Mystery

BATTLE OF GERMANY (South)

At first it appeared that the British and Americans had finally made the grand invasion of the Balkans. Allied headquarters in Rome permitted correspondents to go all out, announce that a new organization known as the Land Forces of the Adriatic had landed in Albania and the Yugoslav islands.

From the few details released it appeared that the operation had begun eleven days earlier. U.S. newspapers shrilled "gigantic," "large-scale," the "first big penetration of the Balkans by the Western Allies." Then headquarters shut up. Adjectives began to sag. Correspondents began talking of a "mystery army."

By week's end it looked not only like a mystery army but a mystery invasion. The operation, it now appeared, was vest-pocket in size. The attack units were apparently only a Commando force--mostly British and quite small indeed. Its purpose seemed to be to join up with Yugoslav and Albanian guerrillas to help cut German escape routes to the north.

The Vest-Poclcet Force. The Land Forces of the Adriatic are actually a small unit of British Commando troops, paratroops and special service forces under command of a British Army officer. It was organized formally about four months ago and placed under the Allied Balkan Air Force. It is based in Italy and works closely with the navy and air force in order to move back & forth across the Adriatic. Its first major mission was July 29, an attack on the Albanian coast, and it now operates--necessarily thinly--over a front about 750 miles long.

The Russians moved into Marshal Tito's domain after an agreement with the Partisans. Moscow announced that it was a temporary military expedient, was part of the Russian attack on Hungary.

The Russians were already into Hungary farther west, would shortly be able to extend that front against the last major Axis satellite. The Russians also announced that their troops had penetrated Czechoslovakia, were moving down through the Lupkow Pass to take Hungary from the north.

So certain was Hungary's eventual fate that both General Eisenhower and the Moscow radio deemed it time to serve notice on Austria. Said a broadcast to Austria from east and west: prepare for the arrival of the Allies. How the Allies would arrive was not explained, but the Russians already had a long start.

The Greek Government in Exile and Allied Headquarters in Rome announced that Greek guerrilla factions had agreed to act together under Allied command in the fight against the Germans. Lieut. General Ronald MacKenzie Scobie, former British commander at Tobruk and Malta, was named head man for Allied operations in Greece. This week British Commandos were reported on three Greek islands.

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