WELL-OILED PLOT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 134, 7 May 1940, Page 2

WELL-OILED PLOT

ASTOUNDING FACTS OF OSLO. PATRIOTISM LAY PROSTRATE. LONDON, April 17. The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post to-day published the story from an American journalist, an eye-witness of Germany's, penetration of the fiord defences and unopposed occupation of Oslo on April 9. Between midnight and noon on that bewildering day Norway’s capital, all her principal seaports, and her most strategically valuable coastal defences fell into German hands like over-ripe plums, he says.. The Norwegian people were stunned, as the Belgian people must have been stunned in 1914, and most of them still had not the slightest conception how this incomprehensible tragedy could have happened. He spent those hours in Oslo, together with two other American newspapermen who were on the spot—Warren Irvin, of the National Broadcasting Corporation, and Edmund Stcevens,of the Christian Science Monitor—and they themselves could scarcely acesp the evidence of their eyes. He had to remain in Oslo through four days of the German occupation to learn how this miracle of lightning naval and military occupation was made possible. Then ho could scarcely believe his ears. GIGANTIC CONSPIRACY.

Norway’s capital and great seaports were not cap cured by armed lurcc. 'they were seized with uuparane.eu speed by means of a gigantic conspiracy which must undoubtedly rank among tile most-audacious and most pcrlocoJy oiled political plots of- the past century. By biibory and extraordinary miiltration on the part of Nazi agencs, and by treason on tlie part oi a few highly-placed Norwegian civilian and defence officials, the German dictatorship built its Trojan horse inside Norway. Then, when tiie hour struck, the German plotters spiked the guns of most of the Norwegian navy and reduced its formidable ior tresses to impotence.

Absolute control by only a handful of key men in administrative positions and in the navy was necessary to turn the trick, and everything was faultlessly prepared. Only in two or three places was it marred by unexpected hitches, but Norway’s sea gates were already wide open. “For the success of the German plan the capture of three key cities was essential. These three were Oslo. Bergen, and Narvik. It is reported that Narvik was betrayed to the Germans by its commanding officer. How Bergen’s harbour defences were taken remains a mystery so far as I can learn. But most important of all to the Nazi plot was the immediate domination of Oslo Fiord, with its mighty fortresses, and the forcing of its virtually impregnable narrows at Drobak, together with the seizure of the great Norwegian naval base at Horten. Only in this manner could the Germans penetrate to Oslo and deliver the almost irreparable blow to Norway’s Parliamentary Government.”

AGAINST ARMY ADVICE. To seize the whole of Oslo Fiord and force its narrows would have appeared impossible to any foreign Government except the Nazi dictatorship, but by methods even more astonishingly efficient than those which it used against Austria or Czechoslovakia the inconceivable was accomplished. To understand the scope of' the conspiracy one must go back to somewhere near the climax of the plot. In Oslo he learned on most reliable authority that : Germany’s sea forces and troopships sailed from the German ports for their Norwegian adventure during the night of 'Thursday, April 4 —tnree full days before the British mined the Upper Norwegian coast between Bergen and Narvik. He was also informed with impressive assurance, that the German army cliiets strongly opposed Hitler on the plan to invade Norway, because they insisted that the communication lines for an army of occupation in Norway would be most dangerously limited and exposed.

The Nazi, Party Radical leaders supported the Fuehrer in a decision taken against the counsel of the regular army chiefs.

On Friday night, April o, while the German fleet and transports were already steaming towards Norway, an event of enormous historical importance occurred at Oslo. The German Legation held a soiree to which were invited 200 persons representing Norway’s most influential personalities. All the members of the Government were invited, many officers of the defence forces, and leading bankers, shipping executives and industrialists. The invitation emphasised the importance of the soiree by stipulating white ties, uniforms, “and decorations.” SUFFERINGS OF POLAND."

Despite the great formality imposed it was no official dinner. Norway’s elite had been invited to see “an unusually interesting film.” It proved to be the cinema film “Baptism of Fire,” which depicts in most graphic details Germany's aerial destruction ill Poland. For over an hour the distinguished Norwegian audience sat in icy silence, gripped by the horrors of its scenes. Afterwards the German Minister explained that the film was not a war but a peace film, since it showed what nations which chose peace would save their people from suffering. The Norwegians left the German Legation that night filled with gloomy, ominous thoughts. In Oslo lie learned that Major Quisling, leader of the pro-Nazi Norwegian party called the Sanding, was in Berlin at the time the film was being shown and while the expedition was being organised. Major Quisling returned to Oslo on Saturday, April C. On Sunday night the British sowed the minefields below Narvik. On Monday Berlin’s Press flamed against that “provocation.” In the first hours of Tuesday, April 9, Norway’s naval defences were betrayed to the German fleet and the first German troops were landed at Fornebu. Oslo’s airport, a few hours after daybreak. ORDER NOT TO FIGHT.

