NEWS OF THE WEEK
M HE sustained failure of the Italian attack on Greece is, of course, primarily a testimony to the courage and morale of the Greek troops and to the signal efficiency of the higher command. The tactics which led to the trapping, and the subsequent destruction, of the Italian Alpini division in the Pindus sector are evidence of brilliant staff-work. The Italian commander-in-chief has been replaced, and desperate efforts will, no doubt, be made to retrieve the situation. There has been a disposition to conclude that Greece must in the end fall to immensely superior numbers, but that judgement may conceivably be premature. Winter is at hand, the terrain, which prevents the Italians from deploying effectively, is all in favour of the defence, and British aid, as evidenced in the brilliant achievement of the Fleet Air Arm against the Italian fleet at Taranto, has already come near revolutionising the whole Mediterranean situation. Italian superiority in numbers is only of importance if reinforcements and supplies can be carried unimpeded across the Straits of Otranto. The advent of British bombers, and the devastation they have inflicted on what was the Italian fleet, warrant the belief that such ascendancy in the air may be achieved as to make both the Southern Italian and the Albanian harbours practically un- usable. Even the passage of the narrow straits by supply-ships may be made impracticable. That conclusion is not fully warranted yet, but many indications point to it. Any such development must inevitably bring Germany more into the Balkan picture, for Italy cannot be left to be defeated. Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Turkey and Russia would all be affected by that. But they are all, at the same time, impressed, as Spain at the other end of the Mediterranean must be, by the new balance of naval power in that sea.
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