ALLIES DRIVE SOUTH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 124, 24 April 1940, Page 9

ALLIES DRIVE SOUTH.

ADVANCE ON TRONDHEIM. HEAVY FIGHTING DEVELOPS. LONDON, April 23. 'The French and British forces, which arc believed to have landed at Namsos, in the north-west, arc thrusting south toward Trondheim in co-op-eration with the Norwegian forces. They are stated to have gained complete control of railway communication down to the vicinity of Trondheim, despite German bombing and machinegunning, and now appear to have had a direct major collision with the German outpost defences of Trondheim. Meanwhile the Allied forces are reported to have started big drives to Trondheim from both the south and west. The battle for Narvik is also considered to Ix 3. imminent, according to reports received to-day from eye-wit-nesses The thousand-strong German force in the town itself is hopelessly trapped. The Germans still hold the short stretch of railway to the Swedish frontier, but it is understood they are surrounded by Norwegians. The Anglo-French force is stated to he advancing on Narvik from the northwest and the Norwegian force from the north-east.

The Berlin Official News Agency says that German ’planes bombed and sank two British transports and set fire to a third at Andalsnes and Namsos yesterday. It also claims to have severely damaged two accompanying warships. A Berlin communique says that British naval forces shelled the town and port of Narvik on Monday, but no attempts were made at landing troops. GERMANS REPULSED. Reuter’s correspondent on the Swed-isli-Norwegian frontier says fierce fighting is occurring between the British and German forces at Stiklestad (between Trondheim and Namsos). A threat to the British rear was staved off when British units lining the road from Stenkjacr drove backtroops landed from German destroyers i.n the northern part of Trondheim Fiord. It was earlier reported that the centre of military activity in Norway, according to unofficial reports, has moved back to the area round Trondheim, Norway’s historic battleground. Allied forces are closing in from the north and south and ure reported to have made marked progress. The Allies have advanced steadily down the railway from Namsos._ ihe Germans have apparently achieved very little from their prolonged boml>ing raids. At Namsos the town was wrecked, but only one French soldier was killed because the Allies had moved south by the time the German ’planes arrived. FAVOURABLE PICTURE.

The British IVar Office communique to-day gives no furl her hints of the progress of the campaign, . but its phrasing leads observers to think that things are goin& well. The “considerable success'’ ot which the communique speaks cannot be officially described. It must not be assumed they are necessarily the same exploits described in Swedish reports, but it may be that tho reported rapid advance to the south-east is one of the achievements to which the War Office refers. . If the reports are true that a considerable number of Allied forces have joined the Norwegians at Hamar and Elverum and that they hold tho whole railway back to the port where they are said to have landed, it presents a picture of a situation very unfavourable to the Germans It means that the garrison at Trondheim cannot get reinforcements from the land force around Oslo. Already messages speak of Allied forces advancing on Trondheim from the south and north, and there are also unconfirmed reports that Allied forces have got behind the rear communications at Bergen. In the east, if British troops arc at Hamar, the German troops based at Oslo will find themselves on the defensive only 80 miles from Oslo itself.