Ia a vital railroad link between the British Greece and forces Early in the conflict German panzer divisions captured and I drove a wedge through the valley The Germans reported taking taking taking tak tak- ing more than prisoners in inthis inthis i this act action on and radioed photographs showing long lines of truckloads of Serb and prisoners going along mountain roads passing for for- I ward-moving ward Nazi divisions on the way While the United States led by by President Roosevelt's promises of sympathy and aid to and Greece during this invasion was watching with anxiety and hope for some more favorable news the genera general general gen gen- era eral 1 tone of opinion was that the the story of Poland and Finland was being being being be be- bei i ing rewritten before their eyes I Americans interested in seeing I something like this happen again I scanned the news dispatches in vain for signs that the Nazi putsch was bogging down The shock of the fall of was matched by the shock to learn that the British forces were relatively relatively relatively rela rela- small but the fact that they were in a reported second line gave some measure of hope to those anxiously watching the defense that something might happen when the second line was reached and went into action FASCISTS Move in ill Africa rica The war was not only taking a Nazi turn in and Greece but in northern Africa as well with combined Nazi Fascist-Nazi troops definitely definitely definitely def def- on the forward move again As in a football game the British had evidently lost the ball and unless the could hold the Fascists for downs there might be a drive to a touchdown in Libya It was odd that the reports of the advances in Libya by the Italo- Italo German forces should have coincided ed with dispatches saying that Gen Sir Archibald Wavell and large numbers numbers numbers num num- bers of picked troops had been sent to Greece Whether this was true or not could not be learned but if so it was an interesting coincidence that the backward movement of the British in Libya tallied in time with the rumor rumor rumor ru ru- ru- ru mor that Wavell was gone to another field The British in their forward drive had gone past Sidi to Derna and thence to the Libyan capital Photos of British troops taking down street signs putting putting putting put put- ting up their own and other reports tended to the belief that Italy was knocked out of the war in Africa and that it was all over but the shouting Suddenly Berlin reported a minor success on the Libyan front and then with equal suddenness Britain began announcing that there would be withdrawals that Wavell's forces would pick their own line of defense and fall back to that Came the fall of and then the fall of Derna with the British still back pedalling and fighting a rear-guard rear action all the way In Eri Eritrea rea and Ethiopia however the British continued their success making mass attacks on Massaua the sole remaining point of military importance |