NAZIS IN NORWAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 September 1940, Page 6

NAZIS IN NORWAY

CAMPAIGN A DEAD LOSS. A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT. LONDON, June 7. Norway has been a great disappointment to the Nazi invaders, writes Bjarne Braatoy in the “Daily Herald.” They had expected to be received with open arms. Their commanders had not counted on any losses. Instead, and in spite of treachery within, they were met with resistance. They lost some of their most valuable ships. The German naval attache at Oslo was heard to reproach a Norwegian bitterly with the sinking of the cruiser Blucher at the entrance to Oslo harbour. He had good reason to be concerned. Among the 1500 men lost on board were the advance Gestapo forces. For several days after the occupation of Oslo, therefore, the Norwegians were able to organise without fear of Nazi police control. The Nazis also lost men. far more than they counted on. The full story of the resistance made all along the coast has not yet been told. More is known of the guerilla warfare inland. Above all, the Nazis lost in morale. Innumerable young soldiers believed that they would be welcomed as protectors by people who had shown them hospitality when they were child refugees during the last war. Some of them went visiting their foster parents. Their dismay at being thrown out was such that soldiers were seen to collapse in tears outside houses which had once been their homes. The Germans set out to placate the Norwegians. They tried to play the game of protector. They began looting—but only wholesale. That is to say, they left the retail shops alone. The stores accumulated by the Norwegian authorities were taken and sent to Germany. But the individual Norwegian was spared the rod, except in such matters as stricter rationing and the control of private bank balances. As time went on and it became clear that Norway must be considered an enemy country, more severe measures were introduced. The Norwegians were no longer allowed to move about freely in the occupied territories. They were threatened with reprisals. Looting became more systematic and more detailed. Above all. the economic life of the country was destroyed. Towns and farms have' been bombed to bits or wiped out by fire. I Unemployment is tremendous. Inland and coastal communications have not got going. So far, Norway is a dead loss to the Nazis. They have to go on fighting for the country.