GERMAN ADVANCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 April 1940, Page 7

GERMAN ADVANCE

MORE TOWNS CAPTURED PLANES TRANSPORT TROOPS [by CABLE —PRESS ASSN—COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, April 16. German troops, transported by train, are attacking Ost Slidre. ..The Norwegians felled trees and blocked the roads. The official German news agency in a dispatch from Kristiansand. states that one German battalion compelled he surrender of 150 Norwegian officers and 2000 men.

The news agency also claimed the capture of a Norwegian torpedo-boat which the Germans are now said to be using.

FALL OF KONGSVINGER. / (Received April 17, 9.50 a.m.) LONDON, April 16. Kongsvinger has fallen, after heavy bombing. Swedish sources state that the Norwegians have evacuated the town and fortress. Heavy fighting is continuing in the nearby woods. The Germans have blown up the radio station at Nottoden, whose broadcasts annoyed them. GERMANS CAPTURE HEIGHTS (Received April 17, 12.25 p.m.) LONDON, April 16. According to unconfirmed reports received in Stockholm, the Germans have severed southern Norway from the North by capturing the heights of Skurdalsvolden. opposite Storlien, thus reaching points three miles from the Swedish frontier, directly east from Trondheim. The Germans are reported to have rushed troops by train from Trondheim through the area still under Norwegian control. Meanwhile, the Norwegians are stubbornly holding the fortifications at Hegre, and are also maintaining their resistance at various points in ■southern Norway. The Germans vainly attacked Elverum, the defenders of which are strongly placed on the' Glommen River, and heavy snowfalls are impeding the German motorised units. “Suicide” patrols of Norwegian skiers are harrassing German detachments. The invaders are believed to have evacuated Halden because their forces are needed elsewhere. The whole of Lower Ostfold is plastered with proclamations, exhorting the inhabitants to obey the Germans, or suffer dire penalties. GERMAN STATEMENT (Recd. April 17. 11 a.m.). BERLIN, April 16. The High Command states: The day was quiet round Trondheim and Bergen. The pacification of southeast Norway is progressing steadily.

Our Air Force continued its activities in the North Sea and as far as Narvik. A British plane trying to penetrate the Heligoland Bight was shot down, and another was forced down west .of the , Skagerrak. One. German plane failed to return. PUPPET GOVERNMENT. OSLO, April IG. The Norwegian Nazi leader and head of the Oslo puppet government (Major Quisling) in a broadcast today announced his resignation. He said he would accept office as “Commissioner for the Demobilisation Administrative Committee,” of which Mr. Christensen, chief of the Oslo Municipal Council, has been appointed head. The Oslo radio also explained that the decision to reconstruct the puppet government had been reached during conferences between Dr. Brauer, at present Reichs representative in Os10', and the. President of the Norwegian Supreme Court and representatives of the Oslo Chambers of Trace, Shipping, and Industry. SWEDISH PRECAUTIONS. STOCKHOLM, April 16. A state of preparedness against air attack over almost the whole country will be enforced at noon to-day. The Government is immediately requisitioning all minerals and oil. MANY PORTS' CLOSED (Recd. April 17, 1 p.m.). LONDON, April 16. The Swedish radio., which was< intermittently jammed, announced that all ports in southern and western Sweden were closed to foreign shipping, except Gothenburg, entrance to which is forbidden without Swedish permission. Alarms sounded at several towns. Coastal batteries and warships fired on two planes, believed to be German. One made a forced landing ion the island opposite Gothenburg. GERMAN PLANE SHOT DOWN. LONDON, April 16. According to the' Finnish wireless, a German plane was shot down by Swedish anti-aircraft gunners yesterday. It bore Swedish markings. The plane circled low over Uddevalla, and, despite its markings, it clearly was not a type used by the Swedish Air Force. U.S.A. INVESTMENTS'. WASHINGTON, April 16. The Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Henry Morgenthau, jun.) indicated that Danish and Norwegian assets in the United States which were frozen bv Mr Roosevelt’s order of April 10, niay be used to offset American losses should Germany confiscate United States investments in Denmark and Norway.