ALLIES GIVE UP MOST OF NORWAY. For the longest time, there seemed to be little news about the fighting in Norway. But in the last week, we’ve seen a barrage of news, more terrible with each passing day.
According to an Associated Press dispatch by Thomas F. Hawkins published Saturday, the British and French have “abandoned the whole of Norway south of the Arctic Circle.” The retreat came in two stages. The first came Thursday, when the Allies hastily pulled their troops out of south Norway through the port of Andalsnes. The second and more dramatic action came Friday, as Allied forces holding the Steinkjer line, north of Trondheim, were suddenly pulled out and withdrawn through Namsos, leaving central Norway barely defended. Otto Tolischus in Saturday’s New York Times says that with these moves Britain and France “wrote finis to the Norwegian campaign for the present.”
GERMAN PLANES WON THE VICTORY. Edward Angly, in Friday’s New York Herald Tribune, reports that German air power was decisive in driving the Allies out of south Norway. Prime Minister Chamberlain told Parliament on Thursday that constant attacks by Nazi warplanes were successful in preventing the British from bringing in artillery or tanks to support their beleaguered troops. Somewhat weakly -- and almost pathetically in light of the next day’s developments -- Chamberlain claimed that the Allied retreat south of Trondheim “would eventually turn out...to be part of a ‘long-term strategy which will win the war.’” Can he really be serious?
C.B.S.’s William Shirer broadcast from Berlin last night that the Germans credit Nazi warplanes with achieving four tasks critical to victory -- (1) keeping the sea route from Germany to Oslo free of British ships, so that the German armies in Norway could be well supplied; (2) keeping the British Navy from attacking the major Nazi-held ports of Stavanger, Bergen, and Trondheim; (3) keeping Allied heavy weaponry out of the country, and (4) making the German land advance easier through steady machine-gun attacks on Allied defenses. Hitler’s men are exultant about this, Mr. Shirer says, and now believe that the vaunted British Navy can do little more than defend itself in sectors controlled by German air power.
NORWEGIAN TROOPS “BITTER” AT ALLIES. And who can blame them, if the accusations made by a senior Norwegian army officer are at all true. Colonel Getz, of Norway’s central command, released a communique on Saturday stating --
“The British and French -- for reasons unknown to us -- have given up helping us in our fight and have withdrawn their troops from Namsos. We stand alone today against the entire German war machine, already outflanked and encircled on the line which the British and French should be holding...without aid from the outside...with only enough ammunition for one day....It was an incomprehensible action on the part of the British and French, without notifying me, to lay open my flanks in the rear so I was cut off from any possible retreat...”
“Without notifying me”? Is this possible? Alas, yes. The Associated Press quotes a Swedish correspondent as reporting that the British and French troops couldn’t get out of Namsos fast enough. According to this observer, the Allies’ “motorized anti-aircraft guns on the shore were covered with canvas instead of standing by for possible action.” What’s more, the British skedaddled away so fast that they left behind “huge quantities of valuable war materials such as heavy anti-aircraft guns, heavy artillery, and stacks of ammunition.” No doubt it’s merely another aspect of Chamberlain’s “long-term strategy.”
BRITISH LEAVE NAMSOS “WITH HONOR”. To be fair, a more charitable eyewitness who was in Namsos claims that (1) Allied soldiers were under almost constant fire from German planes, and (2) the troops themselves were anything but cowards running away from a fight. According to Frank Muto, a London Daily Express reporter whose account appeared in U.S. papers Saturday through the International News Service --
“A steady stream of British soldiers began to move down the harbor side. They were bitterly disappointed at not having had a crack at the Germans. One of the soldiers told me: ‘”We are sick and tired of these darned Jerries (German planes) coming over here all day long. We are without any fighters to send up against them.”
CHAMBERLAIN’S IN TROUBLE. A lot of harsh questions will be asked the next time Chamberlain faces the Parliament, and some in the press are even suggesting that his government might eventually be in jeopardy. Raymond Daniell writes in Saturday’s New York Times that the bad news from Norway “may not lead to the immediate downfall of the Chamberlain Government, but...the Cabinet is facing its gravest crisis of this war.” Critics are already blasting the Norway operation for its alleged ill-preparation, hesitancy, and lack of coordination between air, sea, and land forces. Clement Davies, a Liberal National and up until now an ally of Chamberlain’s, has declared that “the country cannot be properly organized until the government goes.”
Edward R. Murrow said in his C.B.S. broadcast from London Friday night that “it’s too early to tell” whether Chamberlain’s government will fall. But he believes the Prime Minister is in no immediate danger unless the War Cabinet splits -- and specifically, if First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill were to openly blame the leadership for the loss of Norway. Joseph Cerutti agrees, writing in Saturday’s Chicago Tribune that Chamberlain is likely to keep his job, in spite of the “general gloom” in London.
WHAT NOW FOR THE GERMAN ARMIES? Take your pick. Joseph W. Grigg, Jr. writes for the United Press Saturday that the Germans are “accusing Britain of plotting to extend the war to the Mediterranean and Balkans” and promising to, in a Nazi spokesman’s words, “counter British aggression with lightning action.” Alex Small reports in Saturday’s Chicago Tribune that the Belgians are “alarmed” by Allied reversals in Norway, and suspect they’re next on the Nazi conquest list. Another U.P. report from Friday suggests that the Germans will now serve an ultimatum on Sweden, or send their troops in without warning. The Associated Press carried on Friday Chamberlain’s warning that there might be a Nazi thrust against England herself. Meanwhile, a Saturday A.P. dispatch says that Italy may be preparing an attack on Greece.
No comments:
Post a Comment