GERMANS REPULSED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 121, 20 April 1940, Page 7

GERMANS REPULSED.

ENGAGEMENT NEAR NAMSOS. B.E.F. PREPARATIONS. . LONDON, April 19. The first engagement between British and German troops lias occurred near the Namsos railhead, north of J rondheim. The Germans were driven back. The British United Press •correspondent at Lulea (the Swedish port at the head of the Gulf of' Bothnia) says British troops have landed midway between Bodo and between Bodo and Trondheim, and arc reported to be preparing a base for a major attack on Trondheim, which the German commander (Colonel Weiss) is evidently expecting. , The Stockholm correspondent of the Times says that empty trains have been waiting at Trondheim station since April 14 to transport German troops northward, but these apparently have not yet arrived. Hie correspondent adds that weak German forces sent by air to Namsos are reported to have been destroyed or dispersed, probably by Allied forces. A Stockholm says the radio announced that the Norwegian Government had received reports ' from North Trondclag and North Norway declaring that the forces in those districts believe they will be able to maintain their positions, as they are now in contact with the British Expeditionary Force. The front in Southern Isorwny runs from the southern extremity of Lake Mjosen, westward to Lake Rands Fiord and thence to Gothenburg (Sweden). A report from Lulea states that British troops have landed near Bodo, at the entrance of Vest Fiord about 60 miles south of Narvik, and are beginning to seize the town. The German commander in Norway has proclaimed that all Norwegian men aged from 16 to 50 must report to the German headquarters before noon on April 24, otherwise they will he shot. They must assist in building fortification's and the transport of war ma-| tcrials. ]