The War In Norway

Northern Advocate, 26 April 1940, Page 4

The War In Norway

T TODAY’S news suggests a quickening of the war tempo in Norway. Sharp fighting has taken place at several points, the Allies and Germans being anxious to obtain possession of strategic points. It is believed that a considerable number of Germans were forced to surrender north of Narvik, where they had been opposed by Norwegian forces during several days of snowstorms. South of Trondheim a larger scale battle was waged. The British troops had secured an important point at the southern of an arm of Trondheim Fiord, but German troops, supported by the guns of warships in the fiord, are reported to have forced them to retreat. This development may be of minor importance for it is possible that the British are merely awaiting reinforcements, which are reported to be on the way from the east and north. A later cable message indicates that reference to a retreat is misleading. All that evidently happened was that a small advance guard fell back to the main body, and was not even pursued by the enemy. The German warships in the fiord are apparently bottled up by British warships. This is satisfactory, but there will be curiosity as to when the enemy ships arrived, and whence they came. Their presence, in view of the Allied mining of the coast, suggests that Germany was busy for some time prior to the formal invasion of Norway in transporting troops and war materials to that country. This, indeed, has been abundantly proved by the revelations made in a White Paper published last week', Germany having used the mining of the coast as a pretext for action upon which she had decided many months previously. Ajn intriguing feature of the latest news is a statement that German transports are being prepared for movement in Germany’s Baltic ports, including Danzig. These transports, it is said, will be accompanied by ice-breakers, and as there is no ice in the lower portion of the Baltic at the present time, eyes are being turned north to the Gulf of Bothnia. Does Germany intend to violate Sweden’s'neutrality? Activity in Sweden suggests uneasiness on the part of the Swedes, who have good reason for such Attitude.