The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-03-17
Balkan Front to Roar
 In Spring Blitzkrieg
tContinued from Page D

three divisions possibly 45,00t troops) in Crate and Cyprus, ailc another three in Palestine and that he was reshuffling his troops ir view of the immient start Of maJol hostilities in the Balkans.
 Italians Not Feared
 However, the Imperial Army oi the Niles blows against the Italian African empire have proceeded st far that there seemed little chance of an effective Fascist counter endorsements.
 The British now are slashing at Italian East Africa from 12 direc- tions and are almost within strik- ing distance of Addis Ababa and the vital railroad from that city tc Djibouti, French Somaliland. The Italians retain their foothold IT. Tripoli but their bases here are st far distant from the British posi-. tons west of Benghazi as to offel little aparent threat to Wavell even if he has moved the bulk of hi army to Greece.
 A Greek government spokesman said today that Italy's spring offea sive in Albania apparently hat collapsed, that Benito Mussolin had left the front and returned tt Rome, and thaG the Italians spen the weekend picking up theii wounded from the battlefields.
 Believed of the Italian threat iI7 the west, the Greeks turned atten. ton to their northeastern frontier Tn Thrnce, bordering Bulgaria, ( new governor general, Kostas Koc- zasc, was touring the countryside exhorting troops and civilians tc hold your ground"
 A dispatch from Henry Gorrell United Press Staff Correspondent at Salonika, quoted Koczas that i've shall fire against anyone who even attempts to take q blade of grass from within our boundaries"
 5O,OO0 Jews stand Fast
 Civil authorities at Salonika were busy strengthening air raid shelt- CTS and defenses, Gorrell reported He said the city's 50,000 jews, whose ancestors came there at the time of the Spanish inquisition, were standing their ground and that the Rabbi had been praying at the graves of his predecessor ors for a Greek victory and the safety Of Salonika. Banks and stores were doing business as usual.
 Athens had two air alarms Sun day but no raiders appeared.
 A government spokesman said that Saturday the Italians did little but pick up Italian wounded littering the battlef.elds and DO ac- tivity of importance developed There were two minor attacks, ono Saturday night in the central sector and another at daybreak Sunday in which only one Italian company participated. Both were repu.seo with considerable lossee."
 Greek officials estimated that the Italians had thrown 10000 troops into the offensive, concentrating or 2O-mile sector Of the centra front. and that Italian losses hac run up to 40 per cent for variou' divisions.
 However, Rome did report that British plane sank an Italian hos pital ship in Valona Saturday night Countess Edda Ciano, daughter o Mussolini and wife of the Italian Foreign Minister, was said to hav' been abroad the vessel and to have behaved with great bravery. Germany Reports Losses
 Germany also reported a bit shipping loss. Berlin said that th' great liner Bremen. a 5l,73l-ton S20 100000 luxury liner, had caugh fire from "undiscloSed origin ans had been burning for more than 2 hours.
 The German report raised thu suspicion that the huge liner nigh have been blasted in one of th' heavy British raids last week or North German ports. It has beer reported to be in one of these port since its hectic journey to Mur' mansk. Russia, after the outbreal of war and its pa sage down to Ger many along the Norwegian coast.
 The fact that the fire was an nounced by Germany might indi cate that the vessel was seriousl! damaged or possibly total los since 1t was doubted that any an nouncement would have been mad in other circumstances.
 The Germans. however, claimed that their torpedo-planes hit tw' British battleships in the Mediter ranean. They said that the damas was done in an attack on a Britlsl fleet comprising the battleships. si, cruisers and a number of destroy CTS g miles off Crete. The attacl presumably was on the Britlsl eastern Mediterranean fleet. The Germans picked Bristol a