NORWAY'S DEFENCES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 44, 26 April 1940, Page 3

NORWAY'S DEFENCES

Small Army And Navy ORWAY, which remained neutral through the last war and for many years has settled all its difference amicably, has a small standing army consisting of 4325 regulars, 1424 in military schools, and an arinual contingent of about 15,000 under training. All able-bodied men, from 22 years upwards, must undergo compulsory military training, except the clergy and pilots. In wer time, however, all men between the ages of 18 and 50 years are called up for service, but only men of the first line can be sent out of the country. When Norwegian men are called up for service, they must serve for six years in the first line, six years with the reserve, and four years with the second reserve. Military training, however, is not arduous, as the men may train from between 18 and 102 days*a year, according to the demand. The small standing army is occupied in manning the forts along the coast, the principal of which are at Oscarborg, on the Oslo Fjord, Agdenes, Trondheim, Bergen, Tonsberg and Christiansand. When Norway. and Sweden became separate kingdoms by negotiation in 1905, a number of forts along the South Swedish frontier were dismantled and a neutral zone established by convention. Norway’s navy is no stronger than its army. The total number of officers and men on permanent service is 1200, but all sea-faring men between 22 and 38 are liable for maritime conscription, and given preliminary training. The total strength of the navy consists of 4 battleships for coastal defence, 5 destroyers, 9 submarines, 3. gunboats and 17 torpedo boats. There is also a small air force consisting of 64 seaplanes and 72 airplanes. When war broke out last September, Norway slightly increased her forces, and had ordered a number of fighting aircraft from Britain and America. Apparently, some of these machines had arrived just before the Germans invaded the country. — Norway was not equipped for a war with a powerful enemy. Her battleships were only small ones, of 3500 to 4000 tons, and her torpedo flotilla was intended only for coastal defence. A start was made in 1928 to reorganise and modernise the fleet, but very little had been done to improve its strength.

WAR DIARY