May 2.
Now that the story of the British evacva~ tion from Greece can be told it is plain that the British High Command were adroit enough to prevent the Germans achieving their ambition of destroying the troops which had been sent to the assistance of Greece. evacuation of more than seventy-five per cent, of the forces originally sent to Greece may possibly rank as a greater performance than Dunkirk, in view of the fact that the British over Greece did not have the local air superiority which they undoubtedly had over the Channel. Incidentally the fact that so large a proportion of British troops were Temoved to safety gives the direct Ile to the German claims of the sinking and damaging fof tonnage to the alleged extent of over 700,000 tons. It is clear that if anything of the nature had occurred it would have been quite impossible to have removed 48,000 men to safety. There Is still some chance that even more men will be rescued from Greece, but in view of what was done, and the man= ner in which the German timetable was dislocated with such heavy casualties to the enemy, the whole venture does not appear to have been anywhere near as expensive to Britain as it was at frst believed it might be.
Mr, Anthony Eden in the House of Commons on Wednesday was able to state that the withdrawal had been carried out with the agreement of the Greek Government. The exact wording of the Greek communication on the subject is interesting and highly significant "Consequently, the Royal Government is obliged to state that further sacrifice of the British Expeditionary Force would be vain, and that its withdrawal in time seems to be rendered necessary by present conditions." Great Britain went to the assistance of Greece in honour bound. She was honourably acquitted of her obliga~ tion by the Greek Government, and in this declaration is to be found a direct answer to the German lie that the British were Jeaving the Greeks in the lurch and.saving their own skins. The evacuation was in con= formity with the wishes of the Greek Government and the enemy allegation that Great
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.