Evening star., 1949-08-01
Solid Progress Made
AGAINST Greek Rebels,
Truman Report Says
by the Associated Press

By the Associated Press
President Truman told Congress
today that the Greek government
with American help, is making
solid progress" toward winning
its civil war with the Communists
He attributed this to improved
Greek leadership. accumulatins
United States military supplies
months of training of Greek sol.
diers, and determination, deci.
siveness and aggressiveness" ir
the orders of the Greek high
command.
Despite the reported progres.
militarily and in the Greek econ
omy, the President declared guer.
rilla forces are still strong. HI
said they are still receiving helI
from Albania and Bulgaria. ant
that the Greek government re.
mains entirely dependent" on thu
United States for weapons te
pr0SeCuUS CIlc Wal.
The President, in a report t.
Congress covering the first quar-
ter of this year. said that or
March 81 the strength Of the
guerrilla forces was estimated al
1880 as compared with 26,00(
. year earlier.
Losses Are Estimated.
He estimated Greek guerrills
losses for the total period OF the
civil war from June. 1916, te
March, 1s49, at 70,028. killed. sur.
rendered or captured, and exclu'
sive of wounded. There were nc
reports on the wounded.
In the same period the Greek
army was shown to have suffered
losses Of s37,ss4 killed, wounded OF
missing.
The casualty figures of the guer-
rillas, the President told Congress
show that in order to maintain an
average guerrilla force of 10000 the
entire force has had to be replaced
three and one-half times in the
last three years. He added thai
surrenders are increasing.
Mr.. Truman reported that vii
Layers who wanted to return to the
homes which they had fled under
guerrilla attack were being given
arms in many instances with
Favorable results" and that addi-
tional rifles will be issued to
capable and reliable citizens by
the Greek army. The armed
civilians form their own local de-
tense units and free Greek troops
for offensive action.
Helped Through Albania.
The improvement in the situa-
tion, Mr.. Truman said. was ac-
corAplished despite continuing
help which reached the guerrillas
mainly through Albania, but that
some assistance was going through
Bulgaria. He did not specifically
say that the Soviet Union provided
arms and equipment but he did
note in his report that the mark
ings of the captured weapons had
been obliterated in an effort to
conceal their origin.
The guerrillas have been gen
erously supplied with artillery
weapons. which include 105-mm
guns and possibly guns OF larger
caliber. Mr.. Truman said. On the
Greek Army side. the President
reported:
"At the end of the period under
review Aast March 81 the Greek
armed forces had achieved the
highest. state of efficiency since
l941 when the Greek forces were
overwhelmed by the Nazis and
after having folled back Mus
solini's invasion of Greece"
On the economic situation, the
President said inf1ationary pres
sures had eased off and the in
crease in commodity prices had
been stopped. But he cited as
heavy burdens on the Greek gov
ernment the internal cost Of its
military establishment and the
expense of caring for almost 700.-
900 refugees.
OF the Turkish aid program,
Mr.. Truman said the Turkish
armed forces have made steady
progress in improving their effi-
cheney with American help but
that they will require additional
United States assistance to con-
tinue their progress toward a
desirable standard of effective
sAAsso