The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-04-11
Battle For Greece Is Already Going Ahead
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Il (Continued terday, 1t was revealed officially. The announcement said: ] German troops advancing In northern Greece came In contact with British imperial forces April i0."
 ,| The point where contact was made was not specified but 1t seemed likely that 1t was in the vi- cinity of Florina toward which German armored divisions were rac- ing through the Monastir Gap, just north of the Creek Jugoslav bor- der.
 The Royal Ar Force was pound- ing heavily at this column which was knifing through the northwest corner of Greece where the Jugo- slav.lreek- Albanian frontier meets.
 An official communiqe said.
 German forces have reached Jan- nitsa and Monastir. South Serbian resistance to the German advance Is stiffening."
 Full Text of COmmunique
 The full text of the British army communique said:
 German troops advancing in northern Greece contacted British and imperial forces April 10. The situation in eastern Macedonia is obscure but is characterized by the magnificent resistance of the Greeks.
 "Further west German forces have reached Bltolj (Monastir) and dianitas (Jannitsa). In southern Jugoslavia, resistance to the Ger man advance is stiffening."
 (This report indicated that c Nazi armored column is about to make contact with the important road system of northwest Greece and possibly launch fianking movement to take the strong Greco-British defense system from the rear3
 The German forces already have won control of Bitolj, ct the south- west corner of Jugoslavia, the RAT revealed, and have pushed on tow- ard Florina through the Monastir Gap, the only important break In the mountain barrier of northwest Greece.
 The Royal Air Force reported that 1t was bombing the Germans heavily on the road to Florina. It did not indicate that the Germans had reached Florina, but they were known to be at Kenali. 10 miles south of Bitolj and less than that distance from Florina.
 The Germans held control of Bitolj airdrome where the RAF at- tackled heavily against trucks and troops. An armored column spread out along the road from Bitolj to Florina was strafed repeatedly by RAF planes.
 Battle For Greece
 The battle for Greece, to be fought when the Germans encoun- tier the main Greek army and Brit ish expeditionary force arrayed across lower Macedonia, was believed to walt on the delayed German con- quest of the 200-mile strip of Greek territory east from Salonika to the border of Turkey. Reports from that district yesteday evening said the Greeks were still clinging to their battered forts, refusing to fall back to the port of Cavalla, 90 miles east of Salonika, where they might be evacuated by sea.
 At London the Athens radio was heard broadcastlng that the Greeks holding out in the Struma valley and on the Nevrokop plateau north. east of Salonika had captured Ger man officers who had fought in Pol and and France)
 Germans taken prisoners by the Greek death guard" were quoted, "These Greeks are putting up the stiffest and bravest resistance we've ever come up against"
 A party of Americans just arrived by automobile from the embattled strip, praised the Greeks defending 1t. Harry Hill, British head of the American Express Agency, who was In the party, said the Greek soldiers had volunteered to defend the Rupel Pass and other forts along the Bull garian border, covering the evacua- ton of the rest of the troops from the area, even though they knew they would certainly be caught in a death trap.
 One Million There
 The Americans estimated that there were 100000 Greeks, mostly civilians, in the strip of East Mace- donia and West Thrace. Since the Germans reached the Aegean at Salonika Wednesday, the only es- cape from the district has been by sea.
 Also in the party were Paul R. Thorne, American Red Cross repre- sentative, and Charles House, head of the American Farm school ct Salonika, and Hills wife, the for mer Percilla Capps of Princeton. N J., They left Salonika by car after John D. Johnson, United States con- sul, and Edmund A. Gullion, vice consul, arranged permission for them to travel. The roads were so choked with the movement of essen- tial materials that civilians were not permitted to use them without special permission.
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