The Germans could not enter the fiord without controlling the vital Norwegian naval base at Horten. At 1.30 that morning—three and a-lialf hours before Berlin’s ultimatum was handed to Dr. Koht, the Norwegian Foreign Minister —the commander of three Norwegian warships at Horten received an urgent message. It wa6 supposedly signed by Koht himself, and was accepted as coming direct from the Government via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It ordered the Norwegian ships not to fight against German warships which were about to come up the fiord, and to put ail their men ashore immediately—without their arms. Without questioning the origin of the order the commander ordered all his men ashore except stokers and messmen.

Here one slight hitch occurred which was costly for the Germans. The Norwegian minelayer Olav Tryggvason had unexpectedly put in for repairs the previous evening. Her presence ■was apparently unknown to the leaders of the conspiracy in Oslo. This was

the only Norwegian war vessel, which did not receive the order, and t /> she remained in a condition to ng • Meanwniie, an even greater coup had been scored by the plotters, inNarrows of Oslo Fiord were mined and controlled from Drobak. About 1.30 on the morning of April 9 these mines were, all rendered harmless by being electrically disconnected from the Drobak control. The mystery ot who ordered this to be done remained unsolved when he left Oslo, bu the move enabled a German cruiser to penetrate the Narrows betoie dawn. SINKING OF TWO CRUISERS. At 4.30, still halt an hour before tiie German Minister handed the Nazi ultimatum to Dr. Koht, a German cruiser, believed to have been the ! Emden, accompanied by two subi marines, reached Jti-orten. The three Norwegian war vessels there were completely helpless, 'but the uttle minelayer Olay Trvggvason blocked the entrance to the Narrows. She immediately discharged torpedoes and sank the cruiser and one submarine. It was also reported that the cruiser Blucher was sunk by gunfire from the Narrows fort called Oskarborg. The crews of all the other warships were ashore without arms at Horten, and hv daybreak the Germans had landed marines and seized Horten. The way through the Narrows was open, and Oslo was defenceless from the sea. A Norwegian who was one of the Horten naval base personnel that night confirmed all the main details of the above events, including the. fact that two German, .cruisers were , sunk. “Later,” said the Norwegian, “the Germans got about 100 men ashore. There was some fighting. At e had four men killed and the Germans two. But there was nothing we could do. 3 lie officers of our ships ran up white flags. We did not know why arid I still do not know why. We thought they liad orders from the Government.” In this fashion Norway’s capital was betrayed from within and the German occupation of Oslo assured before its -Government knew what had happened. Before the Germans captured Horteiij the Osjo Governmnt had already ordered mobilisation as a precaution. Accordingly, before daybreak on April 9 scores of young Norwegians reported at the Horten railway station. They were immediately rounded up by German marines of the landing party and placed on board the German ships which had come up. Describing the night in Oslo, lie speaks of air-raid warnings, which lie decided were only rehearsals. A Finnish diplomat informed him in the morning of Germany’s ultimatum and the Government’s decision to leave. BOMBERS TERRORISE PEOPLE “At 7.40., while we still had not tiie slightest idea what had in Oslo Fiord and at Horten, five Nazi bombers suddenly came roaring ovel the rooftops so low that they almost touched them. AVe watched them come, expecting every moment that bombs would fall. For two and. a half hours German ’planes dived over the city, always only three or five in number. They were intended to terrorise the populace into surrender and the authorities into, inaction while the first troops were- landed by air at Fornebu outside the city. Thousands of Oslo residents; gazed at them curiously and fearfully, but there was no panic. None of us dreamed that German warships wore in the inner harbour and that Oslo was already doomed. AVe still thought that British ships and ’planes might come at any moment. It seemed utterly incredible that the Narrows could have been forced by the Germans and the powerful forts of the fiord silenced;

INCOMPREHENSIBLE EVENTS. “The same, madness of incomprehensible events continued all day long. First there was mystification over the city’s complete lack of defence from its naval forces and coastal forts. Then it was the immunity of the low-flying Nazi ’planes to the thousands of machine-gun bullets which spattered almost incessantly until after 10 o’clock. Then it was the further fact that only one anti-aircraft battery seemed to be firing against the German ’planes and that even this became silent after firing only a few shells, all of which were inexplicably wide off the mark. -

