The Wilmington morning star., 1940-11-24
GREEKS HIT HARD
AT ROMAN LINES

NContlnued From Page One)
celebrated what was termed
Greece's greatest military victory
since the days of the ancients, the
army-fighting entirely on Alban-
ian soil-had started a three
pronged drive.
The Greek forces were drawing
on large stores of guns and equip
ment captured in Koritza and it
was reported that Italian t a n k S
manned by Greek, crews were
being used in the campaign in the
north.
Officials here expressed the view
that the recent victories give their
forces impressive strategic advan-
tages. They pointed out that, while
Albania is almost all mountainous,
the river valleys-the only feasible
travel routes-run from the pres
ent Greek positions straight into
the heart of Albania and thence to
the Adriatic.
In Koritza, the troops surrender
ed the task of policing the city
to $50 gendarmes. Their instruc-
tons we're to restore civil life in
the city to normal as soon as pos
sib1e.
Many civilians who fled to the
mountains while the Italians anG
Greeks struggled for possession Of
Albania's second largest city were
said to be returning to their homes.
In the north, cavalry and high
land infantry regiments, flushed
with their victory at Koritza over
the equivalent of six Fascist div1-
sions of at least u, 900 men, smash
ed on to the west and northwest,
harassing the Italians who were
falling back toward Pogradetz, on
Lake Ochrida, 20 miles to III e
north. The Italians were reported
in danger of losing contact with
their flank troops.
Two Towns Taken
Midway in the 1O0-mile battle
line-the Pindus region-t h e
Greeks were said to have cap
tured the Albanian frontier towns
of Erseka and Borova, and to be
moving in force westward along
the deep mountain valleys lead
ing to the heart of the country.
Another Greek column was re.
ported to have dislodged the last
of the Italians from the Southern
Greek border town of Filiates in
the Epirus sector and launched a
drive northward.
In Athens tonight, King George
issued a general order to the troops
saying:
when responding to the call of
the country you took arms to re-
pulse the aggressor I "a con-
WINGED that you would show your
selves worthy of the expectations
of the nation and myself. I'm glad
it didn't take long to justify my
conviction and prove to the world
that the Greece of today is not
unworthy of it's ancestors"
LONDON, Nov. 23-R-An Ex-
change Telegraph, British news
agency, dispatch tonight from
Athens said the Italians had aban-
doned Pogradetz, Albanian town &c
miles north of Greek-captured Ko-
rita.
The Italian withdrawal was said
to have been made in an effort to
assemble new defense lines on tn
Shkumbi river, about 10 miles to
the west.
Exchange Telegraph said Raj
airmen fighting with the Greeks
reported the destruction of Italian
communications in the vicinity of
Pogradetz. 4
NEW YORK, Nov. 23-(R- A
London broadcast heard tonight
by NBC said considerable con-
tingents" of Australian and New
Zealand troops are fighting beside
their Greek allies in Albania.
(The London war office, however,
discounted the broadcast, saying
that only a very small number of
such troops were in Greece. These,
it said, were doing only guard
duty and serving as ground crews
for the RAF.)