16- #669, Eighteenth, from London.             
 
                                                            
 
 
The city-it was growing it was approaching. General Scobis 
                            signaled:                       
 
                                                            
 
 
"A general strike has been declared in Athens. All power 
      and utility services have ceased working. Unless full order can 
      be restored the situation of the government will be critical. 
      All British troops including the parachute brigade are being 
      held here. We were about to take some of our troops away when 
      this happened. The parachute brigade was needed in Italy. The 
      hour was late or rather early--two o'clock in the morning. Orders 
      were sent to General Scobie to take over the military command 
      of Athens and restore and maintain order by whatever measures 
      were necessary. If I did wrong I take the full responsibility 
      but my colleagues are most desirous to share it with me. For 
      three or four days or more it was a struggle to prevent a hideous 
      massacre in the center of Athens in which all forms of government 
      would have been swept away and naked triumphant Trotskyism installed. 
      I think "Trotskyists" is a better definition of these 
      people and of certain other sects than the normal word and it 
      has the advantage of being equally hated in Russia. However by 
      the skin of our teeth and thanks to the resolution of the handful 
      of British soldiers on the spot the