IN SORRY PLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 89, 15 April 1940, Page 7

IN SORRY PLIGHT

NAZIS IN NARVIK

VULNERABLE TO ATTACK

LONDON, April 13,

The naval expert of the Stockholmnewspaper "Tidningen" says that' the Germans at Narvik are in an unenviable position, since all their ships are reported to have been sunk, and the land forces are strung out over snow-piled roads and are vulnerable to any attack from the Norwegians.

A New York message says that a correspondent of the "New York Times" on the Norwegian-Swedish frontier says it is reported that a number of Germans were captured at Elvegardsmoen, eight ,niles north of Narvik, which is being starved. Norwegians and Germans are fighting sporadically for control of the Narvik railway, which is occupied by Germans to.within four miles of Sweden. The border is not very far from Narvik.

The special correspondent of the British United Press in northern Norway reports that members of the crew of the British destroyer Hardy, which was damaged and ran ashore in the first naval battle in Narvik Fiord, are believed to have established themselves in the village of Ballangen, halfway down the' fiord.

Command, which-refers to a heavy attack on Saturday by a British squadron consisting' of two battleships, air-craft-carriers, cruisers, and a large number of destroyers. "Nevertheless," the High Command states, "German - destroyers attacked the superior force. The Cossack was set ablaze by naval air forces and ran aground. The Eskimo and others were also seriously damaged or destroyed. The losses'"on both sides have not, yet been completely ascertained." The arrest of Colonel Sundlo, the local. Norwegian commander at Narvik, has revealed the extent to which the perfidy of this pro-Nazi Norwegian was responsible for the fall of Narvik. Colonel Sundlo and the port commander detained two Norwegian warships after the alarm* of the approach of the Germans had been received. Instead of going to sea to intercept the Germans, the Norwegian warships were ordered to remain at their moorings, and 350 Norwegian sailors went to their death before they could fire a shot.