A SWEDISH ACT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 218, 13 August 1940, Page 6

A SWEDISH ACT.

During the operations in Norway quite a number of German airmen were forced to seek shelter in Sweden, while units of the British Expeditionary Force also crossed the frontier. The Swedish authorities are now repatriating the British units, totalling 236, after which 70 Nazi airmen will be sent back to Germany. The reason for this act of repatriation does not appear to be clear. Germany no doubt will welcome the restoration of these airmen as she has suffered a very heavy loss of experienced pilots in the past four months. Probably Sweden has been forced by Germany to take this step, and in consequence was given the right to send the Britons home. This would correspond with the Swedish King’s recently expressed desire “to maintain friendly relations with all sides” in the international struggle which has engulfed his neighbours. Sweden’s position to-day is most unenviable. On the one hand she faces Russia who may at any time speed across Finland to her border. Southward is the modern Germany who has placed the sign of the swastika on every State coveted. In these circumstances Sweden must act with careful impartiality, so that the slender thread of security she now enjoys will not be severed. Of the northern States she alone has escaped the ravages of war, but hatred of Russia and friendship for Germany as a consequence emphasise the precarious plight of her sovereignty. She must do the bidding of Germany, or otherwise lay herself open to an invasion, which a possible Nazi desire not to unduly alarm the Russians has so far prevented. Sweden, however, is so situated that she can do little if anything at all to hinder Britain’s war effort; at the same time any act of aggression from Germany could not be met with help from Britain. Sweden’s middle course is the only one she can safely pursue, though it possibly cloaks a form of Nazi control Germany does not wish to make visible as yet.