SWEDEN AND GERMANY

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 April 1943, Page 2

SWEDEN AND GERMANY

NEUTRALITY BREACHES ?

LONDON, April 3. The existence of a secret order at a Swedish airfield authorising German military aeroplanes after a forced landing to continue their flight has been disclosed by the Swedish trade union newspaper, “Arbetaren, says Reuter’s correspondent at Stockholm. The instruction, which is not signed, states that other foreign aeroplanes must be prevented from taking off and the crews closely guarded. The “Arbetaren” is unable to give the origin of the order and has demanded that the Minister of Defence (Mr P. E. Skold) should disclose the responsibility for it. The Swedish Foreign Office states that an investigation was begun and the first results showed that a central military authority had not issued the order. It adds that there is.no case of a German aeroplane landing and continuing its journey. The correspondent says that the Swedish public is already impatient at the uncontrolled German flights over Sweden in which so-called couriers carry whatever they please. The public is even more impatient regarding the German “leave traffic” which newspapers assert amounts to 20 trainloads of troops from Norway weekly. It is also disclosed that German travel between Norway and Finland has been facilitated.