BOMBS AMONG SHOPPERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 5 January 1945, Page 5

BOMBS AMONG SHOPPERS

E.L.A.S. MORTAR IN ACTION PEOPLE KILLED AND WOUNDED (Rec. 11 a.m.) London, Jan. 4. Hundreds of people in the morning shopping crowd panicked when an E.L.A.S. mortar threw six bombs within minutes into Constitution Square, reports the British United Press Athens correspondent. The volley exploded before the people could find cover from flying fragments which hit the sides of the Grand Bretagne Hotel, which is British headquarters. Some were killed and wounded. British artillery last night and early to-day fired a thousand rounds against roads leading into Athens from the north. Artillery laid down two smoke screens and fired 300 shells containing safe conduct pamphlets telling, E.L.A.S. troops that the British were now facing them everywhere. British infantry supported by tanks on the eastern fringes of Athens drove 1000 yards westward this morning and broke into the compound of Averoff prison and occupied half the prison buildings against strong resistance, reports the British United Press Athens correspondent. E.L.A.S. resistance was particularly fierce around the home for aged people, which our troops were forced to partly destroy before they could capture it. Reuter’s correspondent says that with the whole of the southern part of Athens and more than half Piraeus thoroughly cleared of E.L.A.S. elements British forces are now engaged in the slow and difficult process of driving E.L.A.S. forces from a maze of houses in the tightly built northern districts of the capital. The British perimeter in the past two days has pushed forward a few hundred yards in some of the stiffest street fighting so far fought out in Athens. E.L.A.S. resistance was particularly fierce in the area east of Averoff prison. CONCERN EXPRESSED A senior British officer directly connected with operations in Athens and Attica, addressing press correspondents to-day, expressed concern at the reactions of British troops who on receiving mail from Britain generally feel that what they are doing in Greece is seen in the wrong light at home. The officer said: “My sole object in Athens is to restore law and order and see that every man not authorised to bear arms is deprived of them. British operations in Athens are governed by two main factors. The first is that we are fighting right in the middle of the civil population and nobody wants to hurt a single innocent civilian. The second is that th e number of troops needed depends more on the number of houses in a given district than the number of enemy troops in the district. We have been most careful to protect the population as we liberate them. Food is distributed. There is no doubt about their gratitude to us.”