HUGE BRITISH MINEFIELD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 April 1940, Page 5

HUGE BRITISH MINEFIELD

LAID FROM BERGEN TO DUTCH COAST Extending Half-way Through Kattegat / PROGRESS OF LAND OPERATIONS IN NORWAY GERMANS HOLDING ONLY LIMITED AREAS A huge British minefield has been laid, Daventry reports, extending from between Bergen to just off the Dutch coast, eastward to the German, Danish and Norwegian coasts into the Baltic and halLway up the Kattegat, to a point only 50 miles from Kiel. It is an extension of the minefield laid in Heligoland Bight. It does not enter Danish or Swedish territorial waters at any point. A channel 20 miles wide has been left so that ships may reach the open sea from Sweden. A German oil tanker was seen in flames yesterday morning, the first victim of the minefield. In Norway, the German forces of occupation have not progressed very far. The main operations are near Oslo, where the Germans are attempting to advance fanwise, assisted by bombing aircraft. According to the Germans’ own claims, one column is only 45 miles and the other 25 miles from Oslo. Apart from this area, the Germans are confined to a few points on the west coast. Efforts to advance from Bergen have been repelled. Some of the members of the crew of the British destroyer Hardy which was run aground at Narvik, have joined up with the Norwegian forces, on a little expedition of their own. The German-controlled radio at Oslo announced that executions had already been carried out for alleged acts of sabotage.