Greek honour
Sir: Taki tells us that the Greek people `were led by King George and John Metaxas to resist the Axis powers longer than France, Denmark, Holland and Bel- gium did' (High life, 26 August).
`The Axis powers' sounds impressive, but the details are that the Greeks withstood Mussolini's conscript Italian peasantry for six months, and Hitler's armoured divisions for three weeks. There is no disgrace in that, but inflated claims bring the Greek people no honour. Haile Selassie did at least as well, as far as Mussolini was con- cerned.
Also, Taki repeats his claim that the Japanese army, during the same war, 'treat- ed their own as cruelly as their enemies'. Really? Did that include bayonet practice, crucifixion and execution at whim? Person- ally, I doubt it — if only because a trained soldier is a resource not to be wasted. But a mere prisoner-of-war . . .
M.M. Carlin
c/o Rectory House, Bedstone, Shropshire
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