While a great deal of attention is paid to German propaganda, very little is received by the effort of the Italians in this connection. Yet in its way it is equally as interesting and perhaps just as significant, for if Hitler on occasion has to whistle to keep the courage of his people up, if he has to indulge in "pep" talks for the same reason, the Italian propagandists are not far behind. Shortly after the Italians met with their first reverses at the hands of the Greeks, a broadcast from Tirana, especially for the benefit of the Greeks, warned them Italy's position is not going to get worse because the enemy carelessly hurries to occupy Positions which can be of no real importance. Very soon the Greek army will start feeling the weight of powerful Italian blows.
All of which doubtless sounded very nice at the time it was uttered, but reads rather Judicrously now. Then the Greeks were told that they owed everything to the British help which at the outset they were informed they never would get:—
Britain of course does everything to help Greece. Greek artillery is of the modern type and its personnel ig not Greek but British. Similiarly the entire Air Force is not Greek but British...... In truth, ft ought to be stated that the war is at present' being fought between the Italians and the British This particular broadcaster overlooked the opportunity of alleging that the T'vzones after all were not Greeks but merely Highland regiments in Greek uniforms. And then Gayda steps into the fray:—
Italians would probably prefer, for convendence's sake to have.to fight the British instead of the Greeks. But the British prefer to have the Greeks fight for them.
He would go and mess up the good work being done by Italian broadcasters, unless, of course, he wishes to suggest that the troops who are having the most difficult task of stopping Mussolini once he has got going in Libya are also Greeks. Then Gayda gave those very difficult people in the Balkans a most timely warning:—
Soddu is continuing to prepare with quiet determination, the Italian occupation of Greece sees. The Greeks do not stand a chance once Soddu gets his plans into operation... Behind the Italian rearguard action stands an army which will literally plough its way into Greece, once it gets started.
General Soddu has since gone the way of unsuccessful generals. His place has been taken by another, and the Italian army in Albania is still ploughing its way, somewhat slower than before, but still backwards.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.