Thursday, May 2, 1940

NAZIS WIN A “DECISIVE” VICTORY. German forces in Norway have captured Dombas and Storen, seizing control of the railroad line that New York Times reporter Otto Tolischus calls “the Allied key position in the heart of Norway.” Mr. Tolischus adds in his Wednesday story that “the full extent of [the victory] must still be determined, but the decisiveness of which there can be no doubt.” The victory links the hitherto isolated German units at Trondheim with the main Nazi armies around Oslo. It kills the chances of a successful Allied attack against Trondheim or Oslo, and forces British and French forces back to the vicinity of their landing bases at Andalsnes and Namsos. And according to the Times, the Nazis aren’t wasting a minute in launching fresh attacks against the retreating Allies.

Most worrisome of all, potentially, is the effect that Nazi command of the skies is having on British and French hopes of keeping their campaign going. Writes Mr. Tolischus -- “It appears that both landing bases [Andalsnes and Namsos] are being subjected to new, intensive air bombardment, partly, no doubt, to paralyze the debarkation of reinforcements and supplies, but mostly to keep the Allied navy at a distance. And whether the Allies can hold their landing bases without the support of the heavy naval guns is now the question that may decide the whole Norwegian campaign.”

HITLER CROWS THAT'S NORWAY’S CONQUERED. The Germans also aren’t wasting any time proclaiming that they’ve already won Norway. Sigrid Schultz of the Chicago Tribune writes in Wednesday’s editions that the Fuehrer’s order of the day Tuesday told his forces, “I am proud of you”and declared the German effort in Norway was virtually completed. Miss Schultz’s account includes a nauseating paragraph indicating the apparent glee with which Nazis ponder the violent subjugation of their neighbors --

“Authoritative German circles in Berlin expressed confidence that it is just a matter of days until Norway is fully in the hands of the German army. They began discussing where Germany will strike next, and voiced a conviction that the next blow will be delivered very soon.”

HINTS OF AN ALLIED WITHDRAWAL. And yes, it gets worse -- according to Edwin Stout of the Associated Press, British papers are suggesting that the Allies are about to withdraw from Norway. That caused the Liberal leader, Archibald Sinclair, to allege that such press stories were “apparently inspired” by the government. And the New York Times reports Monday that “French sentiment” now supports withdrawing Allied troops in south Norway to positions north of Trondheim.

ALLIES FACE “DARK HOURS” AHEAD, BUT --. “These are dark hours for the Allies and there is no dawn in sight,” writes Barnet Nover in his Washington Post column on Wednesday. Yet although he calls the Nazi seizure of Dombas and Storen “a tactical triumph of the first magnitude,” Mr. Nover still sees some hope that the Allied campaign in Norway can still manage to inflict harm on Hitler’s cause --

“Assuming that the Allies will continue to send reinforcements to Norway, the immediate prospect is for the creation of a stalemate in central Norway, comparable to that which prevails on the Western Front. Such a situation would have its real disadvantages to Great Britain and France. But it would not be without its compensations. As long as the Allies retain a foothold at several points in Norway, it is doubtful if the Germans could successfully use Norway as a base for air and submarine operations against Great Britain. And in such a war of attrition the blockade would operate with intensified force. The ace card of the Allies has not yet been trumped.”

BRITISH QUIT MEDITERRANEAN TRADE ROUTE. More ominous news, as if any more were needed -- the Chamberlain government has ordered all British passenger and merchant ships out of the Mediterranean. The New York Herald Tribune explains -- “With no merchant vessels to shepherd, British and French warships in the Mediterranean would be free for full-time battle and reconnaissance employment in the event hostilities should break out in that region.” The hostilities would come at the hand of Italy, whose controlled press has gone on a tear of denunciation of the Allies in recent weeks. Some say it portends Mussolini’s joining the war on Hitler’s side. Another theory is that the Italians are trying to help Germany by a clever bluff designed to draw Allied warships into guarding the Mediterranean, instead of fighting the Germans elsewhere.

ATTACK ON YUGOSLAVIA NEAR? The Associated Press reports “a stir in Italian military activity near the Yugoslav frontier,” and it’s got the Yugoslav government of Premier Cvetkovich worried. Also, “large German military concentrations” were reported near the frontier in the Klagenfurt area, according to the A.P. The Yugoslavs have responded by expelling hundreds of German “tourists.” Numerous arrests were also reported in Slovenia, which has a substantial German minority.

U.S.-JAPANESE WAR “INEVITABLE”? As if there aren’t enough grim portents in the news lately -- did anyone notice a startling note buried in the twenty-third paragraph of Time magazine’s lead story this week, on the Roosevelt administration’s war policy? It has to do with Japan’s possible interest in seizing the Netherlands East Indies at some point, an interest that Secretary of State Hull has “gravely, politely, promptly” warned Japan against pursuing --

“To many observers, a U.S. war with Japan seemed far in the distance. The U.S. Navy was not so sure about that. Rear Admiral Joseph Knefler Taussig this week told Congress that in present circumstances he regards war with Japan as inevitable eventually. Some sources, bluntly assuming that Hitler will invade The Netherlands before the end of June, further expect that Japan will seize the moment to move in on the Indies. It would therefore not be surprising if the tag end of U.S. Fleet maneuvers now in progress found a squadron near Manila.”

Tragically, it might thus be that the U.S. could succeed at staying out of the European war -- and be drawn into a major conflict far away from our shores just the same.

WHAT THE EDITORIALS SAY. The editors of three major papers tried to find a ray of hope yesterday for the Allied war effort in Norway --

New York Herald Tribune – “It is probably true that unless the Allies can regain and consolidate the Trondheim area the Germans will in the main have won their Norwegian campaign. And the recapture of Trondheim...has now become more difficult than ever. This does not mean that it has been rendered insoluble; the troops, anti-aircraft batteries and aviation are continuing to arrive, and if fewer of them would have saved the day a week ago enough may still be landed to do the job. But will events elsewhere wait to watch the doing of it?”

New York Times -- “It will be said that Allied prestige has suffered a dangerous blow. The blow is a hard one, but it does not follow that Italy will at once rush into the war on Germany’s side or that the smaller neutrals will hurry to capitulate to German demands. Allied sea power remains virtually intact and overwhelming; German sea power, for what it was worth, was recklessly squandered in the early stages of the Norwegian invasion. There are consolations for the Allied peoples in the present situation....”

Washington Post -- “The first effort to sweep the Germans out of Norway has failed....To win in Norway will obviously require many more men, and much more equipment, than the Allies have transported across the North Sea so far. But it is to be expected that these reinforcements will be sent, for to abandon Norway to German control would now be widely described as a military and moral disaster, regardless of the accuracy of that description.”

THIS’LL SETTLE THINGS. The New York Times has published the following letter to the editor from Samuel Harden Church, president of the Carnegie Institute -- “In order to prevent further bloodshed and outrage in this war of the German aggression, I am authorized by competent Americans to offer a reward of $1,000,000 to be paid in cash to the person or persons who will deliver Adolf Hitler, alive, unwounded and unhurt, into the custody of the League of Nations, for trial before a high court of justice for his crimes against the peace and dignity of the world. This proposal will stand good through the month of May, 1940.”