NEW BATTLE LINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 90, 16 April 1940, Page 8

NEW BATTLE LINE.

DEFENDERS PREPARE. Heavy Snowfalls Give Brief Respite. NAZIS AT SWEDISH BASE. United Press Association.—Copyright (Received 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 15. Heavy snowfalls have given the Norwegians a brief .respite and have enabled them to complete their mobilisation. They . have established an approximate battle line in southeastern Norway close to the Swedish frontier, running from the vicinity of Halden and Sarpsborg, near the eastern entrance to Oslo Fiord, northward to Kongsvinger and westward to Eidsvold. A tiny army is established on the east bank of the Glommen River.

Germany has already claimed the capture of all the above-mentioned points. Guerilla fighting has broken out in the mountains around Oslo, where the Norwegians are using ski patrols. Swedish and Finnish volunteer* have arrived at the front. The Norwegian General Staff, in a communique, admits a slight German success in the vicinity of Sarpsborg, and says the Germans have captured Larvik and Kongsberg, west of Oslo I'iord, and the village of Veje, 50 miles from Krietiansand. The communique adds that the situation at Trondhjem is unchanged, and the Germans are flying reinforcements there from Oslo. It is reported from Stockholm that five large German transports arrived in 0310 Fiord on Saturday, enabling the Germans to launch heavier attacks on the Norwegian lines. German troops have reached the Swedish frontier, after advancing from Halden. They took over the frontier poet' at Kornsjo. Three thousand Norwegian troops who crossed into Sweden at Kornsjo, apparently after being cut off

by tie German advance in southern Norway, have been disarmed and interned. A German communique states that troops have consolidated their positions at Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger and Kristianeand, and ore continually advancing from Oslo northward, eastward! and westward. The communique says 100 Norwegian officers and 1500 men laid down their arms during the fighting in south-eastern Norway.

Fighting continues near Elverum, where German 'planes machine-gunned an assembly of unarmed Norwegian soldiers. Many Norwegian soldiers are rallying in the upper regions of the province of Ostfold. The fear of their presence caused the Germans to evacuate the Kornsjoe frontier station, and fall back to Halden. Snow and heavy clouds are hindering land and air activity in this region. Refugees from Halden report that only 400 Germans are occupying the fortress at Fredrikstad. The Norwegian Government radio declares that the Germans landed troops by parachute near the Domass railway junction on the Oslo-Trondheim railway.