STILL WITH ALLIES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 131, 3 May 1940, Page 7

STILL WITH ALLIES

ADVANTAGE IN NORWAY. yV V •;) V : V; NAZIS FRUSTRATED. OPERATIONS SURVEYED. (United Press. Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Britisli Official vVireless.) Received May 3, 11.10 a.m. RUGBY, May 2. The Prime Minister described his statement on the Norwegian campaign as of an interim character, and held out the hope that he would be able to say a good deal more early next week. He anticipated that the House would desire to have a debate afterwards. This debate had now been fixed for Tuesday. The main interest in Mr Chamberlain’s statement attached to his announcement of the skilful withdrawal of British troops from south of Trondheim. Mr Chamberlain prefaced his story of the North-Western Expeditionary Force landings in Norway by recalling the preparations of the forces for Finland, and of other forces to go to the assistance of Norway and Sweden in the event of the invasion of those countries by Germany if they had acquiesced in the passage of troops to Finland. “It did not escape our attention,” said the Premier, “that in such a case Trondheim and the other western ports of Norway, as well as the aerodromes at Stavanger, might well he tlie subject of attack by the Germans, and accordingly further forces again were made ready to occupy these places. CALCULATED TREACHERY. “But when the question of assistance to Finland lapsed the greater part of all those forces were dispersed with their transports. About a month ago, however, it was decided that certain small forces should he kept in readiness to occupy Norwegian western ports at short notice in case of an act of aggression .by Germany against Southern Norway. “It will he noted again that any action contemplated on Norwegian soil was conditional upon the prior violation of Norwegian neutrality by Germany, it has been asked how it was that, in spite of these preparations, Germany was able to forestall us. The answer is simple: It was by long-planned, carefully-elaborstect treachery against an unsuspecting and almost unarmed people. “We had been aware for many months that the Germans were accumulating transports and troops in Baltic ports, and that these troops were constantly being practised m embarkation and disembarkation. “It was evident that some act of aggression was'" in contemplation, but these forces were equally available for the attack upou Finland. Sweden, Norway, Holland or this country, and it was impossible to tell beforehand where the blow would fall,” said Mr Chamberlain. “Even if we had known that Denmark and Norway were to be the victims we could not have prevented what happened without the cooperation of those countries. But, in the belief that their neutrality would save them, they took no precautions, and they gave us no warning of tlie attack which, indeed, they never suspected.” THE NAVAL PHASE. Having mentioned the “curious chance” by which the date of April 8, chosen by "the British for minor operations of minelaymg across the long communication trench of Norwegian territorial waters along which Germany could obtain supplies of iron ore, should have coincided almost exactly with that chosen by the Nazi Government for their long-prepared invasion of Norway, the Premier proceeded to review the opening of the naval pha.se of the Norwegian campaign, of which details were already known. “Later, in view of the obscurity of the situation in Central Norway and the importance of securing Narvik first, the Allied military forces which had been promptly assembled sailed direct to the Narvik area, arriving there on April 15. In the meantime a very successful naval attack on April 13 completely destroyed the enemy’s naval forces at that port and made it unnecessary to utilise for the capture of Narvik all the forces originally earmarked for that operation. ’ STRATEGICAL FACTORS. This brought the Premier to a description of the operations north .and south of Trondheim, and the decision to withdraw from the south already reported. Mr Chamberlain drew a parallel between this highly successful operation at Andalsnes accomplished without loss and the “action of Sir John Moore at Corunna which, though accompanied by heavy loss of life including the commander, has taken its iPj'U 6 among the classic examples of British military skill.” The rest of the statement was destined to be a justification of his claim that the balance of the advantage in Norway still lay with the Allies, for if they had not achieved their objective neither had the Nazis achieved theirs, while the German losses were far greater. Regarding the warning that the Norwegian enterprise must not he permitted to become a mere sideshow, Mr Chamberlain said it must be viewed in the perspective of the wider strategical consideration of the Allies, confronted in the West with a poueiful foe ready and able to strike blindly and ruthlessly at any direction. “T have no doubt,” remarked the Premier, “that the Germans expected a walkover in Norway* rs in Denmaik. That.- expectation has been frustrated by the courage of the Norwegian people and by the effort of the Allies. BLOW TO NAZI SEA POWER. “During a period of just over three weeks German naval losses have amounted to serious figures,” said the Premier. “They have included two capital ships damaged, certainly three (possibly four), cruisers sunk, 11 destroyers sunk and four U-boats sunk. Thirty transports ancl store ships have been sunk dr scuttled, or set fire to with the loss of several thousands of lives. A further ten transports nr store ships have been struck by torpedoes and probably sunk. “The losses sustained by the Royal Navy in the same period were: Four destroyers, three submarines, om sloop and five trawlers sunk. Five other warships have been damaged by air attacks. One store ship has also

been sunk by a U-boat torpedo.” It would be seen from these figures that, whereas the strength and efficiency of the Royal Navy have been little', if at all, affected, the injury to the German navy has been so substantial as to alter the entire balance of naval power and to permit an important redistribution of the . main Allied fleets. FLEETS IN MEDITERRANEAN. “In this connection I might mention that it lias been thought possible to revert to a more normal distribution of ships in the Mediterranean, which has for some time been affected by our requirements in the North Sea,” the Premier said. ’“A British and French battle fleet, with enters and auxiliary craft, is already in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean on its way to Alexandria.” Turning to the wider strategy of the war, the Premier assured the House: “We are not going to he trapped into such a dispersal of our forces as would leave us dangerously weak at a vital centre. We know our enemy hold a central position. They have immense forces always mounted ready lor attack, and the attack can be launched with lightning rapidity in any one of manv fields. " LONG-TERM STRATEGY. “We know they are prepared and would not scruple to invade Holland or Belgium or both. They might well do more than one of these things in preparation for an attempt at a largescale attack on tlie Western Front, or even a lightning swoop on this country. “We must not so disperse or tie up our forces as to weaken our freedom of action in the vital emergencies which may at any moment arise,” he continued. “We must seize every chance, as wo have done and shall continue to do in Norway, to inflict damage upon the enemy, hut we must not allow ourselves to forget that it is long-term strategy which will win the war.”

Mr Chamberlain’s statement was repeatedly punctuated by cheers from all sides of the House. After Mr Chamberlain sat down Mr Attlee and >Sir Archibald Sinclair (the Labour and Liberal Leaders) announced that they would not comment or ask questions to-day. On January 16, 1809, Sir John Moore defeated the French fleet at Corunna, a port on the north-west .coast of Spain, hut he was himself mortally wounded. The Spanish Armada sailed from Corunna in 1588 and the town was captured by Sir Francis Drake in 1589. In the bay the English fleet defeated the French in. 1747.