SWEDEN'S LINE-UP

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 173, 24 July 1941, Page 5

SWEDEN'S LINE-UP

MAY JOIN GERMANY RUSSIA THE COMMON FOE The author of this article is a well-known writer on Scandinavian affairs. who escaped from Denmark to Sweden on the say of invasion. (By JOACHIM JOESTEN) NEW YORK. When I travelled from Sweden to America early in October, 1940, 1 met on the trans-Siberian railway a Norwegian officer who was on his Way to Canada, where he holds an important commission with the Royal Norwegian Air Force. This officer, Who had spent some time in North Finland, to which he had escaped by Plane after the capitulation of Norway, told mo he had seen German . officers and soldiers in many places m Finland. The first Nazi troops arrived in r inland early in September last year, ostensibly on their way to North Norway by way of the Lapland highroad to Petsamo. They were mostly landed at Oulu (Uleaborg), but found on arrival that transport facilities were so bad at that time of the year inat they couldn't proceed. So large contingents of German troops 'reportedly a total of 60.000 men) remained stationed in North Finland inrough the winter. This undercover occupation of a territory in ■ "living-space" angered the u S u ans ' who were not, of course. Bumble enough to believe the tale of j-ve intended '-transit" to North Norway. 4 Tl^/? ct ". l ' °f !■'">« greatest importance •jn this .situation is Sweden. Reports or owedish moves to strengthen her aefences have been plentiful in the a* -n s r ™. ° "ational defence loans H n °ooqoo,ooo kroner (about 120,000,r u dollars) each, launched last year, 2w£ b ? en oversubscribed; additions w> the Swedish Navy are now being ™aae at the rate of "a vessel a week; ~", a tens of thousands of reservists who had been dismissed last summer "'Cob n ° W been recalled to the

i * I I Reports like these and a steady, stream of propaganda, which now; flows as freely from Stockholm as; from other European capitals, have, led many casual observers to believei that Sweden feels threatened by Germany and is getting ready to fight for her independence. This is a misconception. I Whether we like It or not. the] truth is that Sweden to-day is not in| any way lined up with the democratic Powers, but strives at best t<; main-: tain an uneasy neutrality, which) materially benefits Germany in every;' respect, "if she is getting ready to;, fight, it is not against, but with thej, Nazis. The common foe is not;. Britain, but Russia. The greatest manoeuvres in .Swedish military history have just Mbeen held. Tens of thousands of well- , Mtrained soldiers, with all kinds of equipment, have taken part iin them. And where was this mockj fought? Not in the plains of •iScania. or along the Norwegian fron-r 'tier but far in the north, in the wild] the snow-clad mountains and; .barren Tundra of Lapland. Thc| '' main feature of this great military] - show was skis—skis for the men.j ilskis for the dive-bombers. A number, s!of high-ranking German officers \vere| interested observers of the show., i Now. if the Swedes were getting! ■ ready to fight Germany, what would iithevhave to concentrate on ski-tram-! Jing'for? And why should they hold; A manoeuvres in a terrain totally: il'different from that where they might' si expect to meet the bulk of Nazi r I forces? j e ! The Swedes have a traditional.! s historically accounted for. dislike fori Russia. "A large majority of the 1 Swedish nation hates and fears 801-j "ishevism as the worst of all evils.| ""Combined, these two hatreds account! e for the fact that the democratic ; - Sweden of the "middle way" is now f |preparing to fight at the side of Nazij n 'Germany. Not that the Swedish 'people 'have in any way changed e'their views about Nazi barbarism; at SO per cent of the population rare as anti-Nazi-minded to-day as c'they were years ago. But, faced with san inescapable choice of fighting - either with Germany against Russia • or vice versa, a large majority of s'Swedes, and surely every member eiof the present Government, would -Iregard Germany as the lesser evil. sUnd the Swedes know only too well r that the hour of that inescapable e alternative is rapidly approaching.— •■Auckland Star" and N.A.N. A.