Evening star., 1940-04-26
Stowe
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CCOWe
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of the allied eXpeditionaries is to
shatter the Germans complete
aerial domination of the Namsos-
Lake Snasa sector. Until Tuesday,
the Germans were using only a
handful of planes there-but even
half dozen unopposed bombers
were more than enough.
Aircraft May Be Essential.
They were flying singly or in twos
and doing great amount of dam
age. Even with 10000 men, the
British and French would be in
serious predicament unless at last
they have brought plenty of anti
air batteries.
These alone may prove to be suffi-
clent-if the German bombers at
Trondheim military airport, at
Vernes and its commercial port at
Jonvand remain few in number.
But if the Germans rush up many
squadrons of war planes from Oslo
allied anti-air guns still may not
be sufficient to protect their narrow
mud-plastered lines Of communica-
ton. In that event, Anglo French
aircraft may become essential for
the Namsos-Lake Snasa sector, and
this problem will not be a simple
one to solve.
Accordingly it becomes immedi-
ately apparent-once you have
travelled through this war zone north
of Trondheim-that the allies land
invasion of Norway is an extremely
difficult and hazardous venture. 1t
certainly requires troops with the
stiffest kind of military preparation
with far more training than the
first two battalions of British ter
ritorials have had. In mountainous,
snow-blocked terrain of this sort it
will also require first-class general
ship and exceptional powers of Or
ganization. The Germans have al
ready demonstrated that they have
both of these tremendous assets.
The first contingent of British ex-
peditionaries certainly lacked vete-
ran, bodied soldiers. One may
expect the French to be very
different.
Nazis Win First Round.
The fact remains, however, that
Fuehrer Adolf Hitler's military ma
chine has won the first round in
Norway. 1t has won it by speed
and efticiency-and especially by
sheer nerve and astonishing self
confidence. I saw 1,5O0 German
troops capture Oslo with as much
calm assurance as if they had been
100000 strong. I saw little columns
of 200 and 300 men, some of them
without field guns, and some with
a few field guns miles behind them,
speeding swiftly to seize control of
cities and towns and get an imme-
date grip on all of Southeastern
Norway.
Every German platoon or squad
seemed to know exactly what to do
throughout those first "a hours in
Oslo. Every German private had
the iron look of a polished soldier.
Every key building was occupied
first with a mere handful of men.
When the Germans spread their
thin fanlike ribs out from Oslo, on
the fourth day, their slender
columns were on the march within
IL hours of disembarkment and each
column was striking at an objective
prepared long in advance. They
were granite-faced troops and they
were simply formidable to con-
template. I doubt very much whether
any army in the world but the
French could hope to match them,
man for man.
These are the kind of German
troops, most of them veterans of
the Polish campaign, who now hold
every elevation and strong position
among the hills and bluffs along the
main road from Trondheim up to
Steinkjer or just beyond. They took
over these important outer defenses
during the two weeks while the
British were landing mere $500
territorials-and these without any
heavy armed equipment whatever
up near Namsos.. The German COM
mand clinched it's hold by perfect
coordination of land, naval and
aerial forces, thereby driving back
the first contingents of British ter
ritorials and knocking out virtually
half of their number.
Thaw to Bring Quagmires.
Against this kind of generalship
and this sort of troops, the British
and French will need to use the
very best they've got, but the Nor
wegian spring thaw, after the
heaviest SHOWS in SO years or more
is bound to make large-scale mil
itary operations a nightmare in this
northern theater for several weeks
No mud that was ever seen on the
western front during the last wal
could begin to approach the quag-