NEWS OF THE WEEK G ERMANY'S infiltration programme in the Balkans
is not going according to plan. The move into Bulgaria, success- fully accomplished, was not an end in itself. Much of its value to Germany lay in the fact that it exposed the Yugoslays to en- circlement, so that pressure could be, applied at Belgrade to secure the Nazis safe transit through Yugoslavia in the direction of Salonika. The expected compliance of Yugoslavia would further weaken the position of Greece, who, it was hoped, would make peace with Italy and admit the Germans to Salonika. But at every stage since the surrender of Bulgaria the plan has gone wrong. Since the visit of Mr. Eden and Sir John Dill the Greeks know exactly what support they may expect from Great Britain and Turkey, and are determined not to yield an iota to the Germans ; and they have disappointed the Axis by smashing the violent Italian offensive in Albania which took Mussolini himself to the front, and are strengthen- ing their frontier defences opposite Bulgaria. As for the Yugo- slav Government, encouraged by the attitude of Great Britain, Greece and Turkey, and supported by the evidence of strong popular feeling against the Axis, it has quietly mobilised its forces and shown its determination to defend its neutrality and independence. It may accede to German wishes by coming to some agreement upon inessential issues, but it is now ex- tremely unlikely that it will join the Tripartite Pact. Germany is now in the position when she either must refrain from pushing her Bulgarian adventure to its logical extreme or must commit herself to the very thing she has always sought to avoid —a serious war on the Eastern front.
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