The Food Situation in  Greece               
 
           A Memorandum Requested by Mr. Taylor.            
 
                                                            
 
 
Greece today is dangerously near starvation. The people urgently need wheat,  
 rice, sugar and fats. The Axis occupation of Greece has interrupted the   
normal shipments of supplies from abroad. Axis military authorities   
prohibit the natural flow of foodstuffs, notably olive oil, from the   
islands and the producing centers on the mainlamd to the markets. The   
presence of large numbers of Axis troops in Greece, who are fed primarily   
off of the country, is a heavy drain upon the small existing stocks of food.  
All of this adds up to widespread suffering among the people
 
                                                            
 
 
When I left Athens on September 15th, Bread was the only food that could be   
bought with ration cards at the legal price. Each adult is entitled to 60   
drams of bread daily. Normally each adult Greek eats 400 drams of bread   
daily (2.8 pounds). In Greece bread is literally the staff of life. When   
it is wanting there is privation since there is no available substitute.   
For weeks now no foodstuffs other than bread could be bought with ration   
cards at legal prices. There are other foodstuffs for sale but they are  
sold on an uncontrolled market which is locally known as " the black bourse.  
" This is a curbstone or pushcart market. It is tacitly accepted by the   
government and protected by the police.  To it go all who buy food who are   
willing to pay the exorbitant prices asked. Those who buy are principally   
Germans and Italians, civilians and troops, and the people who work for   
them. High