IMMENSE SETBACK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 April 1940, Page 6

IMMENSE SETBACK

SUFFERED BY THE GERMANS IN NORWAY FRENCH PREMIER'S SURVEY OF OPERATIONS. TRIBUTE TO BRITISH NAVY. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. (Received This Day. 12.40 p.m.) PARTS. April 16. M. Reynaud. in the Senate, said Germany had lost almost one-third of her Navy in the last week's fighting in Scandinavia, including twenty per cent of her cruisers and twenty-five per cent of her destroyers. In addition, fifteen per cent of her destroyers had suffered damage and 78.000 tons of German merchant shipping had been sunk. The Allies had cut Germany's iron ore route. After eight days' fighting, the German Fleet had suffered massive and irreparable mutilation and Allied troops had disembarked in Norway, making contact with the Norwegians. More troops were on the way. Tiie three hundred Senators cheered to the echo when M. Reynaud referred to the British Navy’s successes. M. Reynaud said: "It was a magnificent exploit. The Germans showed that they recognised the importance of Narvik by sending seven of their most modern destroyers there as watchdogs. Everyone knows what happened to them. Germany will bo obliged to fight on a new front as a result of the Allies occupying Narvik and mining the Baltic, because the German steel industry functions on Swedish orc. Germany has suffered an immense moral setback."