Imperial Valley press., 1941-04-23

into service in large numbers.
The Raj now possesses almost
l 900 assembled American and Ca
adian airplanes. LORD Beaverbrook,
the minister of aircraft production.
told the House of ords.
MIRACLE NEEDED
There was general agreement.
however, that only mira.se could
save the situation n Greece.
There was no hoie either III Lon
don o. Athens thd. such a miracle
would occur.
The war bulletins ind Gated that
Thermopylae Pass .he mountalr
gap. IS miles north of Athens where
Leonidas ana 300 men fought to
the death against the Persiaa Xer-
xes-had been breeched.
The Greek army OF Tie wess,
trapped between German ana Ital-
ian forces as il retreatei out Of
Albania. had capitulaled.
King George, the Greek crown
prince and government nai fled to
Crete.
The END of the war in Greece.
obviously. was near.
For l9 days the Greeks and az
ehte British expeditionary corps
had stood off the pounding of the
Wehrmacht. Outnumbered in man
power by odds OF anything from
five TO 10 to one and in machines
by far greater margin, the allies
had fought as stubborn a battle
as was within their eapability.
But Germany had TOO many guns,
too many tanks. too many Stukas.
too many reinforoemen.s.
ONE LONG RETREAT
Collapse of the southern Serbian
army, enabling the Nazis to slice
through the Vardar valley and
twist down through bitolj Pass,
turned the allied campaign into
one long rear guard action. Starting
in the northern mountain ranges
the British and Greeks slowly gave
ground. They halted 10 give battle
at each natural barrier, then re-
treated south to the next mountain
range and fought again.
Wednesday the Germans had cut
through the last barrier, that OF
Thermopylae and there was moth
ing but a broad flat highway and
rear guard detachmentS who were
prepared TO sell their lives as dear
ly as possible between the Nazi
spearhead and Athens.
Wednesday two questions were up
perrnost in London.
How many British troops have
been saved? Where will Hitler strike
next.
To the first question there was
no ready answer The Germans
have claimed-and logic would in
dicate that they are correct-that
the British in the past few days
have been desperately attempting
to evacuate as many OF their troops
as possible.
HOW MANY SAVED?
The evacuation, it was assumed,
is still underway and will continue
until the Germans smash through
the last human barriers and reach
the quaysides where British troops
are moving out to the boats.
There has been no estimate OF
how many men will come back from
.he Balkan gamble. Berlin claims
hat scores of ships have been sunk
)y Stuka and level bombers II
Irecian waters.
One German claim was that 30.-
100 British troops had been lost in
evacuation through the sinking OF
upwards of 122 900 tons of shipping
This claim, it seemed evident,
vas an eXaggeration. The best esti-
mates indicate that the British had
lew more than $4,000 men in Greece
and casualties in the bitter, reat-
guard fighting probably will rur
nigh.
Against these $4,000 British sol
iiers and possibly 100000 Greeks
the bulk of the Greek army Was
in Albania ano never
came TO engagement With the Ger
nan offensiye) the Naz., are
thought to have hurled upwards OF
i5o, 900 troops, paced by three arm
pred divisions, possibly 1910 tanks
md one or two air fleets, possibly
1 total Of 5000 operating aircraft.
not all, however, in service 1t any