Evening star., 1941-04-15
Nazis Advance on Left,
Repu|sed on Right,
Athens Declares
Several Arteries Opened
For Germun Attacks
In koritzu Area
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
ATHENS, Greece, April 15.-Re-
peated German attacks on the Brit
ish held right flank of the newly
reformed Allied line in Northern
Greece have been repulsed, but the
Nazis are advancing into the Hell
leneS Kingdom on the left after
occupying Phlorina which had been
the northernmost hinge of the old
defense line, the British and Greeks
disclosed today.
The British said that elsewhere in
their sector of the line, in the vicin-
ity of Mount olympus, there was
no contact with the enemy"
Near Ptolemais the Greeks were
battling a slow German advance
toward the newly established Allied
positions This Nazi column was
the one which took Phlorina, fore
ing the Greeks to fall back both in
that area and in the Koritza region
of Albania, to the west. The Ger
mans were said to be driving toward
Kozane and Siatista, Greek towns
30 miles south of Phlorina.
(Reuters, British news agency,
reported in an Athens dispatch
to London that the Germans also
were advancing toward Kills
soura. Greek town 18 miles south
of Phlorina and about the same
distance north of Siatista. Pre-
sumabiy the Germans now have
passed the town.
With the German and Italian lines
Joined in Yugoslavia, north of Lake
Ohrid. several other arteries were
opened for axis attacks in the Kor-
itza area.
Fought Near PtOlemais.
A battle between German and
Greek armored units was fought on
plains in the vicinity of Ptolemais,
IS miles south of the Yugoslav
border.
A Greek general headquarters
communique said German mech
anized columns were pushing south
from Ptolemais toward Kozane, an
important road junction nearly 40
miles south of the frontier, and
Siatisa, to the southwest.
CThe German high command
claimed capture of both Ptole-
mais and Kozane0
The renewed assaults on the
British lines came apparently from
the Vardar plain-a push south
ward toward Mount Olympus.
Some sources said the attacks
were delivered by the same Adolf
Hitler S. S. division on which the
British said they inflicted severe
losses on Good Friday.
Fresh Forces Pour In.
Meanwhile, fresh British and
Greek forces poured into the new
fighting arena, strengthening de-
fenses.
Battle hardened Greek troops who
have been fighting in the mountains
north of Koritza for nearly six
months were ready to meet the Nazi
assault.
German panzer columns, it was
said, now are reaching terrain where
the roads rise steeply into the
mountains along narrow death
trap" gorges. Infantry must be used
to storm the mountains and open
the road for tanks.
Thus far, German infantry try
ing to attack the Greeks in their
native mountain strongholds have
suffered considerable losses" and
been driven back into the valleys,
informed quarters said.
Withdrawal of the center of the
defense line which jutted northwest
from Mount Olympus to Phlorina
and then slanted southwest to the
Adriatic coast was disclosed last
night in a Greek high command
communique. A new deeper front
is being made in Greece, the COM
munique said, but did not indicate
the position.
Koritza. the Albanian stronghold
ISa. CRET.K Page A.3) p