BETWEEN TWO FIRES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 93, 17 October 1939, Page 8

BETWEEN TWO FIRES

The position of the Scandinavian countries —Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland—since the outbreak of the war/has been such as to cause their Governments the gravest anxiety. In a sense, as in the Great War, Scandinavia is between two fires, but in the present war the position is further complicated by the independent action of Russia in the Baltic, which, now that it has touched Finland, is regarded as threatening the other three Scandinavian nations. Scandinavian overseas trade outside the Baltic has suffered severely by German surface and submarine naval activity, so much so that a Rugby wireless message yesterday could state with truth: The brunt of the* German U-boat campaign on merchant shipping has so far been borne by the Scandinavian countries. Twenty-three neutral merchant ships have been sunk to date and nine Swedish ships have been held up at Gothenburg on account of the 'danger from German mines.

The effect has been to cripple the sea trade that is vital to Scandinavia for food supplies. A Copenhagen message stated that "Denmark, Europe's greatest producer of bacon, butter, and eggs, is facing ruin because her two best customers, Britain and Germany, are at war. Last year these products comprised two-thirds of her total export trade." Germany has announced that she is prepared to take the whole of the Scandinavian exports, but the question is naturally asked in Scandinavia where Germany is going to get the money to pay for them. The Riga correspondent of "The Times" is reported today as saying that Germany has sold out to Russia ih the Baltic and elsewhere for Russian gold to purchase Swedish iron ore and other Scandinavian commodities. But the nearness of Russia in the Baltic has also been used by German propaganda to rouse the fears of the Scandinavian countries that they too may come under Soviet influence. Under such circumstances it is natural that the heads of the countries affected should desire to consult for the protection of their mutual interests. It was announced yesterday that King Gustav of Sweden had invited the President of Finland and the Kings of Denmark and Norway to attend a conference at Stockholm tomorrow, and the invitations have been accepted. The problems are serious enough," but so far the demands on Finland by Russia are not regarded as excessive, and optimism is reported on that score. Only Germany seems to want an extension of the war—to cover her difficulties—but her efforts to entangle Scandinavia show little promise so far of success.