The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-01

efforts in the region south of Trond- helm could be successful SO long as this situation obtains.
 1t was pointed out here that 1T Rhe Allied campaign against Trond- helm fails they will be forced onto the defensive and the Germans will be able to employe the south and central Norwegian ports and air bases to launch submarine and air attacks against Great Britain, which was believed to be the prime pur- pose of the German invasion.
 If the Germans succeed in pinch- ing off the Allied troops south Of T'rondheim 1t was expected here that they would move immediately and in force against the allied posi- tions in the Stcinkper-N -Namsos re- zion, Success in that effort would cinch German control of all Norway except the narrow mountainous, thinly-populated northern finger.
 German Victory Clear
 Tn the confused official and unof- ilcial dispatches from Norway only one thing was clear; the Germans had succeeded in smashing up the Oester and Gudbrands valleys and joining their oslo and Trondhelm forces. By doing 50, regardless oi anything else, they had won a vic- tory of great and possibly decisive Importance in the fight for control of the Norway area. They had confronted the Allies with the nec- essity for deciding whether they could retrieve their rcvcrSes or must withdraw from the entire Trondheim area and concentrate on holding Narvik, the great iron ore port above the Arctic circle.
 Attacks On England Feared
 Not the least of the factors which the British must face now is the threat of German aerial attacks in force from Norwegian bases against the British Isles.
 That threat already is being drlv- on home to the British by an ln- creased number of German alrplanes of reconnaissance of the eastern coast of England almost every night. One, shot down last night, killed seven persons, including its crew of four, when 1t fell in an English sea- side village.
 Thus the probability again has arisen--and with increased serious ness--that Hitler will attempt a ; knockout blow against the British with the objective of breaking the backbone of Brltain's naval power by mass attacks on warships, docks and naval bases and of demoraliz- ing the British will to carry on the conflict.
 Not so Grave
 A midnight war office communique gavl some hope that the situation might not be as grave as repre- scented in German and Swedish re- ports-and in the minds of people here.
 The communIque said;
 'l. In the Dombaas area the British, fighting with indomitable courage, resisted any luther ad- vances by the enemy.
 "2. North of Steinkjer, British troops again proved their superiority in patrol work, infllcting heavy cas- ualties on the enemy.
 a. Fresh landings have taken place along the coast of Norway
 This was taken to mean that the British and other allied loops were still fighting to hold the Dombaas- Stoeren sector, and 1t was believed that a British force might be hold ing at least the outskirts of Dom baas, thus protecting allied com munications with the Andalsnes base on the coast
 There was no tendency here to minimize the extent of German suc- cesses--perhaps the contrary. Mili- tary experts talked of the advisabil- ity of complete withdrawal from that part of Norway south of Trond- helm, and intimated that Chamber lain and other political leaders must leave 1t absolutely to the fighting men on the spot and the allied gen. eral staffs to decide what to do. Italian Statements It had been announced last night:
 Announcements by Italians in responsible positions and the atti- tude of the Italian press have been recently of such character as to make it necessary for his majesty's government to take certain precau- tions as regards British shipping which normally would pass through the Mediterranean. They (the gov ernmenD do not intend, however, to continue these precautions any long CT than necessary, and they hope that circumstances will permit their cancellation in the neag future"
 This meant that British ships would be diverted from the Suez- Mediterranean Gibraltar route to the much longer route from and to the Far East, by way of the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa, due to the threat that Italy might enter the war on Germany's side. Not even during the Ethio- plan war, when the British home fleet was sent into the Mediter- ---------------------------