Evening star., 1940-04-26
British Defeat Is a Setback,
Not Disaster, Eliot Asserts
Allies Strategy at Steinkjer Called Sound,
Lack Of Air Support Being Only BIunder

or anti-aircraft artillery was avail
able; even If 1t was, 1t might have
delayed the advance. There was
doubtless good reason to believe, and
1t seems probably true, that the
Germans In Trondheim had no
artillery; the gunfire at Steinkjer
appears to have been provided by a
German destroyer in the ford. Time
was Of the first Importance, and the
British commander appears to have
acted with celebrity and good judg-
ment.
One criticism only can be made
and that is the lack of air support
Arrangements should certainly have
been in hand for some sort of air
cooperation; it Is now an axiom OF
modern war that all land operations
against an enemy provided with air.
craft require air support. While it
does take time to establish land
air base, it seems unquestionable
that fighting planes operating from
a carrier could have been used to
aid the advance guard and to pro-
tect it after it had successfully oc-
cupied its bridgehead south OF
Steinkjer, as it did. True, the pos
sibility of the carriers being hit by a
German bomb had to be taken into
account but the old Argus might
have been risked. She can carry per-
haps Is to 80 small fighters, and the
risk of her damage or loss would
probably be less than the risk of
leaving the advance guard unsup-
ported.
The Germans, on their part, also
showed commendable enterprise and
better cooperation between all arms
than was displayed by the British.
They attacked, it is stated, with
about 1900 men, supported by planes
and by gunfire from their destroy
ers, drove the British out of their
brideghead position, recaptured
Steinkjer, and are now said to be
digging in on the north bank of the
ford in q bridgehead position OF
their own.
Action Can Be Overestimated.
1t Is easy to overestimate the i'm
portance of this action. From the
point of view of the officers and men
engaged, most of whom were See
ing their dead" for the first time, it
may well have appeared that they
were being uselessly sacrificed.
From the point of view Of the Nor
wegians it may well have been a
letdown from the miracles which
they doubtless expected their allies
to perform. The writer well re-
members the first time he ever came
under hostile fire and saw his
friends and comrades falling about
him. 1t is an experience which no
soldier forgets, and young troops do
not always understand what has
happened or why.
But this will not be the first time
in modern war that an advance
guard has been asked to push for
ward quickly, with insufficient sup
port, to try to hold an important
position until the main body comes
up. That it has mailed to do so in
this instance is a setback for the
British north of Trondheim; to call
it a major disaster, however, seems
unwarranted.
1t should not be forgotten, in par
ticular, that Trondheim is open to
attack from the south as well as the
north; that the approaches from the
south are easier; and that allied
troops have landed, not only at
Namsos, but also at Aandalsnes,
from which point they have ad-
vanced, according to the last reports
(not yet officially confirmed) to
Stoeren, only 80 miles from Trond-
helm. A daring dash by a German
column up the Oesterdal
toward Stoeren appears to have been
thrown back. 1t is not impossible
that this is the main attack; that
the move from Namso is a holding
attack only, intended to divert part
of the none too strong German gar
rison of Trondheim to the northern
front; and that the sacrifices suf-
fered by the British advance guard
at Steinkjer may yet turn out not
to have been in vain.
At any rate, wars cannot be made
without losing men, and we are by
no means as yet at a decisive point
in the struggle for possession of
Trondheim. One point does stand
out, as we have repeatedly said; the
allies must have air support if they
are going to succeed. It is hardly to
be supposed that this has been over
looked by the allied high command.
Copyrisht 194O BY New York Tribune. Inc.
entrance to the Gulf of Rothnja and