British Public Regretful, But Unshaken

Northern Advocate, 4 May 1940, Page 7

British Public Regretful, But Unshaken

(Received 2.30 p.m.) RUGBY, May 3. The statement which it is hoped Mr Chamberlain will make in the House of Commons on Tuesday is awaited with great interest, as well as the debate to follow, which is expected to last for two days. Members of Parliament are anxious for fuller information on the Norwegian campaign. There is general willingness to suspend judgment in the meantime, though both in the lobbies and among the general public there is general regret that the withdrawal of the Allied forces south of Trondheim has become necessary. It is recogniesd that local supremacy in the air, established by the Germans by means of a carefully planned and suddenly and treacherously executed attack on April 3, rendered the landing of a modern army’s equipment hazardous and difficult, unsupported by aircraft in the field against motorised ,and well equipped German shock troops working in very close co-operation with the German air force. In these circumstances, the public is ready to believe that the decision to transfer the Allied troops to where they could be more effectively employed was a wise one. Last Chapter Not Written. The Press contains many expressions of admiration for the resistance put up by the Norwegians. The Allies are continuing to afford all assistance in their power to the Norwegian Government, and the events of the last fortnight are only a chapter in a story which is likely to have a very different ending from the one wished for, and already being described as though it had been achieved, by Nazi propagandists. The whole of Norway may have yet to wait some time for its deliverance, but it will come with the final Allied victory, upon which, indeed, the freedom of all European States—those still spared as much as those already victims of Nazi aggressionultimately depends.