DURING the late months of 1940 the Nazis began to draw the
Balkan States further within their fold. Hungary, Rumania,
and Slovakia, in turn, formally were inducted into the "new
order"; the net was spread for Bulgaria and Yugoslavia; hope-
ful glances were cast in the directions of Turkey, Spain, Eire,
and even Greece; and Sweden and Switzerland heard mena-
cing growls.

Those of us in Berlin at the time looked upon the scene
principally as an empty show through which the Nazis, in a
period when their armies were not marching, were flexing
their muscles before their own people and the world -- a show
that was not very impressive, however, since the display had
its effect on the most helpless states only, states that were al-
ready doing the goose-step anyway, and who thus did no more
than formally put their names on the dotted line. We did see
it, however, as preparing the stage for the blow against Greece,
to aid the badly battered junior partner of the Axis, Italy. Nazi
Germany, as usual, was moving deliberately, seeking to make
certain that all the Balkans were in their corner as seconds
before the next bout began. Some of the Balkan States, such as
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, however, were refusing to become
immediately frightened by the Nazi show, and Turkey, as we

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