The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-04-07

6uJ LIle dCcOuLlLS OI OSIIuhn DIV gan6ists, the report of the Naz high command and skimpy dispatches from Athens, London and Istanbul made plain that the wehrmacht was having no walkover.
 Nazi sources entered vague claim that their forces had penetrated the Jugoslax and Green frontiers to a depth of 20 to 25 miles but did not say where the advances had oc- cured.
 Belgrade, the Jugoslav capital, was known to have suffered four smash ing air attacks bv the Nazi luftwaffe despite evacuation 0I tee city by the Jugoslav government ard declafa- ton that 1t is an open city.
 Death Toll May Be Big
 In the first of these attacks 73 per- sons were reported killed and 1t was feared the death toll in the suc- cessive bombardments may have been far higher. The Nazi accounts of the luwtwaffe raids indicated that the German air force was meting out to Belgrade such treat- ment as previously has been inflict- ed upon Warsaw and Rotterdam.
 There was some belief - based on German emphasis on the air force activity and paucity of accounts of land fighting - that the German high commnd was depending upon the air arm to carry the brunt of the early attack upon Jugoslavia, possibly because the onslaught was lunched before redisposition of land forces had been completed.
 The Germans claimed that the Luftwaffe had put 98 enemy planes out of action in the first days op- erations, 35 of them in air battles, including four British bombers, and the remainder on the ground.
 The air attack followed closely the pattern of the German attack upon Poland with the Germans striking hard to smash opposition air forces on the ground and select- ing concentration points, bridges, railroad communications, etc., for special bombing in order to impede and concentration of Jugoslav defense forces.
 Two Nazi Air Fleets
 The Germans were said to be em- ploying two fleets in the Balkan op- erations. A Nazi air fleet containts approximately 1700 operating planes One was said to be based on Sofia and may be the air fleet which or- lngally was sent to Rumania. The other may be based in southern Austria or the Banat region of Hun gary.
 Against the German air armada the British have massed crack ,quadrons of the Royal Air Force | n Greece. Some of these squadrons now may be operating from Jugo- ,lavia.
 From Hungary, Rumania and Bull ,aria came reports-and protests ,f air action by British and Jugo- ilav planes.
 Rumania reported air attacks up- | 'n Tlmisoara (Temisvar) the Ger | nan army headquarters about 75 niles from Belgrade and upon Or- ova and Aarad. Sofia charged that | t had been raided and that an air ltack had so been made on Kusten- iel. Budapest had an air raid alarm md reported that six British bomb- ITS had been shot down in an at- ack upon Szeged while other at- acks were made on Peci, Komend, Iillany and Seklos.
 British Planes Blasting
 These reports indicated that the SAF had gone into immediate &C., ion to blast the scanty German communications lines behind the 'apidly developing Struma front in Greece and the Nazi points of att ack in eastern and northeastern Jugoslavia. The most fierce fighting apparent- y was centering on the vital Rupel | Pass on Greeces northern frontier. Here, the Germans admitted, stiff | assistance was encountered.
 Here British planes were in ac- ion, attacking German troops in he narrow Struma Valley and con- testing stubbornly with the Luft- waffe, for air control over the pass, control of which probably consti- tutes the key to the Aegean port of 5alonika.
 Greeks Beat Them Of
 The Greeks indicated their troops | nave displayed courage in beating | off initial Nazi thrusts. The loss of | one fertilization was admitted and | It was said that at some border points troops had been withdrawn | for strategic reasons.
 The German high command ad- mitted that "heavy resistance" had | been encountered and that nine German planes had been lost in the first days operations.
 There were no authentic accounts | of land fighting in Jugoslavia. The Belgrade government has moved to Vranes, in the southwest area of the country and some departments were established at Cacek, 75 miles south of Belgrade.
 There have been no news dis | patches direct from Jugoslavia since the German attack started.
 Italy belatedly announced her en- trance into the war against Jugo- slavia and claimed her planes had | attacked Split, sinking two ships, and Cattaro where a destroyer, a float ing dock, a merchant ship and a | depot were said to have been hit.
 Hungary declared a national state of alarm.
 Turkey was standing neutral and there was no indication that she would act, at least, for the time being.
 Russia's position was mor enig- matic than ever. Hardly two hours before Germany announced she was at war with Jugoslavia the Soviet radio announced signature of a pact of friendship and non-aggression with Jugoslavia.
 This, coupled with the similar Russian agreement with Turkey and hIlYY2t daNl0Po ftAn nf Aica nf