MORE ALLIED TROOPS IN NORWAY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23001, 22 April 1940, Page 9

MORE ALLIED TROOPS IN NORWAY

Landings Reported At Three Points (Received April 21, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 20. Messages from Sweden state that - two British divisions and one French division are reported to have landed at Molde, 110 miles south-west of Trondheim, at Laerdal, 140 miles north-west of Oslo, and at Namsos, 80 miles north of Trondheim. The British force which landed at Molde includes Canadians. The forces arrived without the loss of a single man. They are now in positions for major operations. The Norwegian War Office announced that operations in Norway were proceeding according to plan. Allied troops had occupied certain points of vantage on Friday. The Lulea correspondent of the British UnitedPress states that heavy German bombers and transport aeroplanes have been bringing food and munitions, including mountain artillery, to Narvik in the last two days, and the German. landing party is trying to consolidate its position before the British and Norwegian forces strike. The Norwegians are organising round Elverum. They believe that can withstand the German advance here long enough to enable the British and Norwegian forties to form up for a major drive towards Oslo. The Germans claim to have captured Hamar and the Norwegians claim-to hold virtually all the Bergen region except the town and the immediate neighbourhood. They are also pressing in the Trondheim area from the south and are reported to be forcing back a German force which is attempting to occupy the coast to prevent British landings. The Germans seem to control the majority of the important ports in south-west Norway, but the invad- , ers are in desperate straits at Narvik because their two forces are completely isolated from supplies and reinforcements. • ;

An earlier message reported an ■ engagement between British and German troops near Namsos, at Grong, on the Trondheim-Namaos railway. The Germans arrived by - air.’ The correspondent of the British ; United Press at Lulea, states that u. there is no foundation for reports ; that the British have occupied Nar- ,/ vije. It is understood that, the British ,,■ have not yet begun their attack.The Stockholm correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain refers to the rep'orted arrival r °f British officers at Hamar, which ■ the Norwegians are prepared to evacuate for a British-Norwegian offensive, farther northward, prob- - ably at Elverum. . The Norwegian Government an- * nounced that it has established full with all arms of the British X" forces, , A. British staff officer has been '•? established at Norwegian head-"'■-quarters. ; j ■ British and Norwegian forces 'appear to be massing lor the expulsion of the Germans from the north and for the of • - the line of advance running roughly ; v eastward from the Namsos-Trond- : heim area. -Swedish reports state that the " British and Norwegian forces con- - trol. the railway from Namsos to ■[' ■ Stenkjoer, but engagements in this ' area apparently are with German troops-who were landed by para- ; , -'?«ute. The Germans are experieneing difficulty with this, method of .. - troop transportation because of the - mountainous country and the havoc

the British have wrought with the aerodromes. The Germans'are reported to have advanced to Levanger, but it is now ascertained that 100 Norwegians still hold the fortress at Hegre, on which the most bitter German offensive has not made any impression. It is reported that the Germans, pushing out from Oslo, advanced to Flisa, '36 miles' south-east of Elverum. Another source reports that the Norwegians are confident that they can hold the invaders, who are only about 12 miles from Hamar and advancing on both sides of the Grommen river. Reports from Oslo state that while all is quiet there are still detachments of armed Norwegians in the woods. The telephone wire to Oslo is frequently £ut, and there have been other acts' Of sabotage! A German communique states: "German fighters attacked enemy ;naval units .and transports which were preparing to land north of Narvik, and sank an enemy submarine by bombs. Reinforcements are strengthening, our position at Trondheim, where no actions • are occurring. Our troops have extended the area occupied around Bergen and Stavanger, They- have also occupied an area, south-west of Oslo to as far as Sweden, They captured 83 guns, 80 machine-guns, 30,000 shells and 1,000,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition. “The German Navy continued chasing submarines in the Skagerrak and Kattegat, and probably destroyed three. Defence measures for the protection of Norwegian ports nnd shutting off the Skagerrak are progressing.”