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THE
Concluding: HOW WILL HITLER FALL?
now Europe will fail un-
less it solves the riddle of
the Balkans.
It is true that in one senso the Balkans are not, and have never· been, a part of Europe. They suffered in every great onslaught of the Asiatic tribesmen.
They were on that unhappy borderland where two civilisa- tions met, and although what we now call Western civilisation had its origins In the most southerly tip of the Balkans.
RIDDLE
of the BALKANS
By GEORGE SLOCOMBE
(The Famous Foreign Correspondent)
In this Greco-Turk reconciation may be found the germ of a settle- ment of all the Balkan troubles, per- hops of all the troubles of Europe,
Yot one of these States was, "In: theory, an autocratic Sluto; and the other a State fluctuating painfully between periods of democracy and periods of semi-autocracy.
Evidently, démocracy alone is not to be the fundamental basis, of 'any immediate charter for the Balkans. Not, that is, democracy as the French knew it, and na we used to under- stand it in Great Britain.
The truth would seem to be that democracy can only fourlsh at a cor-
peninsula, it was not the West- den aggression of Mussolint if the against Greece, as Germany and Italy tain stage of political development ern, but the Eastern, spirit Greeks had not been led by the had against France.
and of political education. Super- which eventually triumphed. It authoritarian Metoxas?
If the Greek Press In November ficial culture alone does not encour- used to be said that Europe ends I discussed this question with the had accepted bribes from Fascism as age its growth-as witness Germany, at Vienna. Byt that was before Greek Minister in London, M, Simo- the French Press did from Nazisin the Germany of the Kaiser, of the poulos. The son of a famous "Greek earlier, public opinion might have Weimar Republic, or of the Third the Nazis came.
scholar and the nephew of a famous been undermined and confused, and Reich. Since the middle of the nine Minister of Finance, M. Simopoulos Mussolini might have enjoyed, a In the Balkans, a peninsula of teenth century the Balkans have is a veteran in diplomacy. He has walkover in Greece.
small agricultural States but recently been. the jousting-ground of Big served his country in many capitals Ho counted on this. But he did emerged from a long period of en- and under many different Govern- not count on General Metaxas. In slavement to the Ottoman Empire, Power politics.
ments.
the eyes of the democrats in pre- and later subject to the domination
Russia and Austria, Germany
He was in London when the two Hitlerlan Germany, and in pre-Potain of one Great Power after another, and Italy used Serb and Bulgar, most important events occurred in France, Metaxas would be considered peace, prosperity and orderly govern. ment may have to be ensured for Greek and Turk as pawns in a recent history, before the war with a rank reactionary.
some years to come by a measure of RUSSELL.-Margaret Jane, passed vast, cynical and occasionally Italy-the restoration of King George to the Greek throne in 1935 and the peacefully away at "The Hermi-murderous game of grab.
advent of General Metaxas to power tage." Hongkong, at 3 a.m. April 18, 1941. The Funeral To Germany the Balkan penin- in 1936. will take place at the Colonial sula was the jumping-off place
Hour And The Man- ceeded in uniting and stabilising his Cemetery to-morrow, the cortege for her long-contemplated march passing the Monument at 5 pm. into Asia. Russin kept a covet ous eye on Constantinople and the Straits.
The
Hongkong Telegraph.
Friday, April 18, 1941. Wyndham St, Hongkong Telephone: 26015
:
Birth-Pangs
Co-operation
But this reactionary, for all his ap- autocratic power. parent suppression of democracy in Greece, saved the liberty and inde- pendence of his country. He suc-
country, in war as in peace.
Metaxas's Work
.
years of illusory European reconcilia- tion and appeasement there were re- peated attempts to organise the Bid- kan States into an entente for mutual
The protection of the big Powers -Russia or Great Britain-is no M. Simopoulos explained to me the And he deserves an epitaph worthy solution of the problem. circumstances in which Metaxas was of the Greek Anthology: "He died,
When the Balkan peoples have called to office. The country was but his country lived." divided into
learned to depend solely upon them- two almost equally
· Even the pre-war record of selves, they will have learned the powerful factions.
Metaxas compares favourably with lesson of collective resistance against The elections held after King that of some of the so-called demu France and England tried to George's restoration, under conditions cratic statesmen in the Balkans and aggression from without. During the bribe the Sultan Into submission of freedom and order rarely wit in other countries.
the with. Ioans, while
nessed in Greeco, divided the seats in more astute Germans played the Parliament between the two prin- elpal Parties, but gave the final bolder card of revolution, and power to the Communist minority, put the Young Turks in power, which with its 14 seats could put
But always that entente Whe Greece and Bulgaria were the either Party in office. objects of Victorian England's The King, therefore, decided the pulsory arbitration of labour dis- weakened by the abstention of a the United Press Associations, who resentimental admiration, but issue by appealing to a Government putes, collective labour contracts, country, like Bulgaria, directly in- English, Liberals did not protest of non-party men, headed by a uni accident and health insurance, old age fluenced or dominated by an aggres- sive Power, or the doubtful participa- when a descendant of the Bour- versity professor, the late M. De- pensions.
tion of an unstable Sinte like bons was crowned in Sofia as
He remitted 30 per cent of the Rumant, fearful of the designs of the Tear of the Bulgarians.
