NORWAY'S DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 82, 6 April 1944, Page 4

NORWAY'S DAY

FOURTH ANNIVERSARY

NAZI INVASION, 1940 April 9 marks the fourth anniversary of the Nazi attack on Norway, 1940, considered the most perfect surprise of the war. After two months Norwegian military resistance in Norway itself had to be given up, but after four years of savage oppression the spirit of resistance, active and passive, remains unbroken. Norway has, like other occupied countries, her quislings, including the prototype of all Major Quisling, but these collaborators and contemptible tools of the enemy are few in number. The fourth year of German suppression and oppression has witnessed new high lights of Norwegian steadfastness. From earlier years the fight of the Norwegian Supreme Court, the Church, the sportsmen, trade unions, and, above all, the indomitable teachers, will be remembered. In the fourth year the Germans started an all-out drive in Norway, as elsewhere, for the conscription of labour. A law was promulgated forcing all men between the ages of 18 and 55 years and all women between 21 and 40 years of age to register for labour service for the occupying Power. The first aim was to mobilise 20,000 men, primarily for work on military installations in Norway. The Norwegians have managed, however, to sabotage this effort so effectively that by- June the Germans had succeeded in sending away only three to four thousand men and \ sabotage has remained successful. The failure of the labour mobilisation gave an opportunity for extended German brutality, Norwegian police incurring special wrath for refusing to assist in the labour drive. On August 16, 1943, Gunnar Eilitsen, the Chief of the Civil Department of the Oslo Police, was executed for refusing to carry out orders to arrest a number of young girls who had failed to report for labour service. Between two and three hundred policemen were taken into custody, in a night Gestapo raid, for being "disloyal." Simultaneously, an amnesty which'had been granted by Hitler to Norwegian officers in 1940 was repealed "owing to their attitude," and the arrest of officers still remaining in the country, mostly elderly men, was effected. More than 1000 officers were arrested throughout the country and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany. The majority of the younger officers in the army and navy had previously escaped to England and joined the Norwegian forces fighting with the Allies. ARREST OF STUDENTS. The most dramatic event of the year came on November 30, when the Gestapo opened an offensive against Oslo University, arresting more than 1200 students and more than 100 professors. They were accused of participation in widespread acts of sabotage, and anti-German attitude in general. A mysterious fire in one of the university buildings was taken as a pretext. The German Gestapo chief, Rediess, announced that the university would be closed and the students sent to special camps in Germany. At this a storm of protest swept the free world. When 296 students had been deported on December 9, further deportations were stopped, but the arrested students remain in prison in Norway. During 1943 the Germans deported more than 2000 political prisoners to Germany and prisons and concentration camps in Norway are overflowing. Death sentences again became frequent, particularly in connection with acts of sabotage, and many Norwegians are also reported as having died in prison in Germany. Since the New Year, a new drive against clergymen has been started, ousting them from their homes for example, but without succeeding in weakening their resistance. The Norwegian home front is stronger than ever, but within the ranks of the Quisling Party a rot has set in, many leaving the party. No doubt the trend of military events is having an effect upon them. Abroad Norwegians are carrying on. The Norwegian merchant fleet, which is still the fourth strongest in the world, is rendering excellent service. The Norwegian air force is second in strength among those of occupied countries. Poland taking first place and the Fighting French third. The Norwegian navy is the fourth largest in number of units among all United Nations navies, and from the small but well-equipped army special groups arc seeing service in various places. The Norwegian Government in London is making preparations for the day of liberation, which all Norwegians hope will come before the year 1944 is out. Norway is grateful to her Allies, particularly the British Commonwealth, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union, and she is glad that Norwegians are able to contribute something of real importance to the Allied war effort.