Evening star., 1940-04-25


Norway to protect it from the Brit
ish. The French were not mentioned
at all.
At the consul's I had to wait until
about $50 am. when he came in.
He was very pleasant and told me
to tell the telegraph manager that
he had given me permission to speak
to Bergen. finally got through and
spoke to Mr.. Maurice P) Dunlap,
Omitted States CONSUL.
I told him it would be a good idea
for me to leave as soon as possible,
but could not mention my cargo
or anything that the Germans might
hear or that had Capt. Staman and
wife not further identified) aboard.
Busy Day of Saluting.
I went back to the ONCE to wait
for word. AS was in uniform,
think was mistaken a lot for
German by the Norwegians and I
certainly did more saluting in one
day then I had ever done in month
during the last war. Going into the
Consul's, the place was full of SOL
diers, who all 'heiled" me as I en-
tered. They certainly can click their
heels together smartly.
From the ONCE I went to the
Phoenix Hotel, where the German
headquarters was located. They had
taken over the whole hotel.
There I had more saluting and
"heiling." A lieutenant, Fritch
Schneider, told me I could leave
whenever wished, but that he did
not know whether the Germans had
laid any mines outside or not. He
also told me that he had just taken
oil 40 English prisoners from the
English ship then in the drydock.
I decided to go back to my ship
and sail to Homellvik, about IL miles
away, so as to be out of the way
in case there was trouble. Staman
Representative of the line in Trond-
heim) Was to meet me there ~ . =.
On my way to Homellvik I saw the
cruiser and two destroyers a short
distance from the port, while five
large three engined planes few from
the northward over me They were
Germans, but I was told by the Ger
man commander the next day he
had mistaken them for enemy planes
and had fired on them. We saw the
shells exploding in the air and were
all expectantly awaiting a fight, but
it amounted to nothing.
Took Pictures Of Plane.
One of the planes was having trou-
BILE and landed near Trondheim. I
saw it with its wings in a ditch the
next day. I took some pictures of it.,
but do not know how they will come
out through a train window.
Two planes were brought down to-
day april 10 by Norwegians, was
told. The forts at the entrance were
taken SO easily that there must have
been some traitors in them or else
they were asleep. I took aboard two
women, United States nationals, who
requested asylum.
After anchoring at Homellvik I
had the engines at an hours notice,
but could get them sooner If re-
quired. I had to conserve on oil. I
then went ashore and ordered two
life RATS to be made, one for the
forward and one for the after deck.
Capt. Staman came aboard.
April 10. Homellvik-Heavy snow
today, but went to Trondheim by
train and again tried to get in touch
with Bergen, Oslo or Stockholm,
but no good. the wires were all cut,
they say. But I do not believe they
want me to use the lines. Today at
the Phoenix Hotel I spoke to Capt.
Puffendorf of the destroyer Flotilla.
He spoke very little English, in fact
all he could say was "ya." He was
very conceited four-striper, not a
bit like our, naval officers. He looked
to me like he was not all there. He
had a sort of wild look about him.
He was very obliging and made some
other officers pay us some attention.
Nazi's Explained Stand.
He had the Iron Cross and sew
eral other decorations. He and
Capt. Weiss were in charge of op-
erations. The two officers he intro
duced me to sat down and then with
pad and pencil tried to pump us.
They asked me what I thought
about the war and this landing in
Norway. I asked them to excuse me
from making any statements as I
was absolutely neutral. Then they
started to tell me why they invaded
Norway. 1t was just to protect them
(the Norwegians) from the English.
who were already prepared to take
Norway themselves.
They said that they did not intend
to fight on the French border, but
would only fight back If attacked,
as they had nothing against the
French, only England.
They said Germany wanted colo
nies and England had too many. I
asked them about Russia and said
that I did not trust her and that 1
would not be surprised If she turned
on Germany. One said that was
what the democracies wanted and
that 1t would benefit the democra-
cies. They forgot that the United
States is a democracy. They really
believe that people are starving in
parts Of London and New York be-
cause of the few rich. They got
sort Of f1ustered after that, but told
me that Germany had all the oil,
steel and grain that she wanted and
plenty Of food.
I never thought ! would ever have