Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1940. WAR EVENTS IN NORWAY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 April 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1940. WAR EVENTS IN NORWAY.

PRIDE of place in the war nows of rhe weekend is taken by

accounts of further great exploits by the Buti.fli X. r/* second attack on Narvik in which seven German were sunk and the enemy forces on land dispersed and put to flight, and the blanketing with mines of the whole of the German coasts in the Baltic as well as in the North Sea. It is a matte for gratitude that, the smashing blow at Narvik was struck a small cost in life or material to Hie British Navy. Nevs available at time of writing is that, the at tacking ships did not suffer anv serious damage and that the loss of life in thin complements Was small. The Navy has avenged nios gai ti n y those of its comrades who were lost in the first, attack on on Wednesday last. At great cost, those who engaged m that heroic and infinitely hazardous enterprise no doubt did a great deal to prepare and open the way for the finishing blow that has now been struck.

It may be.snpposed that the second attack, as the Admiralty modestly states, may well clear up the situation on that part of the Norwegian coast. To a considerable extent the situation in other parts of the invaded remains obscure, but already there are details which suggest that events are m tram in which it will be demonstrated before long that Nazi Germany has blundered egregiously in the invasion as a whole. Ihe broad impression conveyed is that of methodical preparations by land, sea and. air to make an end decisively of the invading forces. Some German troops apparently are still being conveyed to Norway, but the Norwegians, already engaged with the invaders in a number of places, are mobilising apace. There is significance, too, in tlie mention oi. British military headquarters in Norway. The implication plainly is that it a British or Allied expeditionary force is not already operating, it will be in the very near future.

With their naval forces destroyed or put to flight and their invading troops threatened with envelopment and capture, the Germans appear to be making no very purposeful effort to improve their situation by the use of air force. It has been claimed in some quarters that the Germans are possessed of air squadrons superior in numerical strength to those of the Allies, but all the later news suggests that in the operations in and around Norway the initiative is decisively with the British air squadrons, it may be that Ihe Germans are reserving the bulk of their air strength for service on the Western Front or elsewhere, but that would not put the Norwegian adventure in a happier light from their standpoint.

While the course of events in Norway is encouraging’, it is of good promise also that Sweden declares herself firmly resolved to defend her neutrality and to withstand any attack that may be made upon her. If it were open to Germany, with or without Russian assistance, to coerce Sweden into opening her territory to the passage of German troops, the outlook in Norway would be complicated seriously from the point of Ge\\ of that country and the Allies. It now appears to be assured, finally, however, that no such right of passage will be granted by Sweden and that Germany must choose between invading Sweden or respecting Swedish territory as neutral and. closed. Electing to invade Sweden, Germany might hope to gain some additional and possibly important elbow-room in an adventure ■which King George, in a message to King Haakon of Norway, has called as rash as it is wicked. On the other hand, Sweden in that' event naturally would not only defend herself, but would cast in her lot with the. Allies.

Any new development of the situation in Scandinavia and the Baltic thus seems likely to leave the Allies laced by opportunities for effective action. At sea. not least notably in the important minefield, extension in the Baltic reported today, in the air and on land the Allies tippear to be acting with'a purposeful determination to make decisive use of these opportunities. The obvious immediate demand of the situation is that the prompt and enterprising action already taken in Norway should be developed to the point of bringing the Nazi invasion of that country to complete and unrelieved failure.