The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-06
Aver Airforce Scored Dr.
rect Hit On English War;
ship Off Narvik
TROOPS ATTACKED
Detachments OF Allied Sol
diers Reported Hurrying
Toward Narvik
By ROBERT

BERLIN, May 6.-(MondayeP-
The German airforce yesterday at
tackled a British naval unit off Mar
vik, Norway's Arctic port, and scor-
ed a direct hit on an English bat-
tleship, reliable German sources as
serted.
Heavy smoke rising from the war
ship showed the effect of the bomb,
it was reported.
British troops at Narvik also were
subjected to the force of the German
airmen, Germans said, and bombs
dropped on an. enemy encampment
in that region exploded a munitions
dump.
Assertion Repeated
The German high commands com.
munique of Sunday repeated its as
sertion that a British battleship and
a heavy cruiser were sunk by Ger
man filters Friday off Namsos.
Authorized German sources last
night stuck to that claim of success
for their air force, despite flat de
malls by the British.
Other sinkings announced by thu
command included:
A large British transport off Nam
sos Friday, two enemy merchant
men Saturday, and a Polish destroy
err off Narvik Saturday.
Detachments of British and French
troops, apparently left behind in the
Allied withdrawal from Namsos, are
hurrying northward in what may b.
an attempt to launch an attack OF
Narvik from the south, DNB, offlc1a
German news agency, reported.
The movement of the Allied troops
it said, was discovered in scouting
operations while the main force O.
the German army of occupation
pushed it's hold on Norway as far az
the railroads of Namsos and Grong
north of Trondheim, and continued
"mopping-up" action in central ant
southern Norway.
Troops Cut Off
DNB asserted that the British ant
French detachments had been Gu
off from the main expedltlonary
force by German aerial attacks OF
embarkation operations at Namso:
last Wednesday and Thursday.
German military quarters specu
lated whether the British and French
would attempt to reach Narvik, the
ore port north of the Arctic Circle
where a German garrison is holding
out against Allied attacks supported
by planes, warships and artillery.
To do so, these isolated Allied
troops would have to make theil
way through more than 300 mile!
of the most mountainous, Difficult
terrain in Norway. A single highwa.
runs north as far as Bodo, on thu
coast. But there is no road for thu
100 miles from there to Narvik, ant
the intervening country is dotted
with mountains and rendered ever
more difficult to negotiate by mum
erous deep-running fjords, stream.
and lakes.
At Narvik itself, the high com
mand announced, repeated attacks
by "strong enemy forces supported
by filters" on German %"securit.
units" north of the town were re
pulsed by cooperative action Of gu
own land forces and airmen."
NOrwegians Surrender
German troops moving north from
Steinkjer, above Trondheim, march
ed into Namsos and Grong, wher
the Norwegian commander of tn
area surrendered Internationally, it
communique said.
"Mopping-up" of scattered Nor
wegian units still offering resistanc
were reported chiefly in the Trysi
area east of Lillehammer, an
around Roros, southeast of Trond
helm.
At the same time the high com
mand, reiterating it's claim of hav
ing sunk a British battleship, heav.
cruiser and large transport or Fri
day, set the figure for Allied mer
chant shipping losses through mine
and U-boats at close to 100000
tons for the eight months of tn
war.
(The Associated Press "box score
of merchant and naval shippin,
losses, for ~belligerents and neutrals
shows a total of 1,S25,957 tons.)
These figures indicated a slack
ening in the tempo of German at
tacks in the past two months. Off
cial figures at the close of the six
month a period placed the loss il
Allied shipping and neutral ship
ping destined for the Allies at 1904,
1913 gross tons.