L.T. SUBOCO MOHDARX. APRIL gl. 1941 GOOD EVENING EVERS!BODY: Perhaps the least envia^e man in the world tonight is Manuefl Tsourderos. Formerly governor of the Bank of Greece and Minister of Finance, today he took the oath as Prime Minister of Greece, took that oath while already more than a third of the soil of his country was in the hands of the enemy. Nevertheless, he delivered a speech over the radio, a speech sandwiched in between air raids, in which he called upon his countrymen to fight on and on and on. Greeks, he said, do not want to become slaves and Intend to fight to a victorious end. He made no reference to the fact that the enemy were approaching closer and closer to the Gulf of Cornith. He spoke of the gratitude of the Greeks for the help given by the British, and added that they know that Behind Britain is the United States. Then he used these words*- "We are passing through a black midnight but dawn is not far away, and you may be sure that our struggle for great Greece will end with glory.M T/RAD - 2 Hitler’s troops are paying a staggering toll for their onrush toward the Gulf of Corinth, The Nazi casualties are reported as tremendous. New Zealanders returning to Athens, wounded, say the absolute disregard of the Germans for their own losses, is astounding. No matter how they were mowed down by machine guns and hand grenade fire, they kept on coming. One stream for which the Nazis were fighting was teeming with half- sunken boats and flashing, drowning men. The slaughter became so appaling the British actually got sick of killing Germans. That's Just one point in today's report irom the British. The Greeks have a similar story to tell. But the Nazis are hurling more and more divisions into the fray. With Jugoslavia conquered, they have another amy to throw at the Allies. Hiterl's generals are using their entire resources in men, tanks, guns and aircraft to force a quick decision. The Nazis announce that in their swift advance across the Plains of Thessaly, they have captured British, Australian and New Zealand troops. But the British and Greeks report that they are established in their third line of defense. In the uthrys Mountains, south of Larissa, about a hundred and ten miles north of Athens, not lar LEAD -3 from the historic pass of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans gave up their lives holding up the advance of the Persians, twenty-four centuries ago. The -“-llies high command say itfs a shorter line than their others, consequently easier to defend; still there’s no denying the fact that the Nazi machine pounds ever further and further south. In London it is virtually acknowledged that the evacuation of SirArchibald Wavell’s army will be only a matter of time — that in short, the game is up in Greece.j^And what the English, Australians and wew Zealanders have been fighting was just a delaying action. The report of the Nazis is more sensational. They claim to have the British and Greeks on the run, and say the Greek troops in Albania are apt to be cut off at any moment. They say that dive bombers and fighter planes are making a terrific slaughter of the crowded British and Greek columns moving south along the narrow highways. However, even the Nazis admit that Britons and Greeks are fighting a stiff delaying action and that the main forces of the Allies are not being engaged. The Nazis come out once mord with their charge that the British are already quitting Greece. LEAD -4 German bombers,q they report, have destroyed part of the transports on which British troops were being carried to Crete, Ihe most interesting news from Africa is that the Nazis and Italians are getting along none too well. These tales were discounted at first when they came as reports from the British, stories told by captured Italian officers. But all these tales were corroborated today when it became known that German tanks had fired on a detachment of a thousand Italian soldiers who were retreating before a withering blast of British artillery fire. uf course this may have been a mistake; the Italians in the confusion of their retreat may have got into the line of fire of the German tanks. However, both German and Italian prisoners tell their captors that the liason work between the men of the two races is poor and misunderstandings frequent. eighth day,» and the Axis columns have failed to get beyond Solium where the British are holding them up. In East Africa, evidently the report that the Duke of Aosta had surrendered was premature. The Italians are still holding out in Ethiopia, but they’ve been driven b ack to their last line of defense. LEAD - 5 Tonight the wonder is, where will Hitler strike next? One guess is