Evening star., 1940-04-13
Stowe
Continued From First Page.)

courtesy Of all the German officers
whom we encountered.
Nevertheless, we had been warned
that Oslo was ringed in and no civil
ians except women and children
evacuees were now allowed to leave
the city. And when we left our
hotel one of the chief Nazi plain
clothes officials, the one who had a
mocking light in his eyes when he
spoke to us, was lounging in the
lobby. We sauntered out and piled
our bags into the car where the
lady with the smile and the jaunty
spring hat sat at the wheel. She
looked and acted as If she were
enjoying the war immensely.
Met First German Column.
German motorcycle troops, rifles
flung from their shoulders, buzzed
along in our direction as we left
Oslo at 3:45 o'clock. But we en-
countered no German sentries until
we'll south, on the road to MySen,
and they merely stared as If doubt
full whether to challenge us or not
AS neutrals with Swedish Was, we
had perfect right to leave, but the
military control might cancel that
at any moment. We drove on hope
fully and swiftly as possible.
Within an hour we caught up with
the first German column. Soldiers
on the rear truck motioned us to
slow down. The column had halted,
SO the lady with the smile jumped
out and exercised her excellent Ger
man and indubitable charm. Soon
we were motioned to pass. As we
rode by I counted 80 heavily loaded
caissons all without guns but bear
ing munitions and supplies. There
were also several field kitchens, but
not one field gun.
(As I write the windows of this
Swedish hotel are being boarded
up-a precaution against the air
raids which people in Gothenburg
have a right to fear-and I wonder
again if, wherever I go, the black
out will persist in catching up with
me)
Second Column Overtaken.
About S o'clock we overlook our
second German motorized column,
this one with two field guns and with
an air of being ready for business.
At the head of the column several
officers stopped us and one held q
revolver in his hand. The lady at
the wheel smiled and said we were
Americans. The officer saluted and
showed every difference, but the
commander explained:
There is fighting just ahead here
and you cannot possibly 60 through
this way. I am sorry. You will
have to turn back"
So we turned back and consulted
the road maps. The fighting, we
learned, was concentrated between
Spyderg and Askim where a main
bridge crosses the Glommen River.
Evidently the Norwegians were still
holding the bridge, but how to get
through to the Norwegian side?
Our Typographical expert decided
We must gamble on the chance that
the Germans had not yet occupied
Fredrikstad at the mouth of the
Oslo Fjord. So we swung directly
south. still counting on the Amer
ican flag tied across our cars hood,
and especially on the ladys smile.
Another 80 miles and we needed 1t
again.
Come Upon Third Column.
At Moss, two-thirds of the way
down the ford, we came up with a
third German column. This one
consisted of requisitioned Norwegian
buses all filled with soldiers. Some
of them were singing as they waited.
A lusty German youth took one look
at our woman chauffeur and yelled,
Hey, lady," We laughed and waved
and they all waved in response.
Then our pilot turned her devas-
tating orbs on the commander at
the head Of the column and chat
tered her little piece.
Papers? Yes, here they were.
The German officer looked at the
documents of the occupants Of the