Evening star., 1940-07-19

intentions by the Allies to be tenn
porarily withheld"
However, plans were taken up by
the Allies a few days later, Hitler
said, to pursue the northern cam
paign. Germany learned of the
plans, he declared, because Of the
"verbosity of that First Lord of the
Admiralty (Winston ChurchilD now
British Premier" and French Pre-
mier Reynaud.
Doubt Of Intention Removed.
The dispatch of mine layers to
Norwegian waters, he said, removed
any doubt of the British intention
to occupy Norway"
He then reviewed the opening
of the conflict in Norway. He said
Germany moved in only after the
British had tried in vain.
Successful execution was posi-
BILE only by the fine work Of the
three divisions of our forces, the
Navy, land forces and air force.
The air force, which was often
the only means of transport, sur
passed itself in every respect.
"The British fleet was finally
obliged to yield before the attacks
of German dive bombers and
evacuate. ="
"Air-landed troops" he said, pro-
vided the first occupation of many
places. He paid tribute to Nor
wegian troops saying they gave
very brave defense" At the same
time, he ridiculed the British troops
asserting they were poorly trained
and equipped and definitely infe-
rior in every respect"
The word Narvik will be immor-
talized as symbol of the National
Socialist Reich" he declared.
1T is a pity that Chamberlain S
grenadier guards ." did not make
contact with the German troops" :
Often during his speech the Ger
man Fuehrer was loudly applauded
by the members of the Reichstag
When he spoke of the heroes" of
the Norwegian campaign - citing
officers Of each group-there was
cheering.
Discusses Low Countries.
Turning from Norway. he took up
the subject of the Low Country cam
paign. Germany, he said, had few
troops on the Belgian frontier, while
large concentrations of French
tanks and troops showed France was
preparing to move against Germany
through Belgium.
There was such q concentration
Of signs pointing to a movement OF
French and British troops through
Belgium and Holland that I dis
cussed the developments with the
army and made minute plans to
offset such an attack"
Telephone messages between Lon
don and Paris showed the British
and French were preparing to attack
early in May, he said. and so Il
gave orders to attack" on May 10.
He said the startegy of the Allies
including their concentration of
troops, made the German task
troops. He recited in detail the
plan OF operations which ultimately
was carried out.
Paying tribute again to the Ger
man soldiers, he said the soldiers OF
the new provinces taken into the
Reich showed equal valor and thus
helped make possible "the glorious
victory"
"The command of the new Ger
many Army" he said, must be
considered much better than the
command of yesterday"
On the 10th of May, two Ger.
man armies were ready for the
attack to occupy Holland and
to march against Antwerp"
Here again he detailed the move
ments Of the armies in their
"break-through" operations in the
north and south. It was evident,
he said, that success of the oper-
ations would mean the complete
defeat Of the British and French
forces in Northern France.
Had Not Planned to Take Paris.
Naming generals in charge of
units participating, he brought
cheers from the Reichstag in each
case. The taking of Paris, he said
was not envisioned in the original
plans
After Paris fell, he said, the op-
erations on the Swiss border and en-