Moltke from Ithaca

If he chose, restored King George II might be grateful to Great Britain. There, during his twelve years of banishment by the Greek Republic, he was often hospitably entertained by King George & Queen Mary, always figured as "His Majesty the King of the Hellenes" in their Court Circular.

Their youngest son, Prince George, married chic Princess Marina of Greece. After George II was restored, British armament firms angling for Greek orders were delighted at commands from the Admiralty which sent into Greek waters several crack ships of the British Navy on what Athens newsorgans said was a "demonstration cruise." British armament salesmen then began to make Athens night life pop with champagne and throb with jazz as Greek officers were taken over the jumps of pleasure, with hopes high that they would sign on dotted lines the mornings after.

On April Fool's Day this year, the British Minister to the Kingdom of the Hellenes, dignified Sir Sydney Waterlow, whose rich relatives make stationery for King Edward VIII and British Government departments, was announced to have called upon Greek War Minister General John Metaxas and sternly inquired how things were getting on--particularly the rival British and German bids to build for Greece four destroyers. Last week General Metaxas, who has since become Premier of Greece, threw $13,500,000 of armament orders to Germany.

In Athens hotels this week some of the British salesmen felt better when the $7,000,000 destroyer order went to Glasgow shipyards. But Premier Metaxas followed with another move at Britain's expense. To save Greece's dwindling gold reserves he imposed new import restrictions amounting to some $7,000,000 which will mostly operate in Germany's favor. Not indeed since Athenians mulcted Sam Insull had they done such a thorough job. Much credit for the German success went to Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, President of the Reichsbank, who has just made a flying Balkan tour, booking orders for munitions against blocked marks (TIME, June 29).

Upon most Greek lips, however, was the name of "The Little Moltke." At the Kaiser's military school in Potsdam from 1899 to 1903 studied a young Greek born like the wily Ulysses on the Island of Ithaca.

He was short, muscular, and his blue eyes protruded slightly. His blue-eyed German professors of war found him so brilliant that they called him "The Little Moltke," and he conceived for Ger many a passionate admiration.

Years later when Colonel John ("Little Moltke") Metaxas was the chief military adviser and friend of King Constantine of Greece, he convinced His Majesty that Germany would win the War which broke in 1914. When Constantine abdicated and Greece joined the Allies, Metaxas fled to Corsica.

Last week he was back as Premier, telling King George as he told that monarch's father, King Constantine, that "Germany will win!"

Amazingly lucky, General Metaxas has risen to be Premier this year because Death has carried off Grand Old Greek Eleutherios Venizelos, rival General George Kondylis, onetime Premier Panayoti Tsaldaris and Premier Constantine Demerdjis.

This, as a journalist friend of "The Little Moltke" wrote, left General Metaxas as "the sole man to whom the King could turn in his search for a strong right arm for" the Crown." As the salesmen left Athens many re marked that everything would have been better had the British Government only listened to the Greek Royalists who at one time wanted not to restore George II but to proclaim as King the British husband of Marina--George, now Duke of Kent.

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