that he’ll make for the Suez Canal, another that he’ll bring off the long threatened attack on Gibraltar, Still a third conjecture, which is quite plausible, is that he will now try to realize the abortive dream of Ex-Kaiser Wilhelm — Berlin to Baghdad. Meaning an attack on Turkey. Iraq, one time kingdom of King Feisal, a kingdom rich in oil, is most necessary to the Nazis. And of course once planted in Iraq, they would have their clutches on the lifeline of the British Empire. One report from Istanbul, capital of Turkey in Europe, may be significant. Thousands of the residents of Istanbul have applied to be evacuated to Anatolia, and the Turkish authorities today were distributing tickets among them. The first parties will leave by boat and train Thursday and Friday. Many people and firms are selling out, getting ready to leave the city built by the Emperor Constantine. SPAIiM Ominous rumors about Spain are cropping up in the ne?.rs again, (ze/'ve O l QP Although unfavorable to the British cause, they emanate from L0ndon. same old rumor^reallv^ Hitler W bringing \ pressure upon Francesca-Franco to throw in with the Axis. And itTs rumored that the Franco Cabinet has be£n holding several g-rai^■ conferences to consider the Nazi offers. It’s no secret that Francofs Foreign Minister, Ramon ✓ 4 > Serrano Suner, wants to throw his country crshc^x COfuXi. i ) cnrow A * And One thing British diplomats fear Is that the Spaniards may make a serious attempt to brin^Portugal^lnin spite of the long historic alliance between the Portuguese and the British. The Portuguese government has been sending strong reenforcements to its garrison in the Azores. ADD SPAIN A st-ill stronger rumor came across the seas a few minutes ago. ItTs reported in Vichy that Hitler has sent a messenger on the way to Spain demanding that Franco join the Ayis an^ allow from twn six to ten divisions to move across the peninsula for an attack on Gibraltar. In fact, Hitler is reported to have sent none-other-than Rudolph Hess, one of his right hand men, Deputy Leader of the wazi'Party. The report is so circumstantial that it even quotes the details of Hitler’s offer. One is that he promised to protect Spain against any British attack, promised to guarantee the security of Tangiers on the African side of the Straits and to provide the Spaniards with enough food so that they wouldn’t suffer from the British blockade. So tonight the belief in Europe is that Hitler is about to spring a double attack, one at each end of the Mediterranean. FRANCE Ov^r i_n France an unpleasant topic is once more thrust rv at tn much harrassed Vichy Government. That topic is Ex-?remier Pierre Laval. Hitler seems to want Laval in the Pctain Government at any cost. Ever since Laval was kicked out of the Cabinet, the relations between France and Germany have ^ Of f l <5 been reported as practically at a standstills Hitler offers to ^ A end that condition if Retain will take Laval back into the fold. Lb t&fbo And the Nazis will make other concessions. ' ttt r Lu-s ^ j^<rt^esC\ PRISONERS Six German prisoners are still roaming the countryside, somewhere in Canada, just six out of some five times that number; war captives who escaped from an internment camp In northern Ontario last Saturday. Two of them, air pilots, were killed when they were surrounded In the wild country around Heron Bay. They tried to dodge through the line of soldiers, police and volunteers who were out to retake them. That country still is blocked by deep snow. Twenty of the twenty-eight are now back in the internment camp, recaptured, alive LkbOR Sidney Hillman, Associate Director of the Office of Production -Aanageinent, spoke up for labor before a Committee of Senators today. The labor unions, he says, realize that they have so much a4- staKe in the defense program that if- anything goes wrong they will suffer more than anybody else in the country. 'What they are suffering from in the labor movement as well as throughout the cL* yHrt' country, he continues, is that most people appreciate the jLo ^ urgency of the situation, appreciate the need for speedy ^ y A action. Then he complained that the public gets an exaggerated picture of labor troubles. Actually,^ he claims, they involve less than one per cent of all defense production. H-j liman said that eventually labor and management will be able to work out a stabilization agreement such as has already been accomplished in the shipbuilding industry on the Pacific coast. There the workers and the employers have agreed about basic hours iUw A ^ and wages, and provided for adjusting all disputes without any stoooage of work. Before long, Hillman went on, that agreement EABOR - 2 will cover tiie whole country. After it ht|s been worked out in shipbuilding, there*11 be time to talk about it in other industries Hillman added that the government should step in to operate factories shut down by strikes only as a last resort, V/hile Hillman was testifying before the Senators, the dispute between the coal miners and operators was in the same condition - deadlocked. Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia sent a telegram to Secretary of Labor Miss Perkins, the gist of which was that she should pass that coal dispute over to the National Defnse Mediation Board at once, or tell the reason why. HOSPITAL Pour hundred and thirty patients in a hospital at Pittsburgh are terrified because of a strike. The C.I.O. Union of County and Municipal Workers called a strike at the West Penn Hospital. iae nurses are not involved, but the workers in the kitchens, janitors, charwomen, orderlies, and so forth. Wives of doctors in Pittsburgh and also the-wom©» organizations ^took over the^^-lwhs^ scrubbing flax the floors, getting the meals, and other such tasks. The hospital is asking the courts for an injunction. The Superintendent of the hospital testified that that C.I.O. strike was having a most demoralizing effect on the patients. JONES American editors and publishers received a few suggestions today from Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones, he spoke at the Associated Press Waldorf luncheon not only as a Cabinet Minister and a Texan banker, but as one who himself is publisher of the HOUSTON TEXAS CHRONICLE. Secretary of Commerce Jones was humorously introduced by Publisher McLean of Philadelphia., as a man among billions! He reassured his fellow publishers about censorship. As a government, official, he declared, he had never seen any indication that anyone in the government wanted to do any censoring unless it was information which might aid those who are not America's friends One of the suggestions that Jesse Jones offered was that editors should check and double-check the most sensational antjles of stories which involve relations between this nation and other countries. In case of doubt, choose the cool and unsensational approach. That, he.said, may help government officers who are wrestling with onr foreign relations. Jesse Jiones also threw out the same warning President Roosevelt and other members of his government have been uttering lately, that if we want to make a good job of defending ourselves, JONES - 2 we must give up some of the things that we have been used to . He also said we must build ship for ship, plane for plane, and gun for gun FIRES >.:ix eastern ±ates are worried about this dry spell, Ofxicials of the Forest Service tell us that so long as it continues, danger from forest and brush fires will grow. New fork, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey are alihaving fires —'especially New Jersey. Fresh fires broke cut there today, and, as yesterday, tney were fanned by a wind blowing at the rate of twenty-some miles an hour. No sooner did the fire fighters get the flames controlled in one spot ix than a hurry call came* by telephone from somewhere else in the state. This meant trucks rushing from one county to another carrying fire companies. So far fifty-thousand acres of prime woodland have been destroyed in New Jersey. iThe worst disaster of this kind in the history of the state. According to the last reports that came in from New Jersey, six communities in that state were threatened by the flames this afternoon. Large bodies of men are fighting the flames^ including regular firemen, civilian volunteers and soldiers. They!ve tried every device known to fire fighters, including FIRES - 2 back-firing and dynamiting. But the flames have jumped highways, backfires and even dynamited stretches. Officials in West Virginia counted no fewer than a hundred-and-fifty separate fires. I should have said seven states. Acting-Covernor Sheppard of Connecticut today ordered that all forests in the Nutmeg State should be closed at midnight tonight because of fires. There will be no hunting “and no fishing until there has been rainfall. Three hundred fires have broken out in Connecticut in the last twenty days — with hardly a drop of rain since March Fifteenth. ADD 7lhaS vvn^c-Al ^ Here^ a late report from New Jersey, ^nd"-lethope It isn’t true. A message was received at Fort Dix that a hundred men n of the Hundred and Fifty-Sixth Field Artillery Regiment had been trapped by the flames while fighting those forest fires. This report is not confirmed, and a spokesman at the Fort declared that the officers of the Hundred and Fifty-Sixth Field Artillery are investigating, checking up.