“Finally, at 10.30 came an equally fnntistic lull, during which the German ’planes only circled occasionally and absolutely nothing seemed to happen. “Tens of thousands of persons clustered in the streets and on the pavements, waiting, utterly hlaffled. We all asked where the British were, but, also, where were the Germans. Norway’s capital in every quarter was a scene of dazed disorganisation, completely without leadership. Apparent! v even the men who had been called to the colours did not know where to go or simnlv forgot about it. The streets were filled with men of fighting age, all standing watching the German ’planes, waiting and sneculating. hut doing nothing andV going nowhere.

THE MARCHING COLUMN. Shortly before 3 o’clock two lorries filled with a dozen .German soldiers rolled along the street. Soldiers lolled in them with rifles dangling as if they had been assured that they- had not the slightest resistance to fear.’ From the rear of the second lorry two machine-guns poked their noses out, straight down the boulevard. Their crews lay prone, with intent, hard faces, ready to fire. This was the only show of force and all that was needed. At 3.3 a murmur ran through the crowd. Two mounted men swung into the boulevard in front of the Palace, then’ six more, then' the head of a marching column in field grey. The mounted men were Norwegian policemen actually escorting the German troops which were occupying the capital. The German column marched steadily nearer through a lane of 20 000 or 30 000 Oslo citizens, fully half of whom were men of military age. A tall, broad-shouldered officer, General von Falkenhorst, and two other officers marched directly behind the mounted police. Then came the German regulars in column of threes. One out of nine carried light machine-guns; all carried compact aluminium kits and bulky shoulder-packs. NOT.SLIGHTEST'RESISTANCE. Several times Falkenhorst and the. other two officers returned the Nazi salutes of persons in the crowd, who must have been German advance agents and had been busy in Oslo for weeks before this crowning moment. “From our hotel balcony two Nazis gave the salute. I noticed in particular the beaming face of a chic, slim, blonde German woman whose husband had been very active in our hotel since we arrived the previous Thursday. , V.

“It was a thin, unbelievably short, column. It required only six of seven minutes to march past. It was composed only of two incomplete battalions—surely less than 1500 men in all. "Norway’s capital of nearly .300,0.00 inhabitants was being occupied by a

German force of approximately 1500 men.”

The last of the German troops, ho goes oil, went by without a single jeer or hiss, without a single tear noticeable on any Norwegian face. Like children the people stared. Thousands of young men stood:, .watching this occupation parade. Not one hand or voice was raised. “He could discern no sign of resentment upon any face about us. This was the . most incomprehensible thing among all the incomprehensible things of this fantastic 24 hours.” NAZIS TAKE CONTROL. "But within two hours real life was making itself felt in Oslo. The Germans had occupied tile capital./They simply paraded in, taking it. over, much as Frenchmen or Italians.’ might parade into a colonial village' soniewhere in the. interior of Africa. Now they went to work! It was the urgent task of-the tiny force of 1500’ men to seize the key places of the. nation’s capital. They did it swiftlyjj without any fear of interruption. h "When I hurried into the/telegraph building I had hopes. There-'were still no German troops guarding the door. But immediately I knew I was too late. "The first hint came when a woman employee who always , addressed. me in perfect English spoke; to me in German and tried to refuse the message on the ground that, I had no special telegraph card. But her chief had already accepted my dispatch fit 1 o’clock. Finally she accepted it reluctantly, together with 64 dollars’ worth of Norwegian crowns which had to be paid in advance. Then she told me in German that I must see Fraulein Hauge the next morning, or no more messages would be accepted; Of course', my own and all. other, dispatches for the next 24 diours . were never sent. The Germans had. closed all wires as well as the telephone lines to the outside world. ;i

"Next day .was as unbelievable as the events of April 9 had been. German troops now stood guard over Parliament, the University, the City Hall, and other public buildings. My first shock came early .in the.’morning as I, passed the Storting. Two score German soldiers filled the open windows of the third floor of the Parliament Building, alh singing lustily, while one pumped joyfully at his accordion. Oslo, citizens stood watching and listen ing on the pavements below. I looked closely, but as far as I could see they were simply curious and somewhat entertained. As on the previous night, after the occupation of the city, the cafes were filled in almost normal fashion, and a large number of young men were lolling in them ns if no such thing as a regular Norwegian ‘army were ready to offer resistance to I the invader only 50 miles north, of [the capital.”