Evening star., 1948-06-21
10000 Greek Troops
Open Drive 10 Smash
Communist Rebels
BY the Asseeioied Press


BY the As.oeioisd Press
ATHENS. June 21.-An esu-
mated 10000 Greek troops
slugged their way into the North
ern Pindus Mountains today in
an effort to smash the Commu-
mist rebellion.
Six divisions, backed by planes
and artillery, jumped of last night
in the greatest offensive of the long
civil war. The operation, planned
and supervised by the Greek general
staff with American advisers in the
fed, is aimed at wrecking the guer-
rillas of Markos Vafiades in their
main stronghold.
The Greek 9Th Division advanced
four miles into guerrilla territory
north of Konitsa today
Official sources said no opposition
was encountered after the jumpoff,
at 10 o'clock last night.
Dwight p. GrisWold. chief of the
American mission to aid Greece,
made a radio speech apepaling to
guerrillas to surrender.
st hope and pray that Greeks
fighting against their own people
and country will surrender so this
bloodShed will end soon,'' he said.
The speech was translated and
re.ayed in Greek Mr.. Griswold
said the military situation Of
Greece is vastly improved" He
said it was unsatisfactory several
months ago.
Mr.. GrisWold said American mil
lions had brought about declining
prices in Greece, a balanced budget
and stable currency. He said re-
construction is going on in high
gear. He called for more demo-
cratic representative and economic
management of peoples affairs in
the provinces"
One Host to U. N. Group.
The Greek 9th Division is COM
manded by Brig. Gen. Stylianos
Manidakis. The opposing rebel
leader is a Capt" Kikitsos. Under
him is man named Yannoulis,
who was host to the first U. N
Balkan Commission last year at
Kastanofiton. when it tried without
success to meet Vafiades.
The Greek 18th Division was re-
ported fighting violently south Of
Nestorion with heavily fortified
guerrilla units.
Seven thousand rebels-the Greek
army calls them bandits-are re-
ported in a 1000 -mile-sduare Gram
mos Mountain area along the Alban-
ian border. Markos' headquarters
and the main guerrilla supply bases
are believed to be in this region,
which is dotted with mountain peaks,
some as high as 1000 feet-probably
the roughest terrain in Greece.
The army, in It's offensive. Is try
ing to sew up this rebel pocket on
three sides-on line roughly south
from the Albanian border to loan
nina, from Ioannina east and north
to Grevena and from Grevena north
to Nestorion and the Albanian bor-
der The border itself forms the
top of the pocket
Machine Gun Posts Cleared Out.
Before the operation could start,
% heavily fortified machine-gun
posts north and west of Nestorion
had to be taken. One American
officer said the positions were COM
parable to anything he saw in Ger
many.
The army tried to blast them with
25-pound artillery shells and $50
futile and infantrymen were sent
in and cleaned the position out with
bayonets. The army said guerrilla
casualties were heavy.
Two of the three squadrons in
the Greek air force are backing
the army's play and 100 pieces of
artillery, mostly American made,
are pounding rebel positions on the
Mount Grammos approaches.
According to the best available
estimates, Markos has some seven
brigades and several independent
battalions under his command in
the fighting zone.
One authoritative source said the
rebels have only II to 16 pieces Of
artillery in the area, plus a small
number of millimeter antiaircraft
guns. American military authori-
ties said the lineups appeared to
mean that Markos will be unable
to mount any serious counterattack.
His other alternative would be to
pull back into Albania.
Authoritative sources said the
Greek Army also used American
fire bombs in pulverizing the ma
chine-gun nests around Nestorion.
A press dispatch from Kozane
said a message from Markos to
Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia had
been intercepted in which the
guerrilla leader was pleading for
help" Army headquarters declined
to confirm or deny the report.
A correspondent for the Athens
newspaper Ethnos sent story from
Larisa that three guerrilla bat
talions-a thousand men-had sur
rendered at the village of Mylia,
between Grevena and Metsovon.
There was no official confirmation
of this report. either.
Today's general staff communique
merely said fighting was continuing
south and west of Nestorion against
strong guerrilla positions.