The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1940. ALLIED AID TO NORWAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 94, 23 April 1940, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1940. ALLIED AID TO NORWAY

assistance to Norway is now assuming significant proportions, and consequently major engagements can be expected in the near future. The strategy which was outlined in this column during last week is being followed with consistency. The north is being blanketed away from the major operations which are concentrated upon Trondheim and Oslo, and apparently against each of these two points the Allies have taken their initial steps. The “Chronicle” reading of the situation was that the attack on Trondheim would commence at Namsos and Kors, an assumption which has proved to be correct, the Allies having already taken Namsos and are working south. Kors has not been mentioned as the southern point of the encircling movement, probably because the Germans have established a garrison there and it now becomes necessary to isolate that garrison first. Messages from Sweden state that British forces, including Canadians, have landed at Molde, which is situated on the north side of the Molde Fiord, while Kors is on the south side. It is not clear whether the Allies have arrived at Dombas, which is the junction of the railways from Kors and from Trondheim, with a line going south-east to Oslo, but they have done so, seeing that it is reported that fifty parachuting Germans were captured there. This would be a wrecking party put down to cut the railway line, if that be at all possible, but it may be that the local Norwegian forces were sufficient to cope with the parachutists. The destruction of the German warships Seharrihorst and Gneisnau in Trondheim Fiord has evidently permitted the Allies to enter the Fiord in strength, for fighting is reported at Orkeldorsaren, which is well inside the Fiord but isolated from Trondheim by the contour of the country. The activity in this area may be part of the ringing of Trondheim, or it may be the commencement of a movement to isolate Christiansund. The more probable reading of this activity is, however, that it is purely local, as a railway runs from Orkeldorsaren up into the mountains but does not connect with the main railway system. The fighting in this locality can, therefore, be set down at the moment as a purely mopping-up operation. There is mention of naval patrols at the fiord mouth to Hegre “holding out,” but as Hegre does not appear to be on the fiordside but on the railway which runs between Trondheim and Sweden, there is apparently some confusion in this dispatch. Further to the south-west, in Norway, the Allies are reported to have landed at Laendal. This is a town situated at the head of Sogne Fiord, which runs inland from the Atlantic for about one hundred miles. If this landing has been made it reveals the great help to a military force which is gained by having the active assistance of the population. Without such assistance the landing at Laendal would probably have been regarded as too risky an undertaking, and presumably that is the view taken by the Germans. The landing here is, therefore, likely to be in considerable force, and sufficient heavy equipment would be available from the start to give such force a considerable striking power. It is presumed that the objective of this force would be to strike direct east to the railway line at Fagenas, for by so doing it would strengthen the resistance of the Norwegians to the German movement along the railway line from the Oslo

Assuming that the landing at Laendal was made by a mobile force, there is a probability that British and French tanks appeared at Hamar to assist the Norwegians in the attack on that position. The distance in a straight line between Laendal and Hamar is one hundred miles, and probably the road mileage would be about one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty. Tanks travelling at a regular average of twenty miles an hour would, therefore, be able to be in position at Hamar in about eight hours from departure from their base. At the moment it would be as well to accept with some reserve the report from Sweden that Hamar has been captured, as Swedish channels would be concerned at the moment to magnify Allied achievements with a view to discouraging both the German invaders and neutrals joining Germany, especially Italy. Nevertheless, there are some other moves which support the report that an action has been, or is being, fought at Hamar. The Germans sent out a wrecking party which parachuted at Dombas, and it may have sent out another party whose objective was to wreck the line up to Trondheim. The Norwegians and British have engaged the enemy at Randsfiord. -which is on another railway line, but only about sixty miles south. Possibly this attack was delivered from the air. for it is stated that “tanks were destroyed” there: the object of such an attack would be to create a diversion and to hold up supports which would be likely to move towards Hamar, for with an attack being delivered at Randsfiord the possibility of troops sent to Hamar being encircled vould steady down the relieving columns of Germans in their movement northwards. The. reports, however, are still fragmentary, and mostly unofficial, and further news of the Allied movements can be expected in the next few days, but if the reports which have already been received prove to be well founded, then the Allied relief of Norway has already been developed to considerable dimensions. It cannot be denied that speed is the essential element in the defence of Norway, so quick action henceforth can be expected.