When this man died, his Vice- debts of the peasauls, spent Govern- neighbours whose territory it had Premier. General Metaxas, succeeded ment money on child welfare, started acquired. him. Metaxas then governed Greece a national campaign against malaria with a mild, even-handed, but never and tuberculosis, built bospitals, and
reclaimed pestilential marshlunda. theless autocratic hand.
THE prefix "special to the Telegraph Indicate news which is strictly copyright
is used by the "liongkong Telegraph under the provisions of the Telecommuni- cations Ordinanen, 1934, Buch news A
bears the Indicatica "U" I received
longkang on the date of publication by
serve all rights and forbid republications,
Kirangement,
either wholly or in part without previon
STIFF UPPER LIP
THERE is no doubt that many English people are now remembering with pride that their gallant leader promised them blood, tears, toll and sweat along the first arduous laps to victory. The reversals in Libya and the Balkans, superficial as they may prove to be, are a timely reminder that the Nazi -land-forces-are-a-most-formid able fighting machine-not at all to be compared with the Italian army.
over
There is little doubt but that the war is going on for a long time yet and the peoples assem- bled together under the Union Jack against Germany and Italy are prepared grimly to suffer whatever reverses the future may hold for them on land, sea and in the air. It is gratifying to reflect that whatever casual- ties we sustain, the enemy pays generally threefold and what territory he gains always adds to his overheads and pays no dividends. On the other hand the democracies' strength increases by leaps and bounds; time, which we should have taken by the forelock a few years ago, has not deserted us. Factually the situation calls for clear thinking and quick action on our part to nullify entirely the enemy gains in North Africa and to check his headlong course in the south of Yugo-Slavic towards the heart of Greece. General Wavell
Since the end of the war of 1014- 1018 the Balkans have become a blue-print of democracy in its birth- pangs. They have witnessed the coming and the going of all varieties of parliamentary government. -
mertzia,
He dealt drastically and success protection. fully with urgent social problems. He introduced minimum wages, com-
L
Federation?
Let us not blink the fact. Tho And all this in a small country This war may clarify that always valiant Greece of to-day, the Greece which since the Inat war had had to disquieting condition of things. If which rose as onc
man against And land and employment and homes only it removes the Balkans from
In Jugoslavia and Rumania, the Mussolini, which threw back the for a million and a half people, a the Great Powers aphere of influence. two Balkan countries with the least Italians across the frontier, which quarter of Its population, the refugee If only it persuades the Balkan States homogeneous population, Parliament pursued an immensely superior army inheritance of the disastrous war to peralat in the way of federation. has never been more than a fiction. Into Albania, which is still indicting with the Turks,
For a hundred years the Balkans It has served as the stage for mutual defeat after defeat on Mussolini's
and revolver-duels mechanised
Disastrous, but in the long run have contained the germs of Great and highly-disciplined recriminations between rival parties and national army, is not, according to our British-beneficial. Because out of this war Power. disputes.
came the reconciliation between two groups, but it has never ruled.
ideas, a democracy.
War In hereditary enemies, the end of an
Europe was narrowly averted in 1912 as a result of the Not even in the time of the Liberal But they were united against out- age-long feud.
Balkan wars. In 1914, the long- Bratianus could it be said that the side enemies.
There is nothing in the history of threatened conflagration was touched Rumanians enjoyed parliamentary representation. And since then...
Europe se remarkable as the settles off by a Balkan Ineldent. ment of the dispute between tho
Bulgaria, under the stout and
Miscalculations
Greeks and the Turks. It was enter- It may be that in this long-disputed swarthy peasant. Premier, Slam- Italy had for years exerted the ed into voluntarlly; each side made, region of Europe the basis will be bullsky, had a short experience of weapons of economic penetration, concessions; each side has. honestly found of a larger European federa- democracy. But Stambulisky was political corruption and Press bribery kept the contract mode. murdered by his political opponents.
The dictator, Tsankoff, came into power, and after him a long series of more or less arbitrary statemmen. Only the mild, moderating influente of King Boris saved the from internal revolution.
Turkey's Path
country
CORFU
place has suffered more
Nat the Duce's hands than
Under the late Kemal Ataturk, and under his successor Incuau, Turkey Corfu. Day after day, raids on has enjoyed a kind of benevolent and patriarchal autocracy, grafted on to this beautiful town and island a society essentially democratie in have been proudly recorded
character,
Kemal was unlike other autocrats
in
Mussolini's
communiques.
