Evening star., 1941-03-15

ugly political problem rising fore
bodingly behind it.
The Mountains are high, the
Greeks are tough and we'll en-
placed and, in the words of the
Fascist leader, Gen. Aldo Pellegrino.
wounded and a prisoner of the
Greeks, things are not going well
for Italy"
Because the drive has not been
successful, perhaps, or perhaps to
keep political consequences at a
minimum. no word of II Duce's role
as strategist has appeared-as far as
is revealed herein the Italian press.
Now the question is whether the
Duce will continue struggling after a
key to the bloody Via Ignatia across
to Salonika. which the Roman le-
gions once gained with somewhat
less effort, or whether the drive will
simply be given up.
The snow is still in the mountains
and it appears that the Duce, as was
the case last autumn, has treated
mountain weather with an impa-
tent hand But the Italian officers
admit that Mussolini has been in
headquarters and that means that
the loneliest italian sentry will soon
be discussing it over his tiny fire,
high above Tepeleni, and that the
bombed dockworkers of Valona are
whispering in their shelters.
What is to happen next? Will the
Duce hand over the drive to his
remaining generals, order that it
go on regardless of losses, and fly
back to Rome?
The Greeks are curious, almost
dispassionately inquisitive, about
what he will do. Will he remain
somewhere in Albania" extending
his commands and throwing more
picked Blackshirts into alien noun
tain passes, raining with shells and
machine-gun fire? Or will he allow
the entire drive to be sifted down,
through series of communicates of
diminishing consequence, and fade
quietly back to Rome to meet the
probably heightened terms of his
axis partner?
Situation Held Hopeless.
At present the Duce's orders are
being carried out by Gen. Luigi
Geloso, formerly head of the 18th
Army. Geloso has signed Italian
headquarters orders since March 3,
when Gen. Ugo Cavallero, successor
to Gen. Ubaldo Soddu, in his turn,
lost his command.
On this side of the front, there
seems little that the Duce can do
but admit the hopelessness of his
single-handed operation. 1t is still
too soon to speak of an Italian over
ture for peace negotiations particu-
larly as Italy seems not to be free to
make them.
But MuSSolini in retreat is more
of realist than Mussolini riding
success. He has seen the choicest
of the italian planes and bombers
rise from their Albanian bases, fly
southwark, and return in remnants.
The most terrible thing that can
happen to a totalitarian drive has
happened: The initiative has been
lost and the dictator has been un-
able to recover it. AS long as Mus
solini knew the Albanian mountains
and Greek steel only through his
Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo
Ciano. and generals anxious to Sue
ceed Soddu and Cavallero, the prob
lem of the African retreat could
come first, relatively simple because
its political side was then confined
to France.
Many Italians Lost Lives.
But now MuSsolini has himself
seen that the three-way drive down
the Ionian coast, across to Larissa,
and through Florsna to Salonika
cannot be pushed rapidly even if
the weather improves and Greek
cities are bombed. Many Italians
have thrown away their lives and
some their arms, but not one of
the three roads is yet open.
The Greeks are saturated in di-
plomacy from birth, and, in nation
overloaded with political talent,
they know the difficulty OF getting
out of trouble in a Sfnd alley. The
Greek-and any one of them can
be taken for all-is now watching
the Duce as mouse watches a cat
with its jaws jammed in the pantry
hole. The italian cat cannot move
his jaws to bite, and cannot with
draw.
Meantime. the Greek mouse is
growing rapidly into a fat and
savage rat. With ths bitter memo