GRIP OF THE NAVY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 April 1940, Page 5

GRIP OF THE NAVY

MR. CHURCHILL ON EVENTS AND OUTLOOK i OPENING PHASE OF NAVAL BATTLE. DEVELOPMENTS ON LAND ANTICIPATED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 9.55 a.m.) RUGBY, April 11. In the House of Commons, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill, said the German invasion of Norway and Denmark had been planned for several weeks. For months past the British had received information that large numbers of German merchant ships were being fitted as transports and that numerous small vessels were being assembled in various Baltic ports and also in the river mouths of the Elbe. The Nazi Government had tried to represent that the invasion was in consesequence of the Allies closing the Norwegian corridor, which had proved a great impediment to the blockade. Expressing sympathy with the Norwegian people, Mi'. Churchill said their future and independence were bound up with the victory of the Allies. He said: "We shall aid them to the best of our ability. I have been asked: What is the Navy doing? But the House will not expect me to lift the veil at this juncture. “About five weeks ago the Home Fleet returned to Scapa Flow. There have been five raids there, the latest being last night, when sixty aircraft attacked without doing the slightest damage, although the enemy lost six aircraft. We are ready to fight this matter out at Scapa Flow.” Mr. Churchill again referred to the laying of the Nowegian minefield. They could only conclude that the destroyer Glowworm had been sunk by superior enemy forces. Since then, fighting has been proceeding night and day. On Tuesday the Fleet was cruising to the south, about level with Bergen. During the afternoon it was continuously attacked by enemy aircraft as far to lhe north as Narvik. At daybreak on Tuesday the battle-cruiser Renown opened' fire and after three minutes the enemy replied. After nine minutes the Renown observed a list on the forward superstructure of a German battle-cruiser. There were no casualties on board the Renown. On Tuesday night we gave orders to our destroyers blockading the Vest Fiord to attack the enemy. Mr. Churchill assured the House that a Q soon as reliable news was received, good or bad, it would be published. Proceeding, the First Lord said: A very determined attack was made on Wednesday by two waves of the R.A.F.. twelve machines in each, which attacked two German cruisers. One has not been seen since. The Fleet Air Arm also came into operation for the fust time and today at daybreak torpedocarrying aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm have attacked enemy shipping in Trondheim Harbour." In concluding passages, Mr. Churchill said: “In my view. Herr Hitler has committed a grave strategic error, in extending the war so far north. We shall shield the Faroe Islands from all severity of war. The question of Iceland needs further consideration, no German will be allowed to set his foot there with impunity. All German ships in the Skaggerak and Kattegat will be sunk. The very recklessness with which Herr Hitler and his advisers have cast the fate of the German Navy upon the wild waters may be only a prelude to larger events which depend on land. We have probably arrived at the first crunch of the war.”