Evening star., 1940-04-10
BIitzkrieq in the North


meanors against her weaker neigh
bors, history will rank none more
wanton than the invasion of Den
mark and Norway. 1t outstrips as
sheer aggression the seizure of
Czecho-Slovakia and the destruction
OF Poland. In both of those cases
there were protracted negotiations
before Germany flung her mighty war
machine into irresistible action.
There was semblance of readiness
to discuss WarlesS settlement of the
Sudeten demands, just as, a year
later, there were indications that
the Danzig and Corridor problems
would lend themselves to diplomatic
adjustment. AS events were soon
to prove, Hitler never really meant
to come to any terms with either the
Czechs or the Poles that stopped
short of subjugation of their sov-
ereignty and national existence.
For the purpose of their latest
marauding enterprise the Nazis
never even went through the mo-
tions of negotiation. Against help
less Denmark and Norway they re-
sorted to stealth and to blitzkrieg of
the purest type. Without warning,
they seized Copenhagen and spread
themselves throughout Denmark.
Thereupon, equally without provoca-
ton, Nazi military, naval and air
forces proceeded to take possess
sion of Oslo, the capital, and other
''oblectives" along the Norwegian
coast. Key points like Stavanger,
Bergen, Trondjheim and Narvik-
the latter the trans-shipment port
for Swedish iron ore from Kiruna-
are all in occupation by German
troops.
How firmly the blitzkrieg coup
will enable the Germans to establish
themselves in Western Scandinavia
may depend to considerable extent
on the outcome of a naval battle in
progress yesterday between strong
British and German forces, some
where off the Norwegian coast. There
are conflicting reports of its progress
and alleged results. That Great
Britain is moving in strength to the
assistance of Norway was circum-
stantially declared by.Prime Minister
Chamberlain before cheering House
OF Commons. Powerful units of the
Navy are at sea" he said, adding that
the full aid" of Britain and France
is pledged to Norway in resisting the
'premeditated invasion" of her terri
tory and that of Denmark. Whether
these assurances denote employment
OF the expeditionary force the British
and French month ago were ready
to send to the Finnish front is not
disclosed.
Whatever London and Paris plan
in the way of rescue operations,
time is sternly of the essence. Mr..
Lloyd George for months has been
charging that allied war effort is
chronically crippled by delay-that
1t is always too late" that it too
often is confronted by accomplished
Nazi facts, that neutrals have
learned by tragic experience, one
after another, not to rely on Anglo
French pledges which, either for
military or geographical reasons,
could not be fulfilled. Is Norway to
be allowed to 60 with the wind like
Czecho- -Slovakia and Poland before
It?
President Roosevelt is said to have
intimated to newspapermen en- route
from Hyde Park to Washington yes
terday that blitzkrieg in the north
should open American eyes to the
"potentialities" of such methods. Hit
lerized Germany as matter of fact
has taken refuge in the same excuses
which the Hohenzollern Reich in
voked in 1914. Chancellor Won Beth
mann-HollWeg thundered in the
Reichstag on unforgettable August 4
OF that year that the Kaisers le-
gions were hacking their way"
through Belgium because necessity
knows no law" Germany's signature
was attached to treaty guarantee
ing the neutrality of Belgium, Just
as her name is signed to a pact of
non aggression with Denmark, on
which the ink is hardly dry. AS soon
as 1t suited German purposes both of
those covenants were turned into
scraps of paper"
The Berlin leopard has not
changed his spots. Necessity, or
what he is constrained from case to
case to plead as necessity, remains
the only law to which Germany ad-
nits allegiance. 1t is the law of the
jungle. From it no single neutral in
Europe today is safe. Hitler has
told his people that the western
powers were on the eve of seizing
the Scandinavian peninsula as a
last desperate move in their plans to
blockade Germany, so he decided to
strike before that program could be
carried out. The Nazis claim, too,