DRAMATIC RESCUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25798, 20 March 1945, Page 6

DRAMATIC RESCUE

NORWEGIANS SNATCHED FROM ENEMY TALES OF TYPICAL BRUTALITY RUGBY. Mar. 18. Racing in broad daylight down a Norwegian fiord 60 miles behind the German lines at North Cape (the northern tip of Norway), four destroyers from the Home Fleet have rescued 525 Norwegians from German clutches—and brought back tales of terrible but typical brutality. For three months these Norwegians—men, women, and children—have been hiding in the snow-covered mountains of Soroy Island. Hunted from cave to cave in terrible weather conditions dv German slave patrols, they faced death or forced labour if caught. When the destroyers arrived their only food for 12 weeks had been small quantities of fish and reindeer. Their clothes were in rags. Their children were exhausted. The youngest rescued was a 10-day-old baby. The rescue operation was so well timed that it took the Germans completely by surprise. The Norwegians told how last November the Germans ordered the people to leave their homes and move south. To ensure that the order was obeyed the Germans burned to the ground every house on the island. They slaughtered all the animals, destroyed the food stocks, and scorched the earth 100 per cent. They took away 1200 men and women for forced labour. The brutality of this orgy of destruction was illustrated by the story of the deaths of two old women. Because they were too ill to be moved, the Germans fired their house, burning them alive. ______________