Washington, Mar. 22.
United, States military analysts today turned their full attention to the Balkan front where, numerous experts believe, the war may be decided, the same as it was in 1918.
These experts, said that if Hitler broke the Greek-British defences on the Bulgarian frontier, the German prospects would be even better than last September when London was furiously attacked following the surrender of France.
Britain's international prestige as vell-as military fate depended largely on its ability to protect the Suez Canal which, more than Gibraltar or any other single bastion, defended the British Empire, they added. Britain was dependent on the control of the Red Sea for maintenance of supply lines from South Africa and Australia.
if Britain. would be required to abandon the Red Sea, it would lose zeees to the Nile granaries and Near Fastern oil og well as the Antipodes, except around the Cape, which the Germans could make dangerous if they gained control of French Africa, the experts pointed out.
With the Suez Canal open, Herr Hitler may not attempt to strike blow against Gibraltar because the western portal was much lose im. portant than the eastern, the experts believed They pointed out that this factor explained the intensive British effort to reinforce Greece at a moment when a concentration of such strength in Africa might have dealt a speedy and decisive blow against the Italians in Libya.
This also explained, the German concentrations in the same area evéth at the cost of Italian pride which obviously must suffer at requiring German aid to defeat Greece. The same experts were doubtful of any
until the campaign in the Balkans German attempt, to invade, England reached a definite or decisive stage,—United Press, Dire
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.