THE LOFOTEN RAID

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 284, 17 March 1941, Page 4

THE LOFOTEN RAID

THE imagination is stirred by the daring of the Royal Navy's raid on the Lofoten Islands, but the capture of over two hundred and fifty Germans, and the release of a number of Norwegians, are not the most significant features of the raid. The matter of most importance is that the harvest of fish oil was destroyed, and the plant which rendered it down was also broken up. During the last, war Germany, subjected to a blockade much inferior in efficiency to that which is now being imposed, found that it was the shortage of fats which troubled her most. Fish oil from Norway helps Germany in her present predicament, for by the aid of such oil can she reduce the deficiencies of the diet of her people, and in some measure ward off those diseases which result from diet deficiencies. Of more immediate importance is the use of this fish oil as a source from which glycerine is made, an important constituent element in explosives. Germany has been fortunate, up to the present, in that it has been able to overrun neighbouring countries and to loot the stocks which is" found there. These supplies obtained by nefarious means are by now exhausted, and they cannot be renewed. The Continent of Europe must import fertilisers, and in their absence the foodstuffs necessary for the support of peacetime animal herds cannot be produced. In many countries the use of fertilisers is not sufficient to support the cattle and importation of fodders has to be resorted to under normal conditions. Even in Ireland, where there nave been no impressments by Germany, the German blockade efforts have reduced "importations of fertilisers and fod ; ders, with the result that the cattle have been compulsorily reduced by slaughtering. When looting is added it is clear that the reduction of flesh and fat production is inevitable in the "protected" countries.