In this, that he sincerely encouraged There is no need to look far for the growth of democracy and parlia- the reason. Corfu is close to mentary government in Turkey, even Italy and it is undefended. to the point of creating an official The Italian airmen have there- took a great gamble with his Army national party seemed to be stining habitants in perfect safety, avell opposition, when the rule of a single fore been able to crucify its in- of the Nile. He had to. Using his political thought and criticism. forces like a hammer he struck blow
With their casualties mounting
SANTIQUARANTA
Perulades
μαρσάνι
CORFU
Ringlade
ALBANIA
tion, a more permanent Europe peace.
WAITS FOR SETTLING DAY
GREECE
The Italian departed. The Prefect set to work to inform the foreign Consuls. A few minutes after the British Consul
had been notified, the Italian warships began to bombard the town.
The Italian gunnery was shocking
in its inaccuracy. Of thirteen shells almed at the fort, twelve fell short: and hit a gendarmorie school." Several ploughed their way, through a crowd of orphan boys bathing, in the sea. Others fell among the re- defugees, about whose presence and whereabouls the Italian commander
after blow swiftly along the whole Like other autocrats, However, Libyan coast and then, having tem- Kemal refused to remove himself to many hundreds, the citizens porarily quashed all opposition he from the seat of power and see what of Corfu have shown that they turned it on Abyssinia and crushed would happen under conditions of too can "take it and wait but rejected others. They history-footed Empire In a tow complete freedom. If he had dong, with patience and hope for the dared, with good reason," that had been warned. Of twenty peop
weeks. At the same so, we may wonder if Turkey would day of reckoning which now time Wavell denuded his strength in be resisting the Axis to-day,
seems not so far away.
that
where
the
their responsibility for the mur- found dead when the shelling sub- sided, 16 were children. The could be counted in dozens. wounded ders was not proved." The people of Corfu have a
Corfu, which had gone to its zlosta under a peaceful Mediterranean: sky, double account to settle with the
awoke to the sounds and sights of Duce. For it was to them, on
the battledeld. The not
now Roman Burst Victory.
proportion to the enemy's weakening
For what is freedom? · "Liberty. is to send reinforcements to resistance
'n noblo Jéen," said a Greek to me Greece while he had also to keep in recently, "but it is not easy to de- mind the threat that might you fino it. And it is still less easy to
from Trin humiliated enemy was being given. say where one man's liberty ceases n' beautiful day in August 17 ARLY in the afternoon of Emperor had won his first
Fears ago, that Mussolint first Eugust 31, an Italian fleet Atier the bombardment, the Ita- and another's begins," backbone by a German armoured division and Infantry shipped and fown across from flown
from Italy with con siderable casualties on route....
Wavell's
Vell's gamble has been Abyssinia has fallen in time for üz
A nation only knows what liberty showed the blackness of his is when it has lost it. But which heart.
is more important, Individual liberty justified.
to release for servlet on the Libyan front those victorious troops who raced through Abyssinia. There is no doubt that they will aluminate the German spear-head.
came Bailing into Corfu har- lion commander made, light of the commander was crime. You know this is not war," bour. The
Colonel
sold to an Af
the
or national" liberty? And could It all began with some mur- taken ashore and unceremoni-Lower This and its independence against the sud rond. An Italian General named surrender the island. The Pre- Greece have anence against obert dera on the Santi: Quaranta ously called upon the Prefect to lon 14 what I saw was
- Tellini and some Italian officers fect Bald he must get in touch what you call
bombardment has béen, entirely Funnecessary, as "one- whether the British can bring in limitation work when they were that in any case it was unneces- officer with a handful of men could reinforcements that will release these attacked by assassins and sary to use force as Corfu was have accomplished the occupation pent-up, forces to join with resurgent killed The Duce, spoiling to in no position to resist. Of its without dring a single gun.”
Bulgaria elements in Yugo-Stavla,
assert the now authority of two forts, the older had been the islanders nursing the wounds and Rumania in resistance.
to attempt to Fasciam, demanded satisfaction dismantled In 1864 and now of 1940 have aste forgotten the GST, would be foolish koppling in from the Greek Govorament. A housed refuged and an orphan-woundry of key on a Bravely grimly,
what propagry power. ful spring, whose embarbed face however, infer to say that a derman harsh ultimatum was delivered age. There was hosun in the they are walling for settling day, covers the country from the fontan success in this Balken struggle will in Athens The Greeks ac town capable of Iringa leti
r one-wit to a victory in many
Paul – Winterton
d. The Italians be brought to break this spring or were engaged on frontier.de with Athens He pointed out clared Later he de-
to
·will not risk moving Q strong army out of Tripoli in a "do or die effort crush the British and hold the German galas, unless they are certain of success! and they are not certain.
pressed our lines back upon a
In Greece the enemy have com-
to the Aegean Sea. The question not help her remains whether, enemy pressure can
World War No. 2
cepted some of its conditions, shot