IN A BAD WAY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21646, 6 May 1940, Page 7

IN A BAD WAY

German Forces At

Narvik

Town Heavily Shelled

Norwegian Successes In

The South

United Pres? Association -By Electric fell 'graph -Copyright

(Received May 5, 7.15 p.m.) LONDON, May 4.

Swedish and Norwegian despatches say that the Allies have completely encircled the German forces in the Narvik area. The town is reported to have been heavily shelled from land and sea.

It has been estimated that there are some 13.000 Norwegians fighting in north Norway. The Norwegian News Agency says that the Norwegian High Command has taken up new quarters. The army’s will to continue the war is unbroken.

The Ministry of War in Paris announced that the Allies’ forces at Narvik surrounded 3000 to 4000 Germans whose position is desperate. The Swedish radio says that the German garrison repelled a thrust from the north and German aeroplanes, operating from a hidden landing field, shot down three of five British aeroplanes attacking the town. Other sources report that German troops and supplies are reaching Norway by air in increasing numbers.

i German Successes Alleged A Berlin message says that the . German High Command claims that • , German diving aeroplanes attacked • i the British flagship west of Namsos. A • ! heavy bomb hit the vessel between the I I two fore gun turrets and half a minute • I later a column of flame some 150 feet t ' rose up, followed by dense smoke, after i which only floating debris was visible. I A later message .states that the Ger- , man radio now claims that in addition i to the battleship a heavy cruiser was set on fire by a bomb and a destroyer ' sunk while escorting troops from Namsos. It adds that a battle-cruiser and i destroyer were seriously damaged. The battleship was set on fire and the troopship sunk during the raids on Narvik. The British Admiralty describes the reports as typically fantastic. Position in the South Although reliable information concerning the present position in south Norway is necessarily scanty, officials of the Norwegian Government are reported as having stated that the withdrawal of the Allied troops will have no influence on the will of the Norwegian Government to continue the fight for freedom. The Norwegian News Agency in Stockholm said the Norwegians have every intention of understanding the difficulty which the Allied troops faced during the first period of the war in Norway, and that the Allied decision had in no way weakened the Norwegian determination to resist the German invasion. When denying reports that King Haakon and his Government had left j Norway, the Agency declared that the Norwegian forces in the south had inflicted heavy losses on the Germans , during the last few days. As regards i the reported capitulation of the Norwegian Commander-in-Chief in the Trondelag area, this Agency pointed out that this did not mean that all Norwegian resistance had been given ! up, and that these negotiations con- | cerned only his own command. The i Norwegian garrison in the valley north lof Trondheim was still putting up ■ strong resistance, and Fort Hegre. I whose tiny garrison of some hundred ' men had been holding out against the ' German attackers since the beginning | of the invasion and whose fortitude . and skill have already earned the ! widest admiration, was continuing to ' resist.