NAZIS AT NARVIK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1940, Page 5

NAZIS AT NARVIK

SURROUNDED BY ALLIED FORCES HEAVY SHELLING FROM LAND AND SEA. REPORTED AIR FIGHTING. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, May 4. The French Ministry of War an nounced that the Allies’ forces at Narvik have surrounded 3000 to 4000 Germans, whose position is desperate. Swedish and Norwegian dispatches say the Allies have completely encircled the German forces in tb,c Narvik area. The town is reported to have been heavily shelled from land and sea. The Swedish radio says the German garrison repelled a thrust from the north, and German planes operating from a hidden landing field shot down three of five British planes attacking the town. Other sources report that German troops and supplies are reaching Norway by air and sea in increasing numbers. ALLIED FORCES SAID TO HAVE BEEN SMALL. ROME,-May 5. The Stockholm representative of the Stefani news agency says 17,000 Norwegian soldiers surrendered and 1000 Allied troops were killed or wounded during bombing at the embarkation at Namsos. The British, says the correspondent, had disembarked 27,000 men, 12 tanks, and 40 guns at Andalsnes and Namsos, while the Germans landed 110,000 men, 350 tanks, and 400 guns. ’ GERMANS IN NAMSOS KING GOES TO NORTHERN NORWAY. LONDON, May 4. A dispatch to the Swedish newspaper “Aftonbladet” from the Norwegian frontier says the Germans have entered Namsos. Norwegian troops are still operating at Trondheim after the British withdrawal. King Haakon was evacuated aboard a British warship to northern Norway. He declined to take refuge in London. ATTACKS ON WARSHIPS SOME GERMAN CLAIMS. DESCRIBED AS FANTASTIC BY ADMIRALTY. BERLIN, May 4. The High Command claims that German diving planes attacked a British flagship west of Namsos. A heavy bomb hit the vessel between the fore gun turrets. Half a minute later of column of flame 150 feet high rose up, followed by dense smoke, after which only floating debris was visible. A London message states that the German radio now claim that in addition to the battleship a heavy cruiser was set on fire by a bomb and a destroyer was sunk while escorting troops from Namsos. It adds that a battlecruiser and a destroyer were seriously damaged and a battleship set on fire and a troopship sunk during the raids on Narvik. The British Admiralty describes thereports as typically fantastic. CLAIMS UNTRUE DEFINITE ADMIRALTY DENIAL. (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) RUGBY, May 5. An Admiralty communique states: “The German claim to have sunk a British battleship and a cruiser of the York class in operations off Namsos Is untrue.” GERMAN METHODS BOMBS DROPPED ON PEOPLE GOING TO CHURCH. (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) STOCKHOLM, May 5. The Germans this afternoon reoccupied Roros, south-east from Storen. The Germans were driven out from Roros last week.

A Swedish correspondent, telephoning from Roros this morning, said he saw a German warplane drop six bombs as people were going to church. He concluded: “German bombers are coming again, so I must cut this call.”