Huns Fear Invasion of Norway

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 95, 23 April 1942, Page 5

Huns Fear Invasion of Norway

Feverish Fortification Work Along Coast

WATCH ON BELGIUM LONDON, April 21. Reports of urgent defence measures and a westward movement of German troop formations are pouring in from all parts of occupied Europe. The Daily Mail says that German activities in France, Belguium and Norway clearly indicate that Hitler regards an Allied invasion of one of them as a serious possibility. The Germans, in addition, are imposing iron control on civilians. Families without warning are being hounded from their homes in the new “defense areas.” A parachute division is reported to have joined von Rundstedt’s forces iu France. Hitler, fearing an invasion of Norway, lias sent in several new divisions equipped with the most modern armaments, including a panzer unit, says the Norwegian Telegraph Agency. Frantic efforts are being made to fortify the whole of tho coastline. All possible landing-places have been barricaded with concrete strong-points and masses of barbed wire against amphibious tanks and flat-bottomed barges. Bodo, to the south of the Lofoten Islands, has become a complete fortress. Heavy artillery, besides inachine-gun.3, is mounted in the midst of the rums created by the bombs dropped when the Germans entered Norway. The Bodo aerodrome and barracks, and also the surrounding electric-power plants, have been mined. But the greatest hustle is occurring on the extension of the northern railway from Mosjun to Bodo, on which a large number of conscript labourers are employed. Norwegians and Danes, under the eyes of German guards, work at high pressure on the Trondheim naval base. Those who go slow or rebel are sent to German camps. In the meantime, a fresh campaign has begun against Norwegian patriots. Hundreds more teachers, business people, engineers, journalists, and workers have been imprisoned.

The German-controlled Oslo radio says that. Quisling has tightened up the regulations to prevent Norwegians from escaping to Britain, and has imposed stricter control over small craft, the owners of which are liable to long terms of imprisonment for breaches of the regulations. Would-be escapees are already liable to the death sentence. The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet states that Norwegian lawyers, following the example of the teachers, have decided to resign on masse from the new Nazi “Lawyers' Front,” More than 95 per cent, havealready handed in their resignations, although they had been threatened with the loss of their rights to practise as barristers and solicitors.