DISMAY IN SWEDEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 132, 4 May 1940, Page 8

DISMAY IN SWEDEN

WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS. GLOOMY FOREBODINGS. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) LONDON, May 2. The reactions to Mr Chamberlain’s statement in the House of Commons on the withdrawal of troops from Trondheim range from ecstatic delight ■ at the Wilhelmstrasse to gloomy fore- • codings in Sweden, where perhaps the I most emphatic impression is obeerved. The Times Stockholm correspondent I describes the statement as a thunderbolt to the Swedish public, and adds I that Swedish political circles consider (that British prestige in the Northern countries could hardly have received a more damaging blow than that resulting from Mr Chamberlain’s description of how the Allies conceived and carried out assistance to Norway. Political sceptics consider the decision to withdraw from the region southward of Trondheim virtually before operations have started has proved the Allied attitude is half-hearted; also, it does not leave the remaining Norwegian troops in Southern Norway any choice but to surrender. The Swedish view about their own position is that Russia’s apparent concern . for maintaining the Baltic balance has continued to be an essential factor favouring Sweden’s chances of remaining outside the war.