Nov. 1
"pitch Columnists" and the enemy press are asking why Britain is not aiding Greece, according to the guarantee given to that country. They want to know where the British navy is, and why it has not immediately yone into action to destroy the Ttatians. they quote eye-witness accounts of Italians landing troops on the Greek mainland as seen from the Island of Corfu, where there appears to have been no interference with troop movements, It should not be forgotten, however, that there has been no need for British interference with Italian troop move ments between Ialy and Albania, unfit the attack: wag made on Greece. The British navy's major task before the warranted invasion of Holy's neighbour was to prevent nforeement of the Italian forces in Libya ind other points on the African continent. And this it seems to have fairly effectually performed, The fact that within a fow hours of the outbreak of war between the Italians and the Greeks the British had mined some of the most important sections of the Greek coust and had bombed the Italian air base wqyrest to the Greek I, is proof enough hat a scheme to thwart Italian ambitions in the /@yean sea had been thought out and discussed for many weeks beforehand. The Mahan move was not unanticipated. It is freely surmised that many of the reinforeements sent to Egypt were designed more to provide the nucleus of an expeditionary force into Greece or Turkey than to hold up the threatened campaign against the Suez canal, which Marshal Graziani is painfully and slowly attempting to prosecute. The situa tion must, however, be left to work itself out. There can be little doubt that the Brit ish position in the eastern Mediterranean at the moment is not an easy one, but there can be equally little doubt that such an eventu ality is no surprise, and that the British authorities have taken the requisite preeaution:
The comment made by the Soviet army newspaper "Red Star" is interesting in this ion, Considering the intimate relations between Soviet Russia, Turkey, and th Balkans, it is not improbable that the we based upon information supplied by either the ish or the British General Staffs to the vernment. The confidence express:
will be uble to make a long upisign out of the Ballan invasion, in contradiction to the Tali ims of a victory within three weeks, therefore, has additional significance. The Soviet Government seem tw be aware that Britain and Greece, and if neces ' anything the 1s might attempt. 'This is, of course, from a purely military' point of view, andi does not take into account the imponderable effects of "pressure," whether diplom= atic or uncloaked, upon' the neighbours of Greece. So far as this factor is concerned. mouthpiece expects that Britain will send, aid to Greece via Pirwus, Volou, and Salonika, If this is done the Mahan naval bases in the Dodecanese will be cut off and become largely useless. This is an outcome which would please the Turks, and also the Russians, who have consistently viewed with the Ialian possession of bases which Sea. might threaten the entrance to the Black
The questions which have been inspired in. the Greek press as to the whereabouts of the British navy are doubtless being asked the faint hope of obtaining an answer.
he Talians would dearly love to know where the British fleet is stationed or concentrated. They are not likely to learn from. such stupid propaganda, the object of which should be apparent to everyone. Accordinit a German report, the British Mediterranean Aeet in now concentrated at Gibraltar. Why' it should be so is a little difficult to under~ stand, and the report can be taken to mean no more than that the Germans wish it were true. With Sir Andrew Cunningham in command, the British fleet in the Mediterrancan have an expert in the strategy on that area in control, and there may be little doubt that most of the moves which the Axis Powers might make have been long fore~ seen. This is not written with any idea of underestimating the difficulties the Greeks and the British must face in this area. But if there is any suggestion that the Axis has done anything clever in causing the war to spread into this part of the world, and stands. to gain anything easily thereby, it cannot be too vigorously repudiated. If" the position of the Allies has been made difficult, how much more so has the position of the Italians, who are now committed to do something more than remain in their home party?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.