RING ROUND OSLO.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 117, 16 April 1940, Page 7

RING ROUND OSLO.

GERMAN OBJECTIYE. Received April 16, 12.45 p.m. LONDON, April 15. By the occupation of Halden, Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad the Germans now control the whole south-eastern corner of Norway otherwise known as Lower Ostfold. While the whereabouts of the British forces in Norway remain a secret there are necessarily vital gaps in any attempt to picture the strategy of the Norwegian defenders. On the contrary the invaders obviously are engaged in operations aiming at the creation of a ring round Oslo. The occupation of Tonsberg and Larvik on the western side of Oslo Fiord must be considered a primary precaution against attacks from the sea which the German command of Lower Ostfold also renders difficult. The Germans in the meanwhile are vigorously attacking on a wide front in the hinterland northward and northeastward of Oslo, aiming at the capture of Kongsvinger and thus further diminishing Norwegian-Swedish railway communication. The Norwegian resistance is stubbornly centred in this section, but the Germans are reported to have crossed the Glommen River and are now engaged in severe fighting near Banter, four -miles westward from Kongsvinger. Hundreds of Norwegians are reported to have been killed in this locality. The defenders are maintaining their positions still further west in the Skarnes region, wliers increasing concentrations of Germans are reported.