Evening star., 1940-04-13
First Tasks in Norwuy

IIISt iuSNS III iNOIWuy
Out of the welter of reports Of
military, naval and aerial activity
In and around Norway as the war
In Scandinavia enters its fifth day
the lines of German and allied
ri strategies can be fairly we'll dis
. cerned. There appears now to be
more agreement in general among
British, German, Norwegian and
Swedish reports than existed in
earlier stories.
= In their broad features the prob
' lens Of the allies and Germany and
the means they are taking to solve
them appear as follows:
,, The first step for the allieS-Which
now include Norway-must be, as
Winston Churchill pointed out in his
report to the Commons, to wipe out
German naval power in the Skager-
60 rak, the Kattegat and along Norway's
western and northern coast. When
that has been accomplished and the
allies control the sea approaches
which Germany must use in main
tanning her several isolated army
units, the allies can prepare to land
large military force. But for the
present the strategic problem is
. naval and aerial rather than mill
tary, and sea and air power is the
key to it's immediate solution.
For Germany the first problem is
to consolidate the positions she holds
along Norway's coasts, and to main
tain her lines of supply between
German and Danish ports and the
occupied Norwegian points.
The supposed separation and isola-
ton of the army units at Oslo.
Stavanger, Kristiansand, Bergen,
Trondhein, Narvik and other points
Is, of course, the greatest weakness
in the Reich's offensive, and until
internal communications can be
established between these various
forces Germany's hold on Norway
will be tenuous.
The chief obstacle in the way of
establishing control in the interior
Of Norway is the obstinate resistance
of the Norwegians, disorganized as
they are. What there is of a Nor
wegian defense plan is the attempt
to encircle Oslo, the captured capital,
while British mines and submarines
bottle up the German warships-
reported to number seven-which are
now lying in Oslo Fjord, and to make
perilous any German attempt to re-
inforce its land forces in Norway by
means of transports. To allied air
craft belongs the job of preventing
any substantial reinforcements by air.
The allies, in sum, are confronted
8 with the necessity of cutting off-as
nearly completely as possible-the
German expeditionary forces in
Norway from their sources of supply.
When that has been done the next
: task will be to destroy these isolated
German units in detail and to force
a landing at some point from which
a land offensive can be launched
against the principal point of Ger
man invasion at Oslo.
Britain is meeting her problem
with widespread aerial activity,
ranging almost the entire length of
Norway's coast, and by use of sub
marines not only for the destruction
= of German shipping, but for the
laying of new minefields in the
Skagerrak and the Kattegat. British
surface vessels appear to be operating
mainly on Norway's west coast, where
= the danger of being trapped is less.
But in the narrow waters which lead
to the Baltic the submarine and the
mine are the weapons.
The outcome of the battle for
Norway appears at this stage to be
dependent upon two principal fac
tors: How long the Norwegians can
prevent the consolidation of German
positions now held along their coasts,
and how quickly Norway's allies can
establish ironclad control not only
Of sea but of air approaches to Nor
way, thus paving the way for full
fillment of Mr.. Churchill's dictum
that I'VE shall take what we want"
on Norway's coast.