Evening star., 1941-03-20
1epeleni Reported
Entered by Greeks;
R. A. F. Planes Raid
Hellenes Declare Sector
About Town Is Uttered
With ,tolion Dead
By the Associated Press,

By the Associated Press
ATHENS. March 20.-A British
bomber attack on italian position:
at Tepeleni-apparently carried out
yesterdsy-was announced today or
the heels of a Greek claim that q
sector there had been Uttered with
dead from frustrated italian troop
assaults.
Bombs fell on the town and
started a fire." the r. A. F. COM
munique said. "Bombers later ma
chine-gunned Italian transport col
umns."
Can unconfirmed dispatch from
YugoSlavia'S Albanian frontier
said today that Greek forces had
entered Tepeleni, capturing many
italian soldiers and quantities of
war materials.
CThe Associated Press lacks
news from any other source tend
ing to bear out the YugoSlav
frontier report. Tepeleni for
weeks has been the principal
strongpoint OF italian resistance
in Albania,
(Time and again the Greeks
have claimed capture of strategic
heights near the town and the
Italians at times have been re-
ported in the process of evacua-
tion. Nevertheless the battle
lines have not been appreciably
changed for weeks)
Lines Declared Advanced.
Greek reports today, however, said
only that Greek lines had been
pushed forward somewhat and a
number of prisoners taken in the
Viosa River Valley, where Tepeleni
Is situated, and that Italian dead
Uttered the battle sites.
The Italians launched a surprise
attack IN a SnowStorm from three
directions against 6,00O-foot- high
Greek positions after artillery prep
aration, but were thrown back after
half an hour of fierce fighting, the
Greeks reported.
On the northern sector an italian
tank attack supported by infantry
also was declared to have been beat
en- back. The Greeks said three
tanks were destroyed.
Seven Attacks Reported.
Seven separate italian attacks
were reported by Greeks in the
Tepeleni zone yesterday.
The Greek high command re-
ported an entire italian company
was destroyed when it was caught
in a cross-fire of automatic arms
and artillery.
The spokesman, in his report on
the fighting around long-besieged
Tepeleni, said that as the Italians
faltered after their first great rush
fresh troops were thrown in in
closely packed waves. The results
showed terrific losses. They
were moved down by our fire and
the ravines were Uttered with dead
The Italians were said to be at
tempting to regain ground lost to
the Greeks in the recent seven-day
Fascist offensive that failed.
Reports to Gevgelia, Yugo-
slavia, from the Albanian front
said big battle was under way
yesterday in the mountains north
of Legorani and that Greek
counterattackS in the Tepeleni
area ended in the capture of the
village of Mezgovo)
The spokesman reported that at
one point the Greeks repulsed an
Italian night thrust, advanced about
q mile and seized 165 prisoners.
An air raid alarm sounded in
Athens at 4:50 am. today and the
au-clear sounded q half hour later
The British Broadcasting Corp
reported from London that Turkish
Foreign Minister Sukru Saracoglu
returning to Ankara from a confer
ence in Cyprus with British Foreign
Secretary Anthony Eden, declared
Turkey and Greece would have a
common victory" and was quoted as
telling Greek newspaperman:
1--WE are rejoicing in your victories
as if they were our own"
In Cairo, the Eden -Saracoglu
meeting was said to have "re.
emphasized the complete identity OF
views which exists between their
tuo poverrrnents