CONCERN IN SWEDEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 20, 25 January 1943, Page 4

CONCERN IN SWEDEN

POSSIBLE INVASION

LONDON, January 23. The Swedish authorities are seriously concerned over the possibility of a German invasion of their country, says the Stockholm correspondent of. the "Daily Telegraph." . Open discussion by Germans -in Denmark and Sweden of reports that the Allies are massing shipping, invasion barges, and troops in Scotland and Iceland has again brought into prominence the question of an Allied landing in Scandinavia. Eye-witnesses report that the Germans are feverishly fortifying the coast and the land frontier of the province of Ostfold, south-east of Oslo. An Allied landing in Norway, would undoubtedly have serious consequences for Sweden. Germany, lacking the naval and air strength to send reinforcements to Oslo, would require unrestricted use of Sweden's west coast railways, which Sweden's avowal of neutrality would compel her to refuse. An unknown quantity is the size of the force which the Germans could spare for Scandinavia in the event of an invasion. It is known that the German divisions in Denmark, ' Norway, and Finland have been denuded of many of their younger men, who have been sent to the eastern'front and replaced by the 40-year-olds. One thing may be emphasised. There is not the slightest doubt, in spite of propaganda about Swedish pro-Ger-man sympathies, that the Swedish armed forces would instantly and loyally resist any German attack. Months ago their commander-in-chief, General Toernell, told them that in the event of their losing cohesion in an invasion they were to disregard orders to surrender, no matter how genuine they might seem.