Istanbul, June 10.
AZI Germany and Italy were engaged yesterday in a mad scramble extending along the entire Axis coast-lines from Constanza, on the Black Sea, to Genoa, searching for ships of all sizes and descriptions—anything that floats—to be thrown into what was expected by military and naval observers here to be the greatest combined air and naval operations yet launched by the Axis powers From the way that men, ships and planes are being distributed, oh. servers believe that the new offensive vill take not less than two directions. One will be southward to strengthen the is army on the Libyan desert which is fighting for the conquest of Egypt. The second will be into Syria, in the battle for control of Near East oil resources, Conversations with German engineers and oil experts pressing through Istanbul en route to the Middle East indicated that the Nazis have revived Kaiser—Wilhelm's fondest dream German controlled Mosul oil fields connected by a li tical and railway system from run to Baghdad.
Secrecy' shrouds the extent of preparations by the expeditionary force in Greece where only Axis ships and personnel are allowed to come and go, Private communications with Greece have not yet been re-established, Americans, Turks and other neutrals cut off by the invading German army have not been able to leave Greece, Even a U.S. diplomatic courier has not been permitted to take in official mail, The sailing of a Turkish steamer from Istanbul, which was scheduled to repatriate Turkish legation officials and other nationals from has been postponed inde-believed that all communications with Greece will be held up until the offensive has been launched, A vital factor on which the coming Axis attack will depend is oil and petrol for planes, Every available tanker in Italian waters has been rushed to the Black Sea loading ports—if small enough, they are sent by the Corinth Canal route, With most Greek tankers safe in British ports, the Axis was feverishly searching for and pressing into service every possible transport, even Danube river barges. The first of these arrived in Istanbul yesterday carrying aviation petrol to air bases on Rhodes.
Other barges were loading night and day, according to reports from Constanza, and the Germans were making every effort to replenish stocks depleted by the Crete cam" paign.—United Press,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.