Word: salonika
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...formation of a new Greek Government headed by himself and an Army cabal. No man could say whether or not General Tsolakoglou was a quisling. For King and country the Army of Epirus had bravely fought the Italians for six months before he surrendered it to the Nazis at Salonika three weeks ago. With the departure of George II's Government and with the retirement of Commander in Chief General Alexander Papagos, somebody had to lead the conquered for the conqueror...
There are few more difficult military operations than fighting a rearguard action against an aggressive enemy; under the strain most armies collapse. But the British, Australians and New Zealanders fought for 18 days and 245 miles-from Salonika to Olympus to Larissa to Thermopylae to Thebes to Athens-and not once did they allow the Germans to break through their lines in any force...
...British tried to rationalize the loss of Salonika, calling the town a military nonentity, pointing to the fact that its fall had been so certainly expected that for three whole weeks tankers had hauled gasoline away, and since then sailing vessels and steamers had taken out all kinds of stores, and the wounded and helpless had been evacuated. This was true, for the British who until three weeks ago had little hope of Yugoslavia's fighting had disposed their limited forces further west in the obvious expectation that it would be foolish to try to hold Salonika...
...Outlook. These efforts showed that the Germans were preparing for an attack on the line from the coast of Albania to Fiorina, to the Aegean near Mount Olympus-the line on which the Greeks and British had prepared to make their major stand. The Greeks surged down from Salonika on the eastern end of the line, and this week the British announced that they had been obliged to retreat-but not without inflicting heavy casualties...
...advance. But the Nazi censorship had decided that the people should have no news. The radio trumpets blasted patriotic airs, but the newscasts, like the newspaper columns, were trivial. For three days the German people were ignorant. Then they learned that it had been Blitz. The troops were in Salonika. In the newsreels the people saw not only practice maneuvers in Bulgaria, but Stukas screaming down on the Greeks, dusty Nazi soldiers napping in the grass beside Yugoslav roads...