London, Mar, 3.
Warning that Bulgaria must take the consequences of her feebleness in allowing German occupation, sympathy with the Bulgarian people, and British preparedness to deal with eventualities in the Balkans are keynotes of press comment on week-end developments in Bulgaria, The "Daily Telegraph" says a formal breach between Britain and Bulgaria is now plainly imminent, "When that occurs," adds the paper. "Britain will be at liberty not only to bomb German military targets in Bulgaria but also to fly over Bulgarian territory and bomb similar targets, including the oil fields of Rumania.
"Only four months ago the Bulgarian Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously rejected a proposal to join the Axis pact, Now the Bulgarian Government has offered no sort of resistance and has even made a pretence of welcoming the country's despoilers with open arms,"
"Criminal Timidity"
"It is impossible not to condole with the Bulgarian people on the predicament into which the criminal timidity of their rulers has betrayed them, Not only have they been formally incorporated in the German lebensraum but in a war area, Britain has fortunately had sufficient warning to be able to make whatever military preparations are necessary for every contingency and the last details were polished up by the visit of Mr. Anthony Eden and Gen, Sir John Dill to Ankara,"
Describing the Bulgarian Prime Minister, M, Bogdan Filoff, as an "inglorious instrument of his country's degradation," "The Times" says "the tragedy of indecision and pusillanimity is no less grave than the tragedy of ambition and covetousness, which were the motives inspiring Bulgaria when she threw in her lot with Germany 25 years ago. The prospects of compelling a disunited, dispirited Bulgaria to become an active partner in hostile designs on her neighbours are not, from the Nazi viewpoint, particularly bright but the country is now open to the German Army as a base to intimidate other victims,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.