Evening star., 1940-04-23
StuIemute in the North?

1t Is, OF course, too early to foresee
the outcome of the grim duel which
the allies are fighting with the Ger
mans for control of Norway. Al
though hostilities have ragged for
two weeks, and fierce combat has
been waged in the air and waters
adjacent to the fjord-bound Nor
wegian west coast, conditions some
what approaching a stalemate have
arrived Meanwhile, perhaps as many
as 10000 troops, more or less evenly
divided between the allied expedi-
tionary forces and the Norwegian
Army, on one side, and the Nazi
invaders, on the other, are at grips
In the northern and southern coastal
theaters of action and in the east,
thanking the Swedish border.
The Germans hold on Oslo Trond-
helm, Bergen and Stavanger is pre-
carious. Unconfirmed reports that
Hamar and Elverum, strategic points
northeast of Oslo, have been recap
tured from the Germans would indi-
cate that the Nazi advance to the
north has been checked. In the far
north Narvik and the cross country
approaches to the Swedish iron fields
seem to be within allied grasp. But
from none of these operations is it
yet apparent that either the invaders
or Norway and her Anglo-French
allies have achieved results connoting
command of the situation.
Time is of the essence for the bel
ligerents. AS for the allies everything
depends on their ability to place on
the various fighting lines forces able
not only to check the Germans, but
to dislodge them from Norway. That
is not going to be a matter of hours
or days. The Nazis are under no
less necessity to reinforce their
garrisons at the earliest possible
moment. Hitler's grip on the coun-
try, according to expert observers
like Major George Fielding Eliot, de-
pends now on the air force Der
Fuehrer can muster for the purpose.
1t is the lack of bases for bombers.
Eliot points out, that is the Germans
main difficulty.
The allies have no bases in Norway
at all and must have them If they
are to overcome the Germans there,
but Britain and France can use the
sea to bring troops to seize the nee
essary positions, and afterward land
equipment to establish and maintain
air bases. The allies through their
command of the sea would thus seem
to be in superior position to achieve
supremacy in the element wherein
the issue of victory or defeat may
eventually be decided. Germany
might alter in her favor present
military conditions on the peninsula
by invasion of Sweden, but whether
Hitler's general staff is ready to take
on, as an additional foe, the small
but highly efficient Swedish Army, is
questionable.
One OF the mysteries of warfare in
the north is why the Nazis have been
slow to exploit their vaunted su-
periority in the air. With the failure
OF their latest blitzkrieg to subjugate
Norway on the Polish model it would
look either as if the superiority"
were mythical or that Goering
is reluctant to drain the Reich's oil
supplies too heavily at this time. But
1t is easy to credit this mornings
reports that the Nazi air armada
"is loosing its force with mounting
intensity" against debarking British
troops.
Meantime, all the world continues
anxiously to await the supreme test,
bound sooner or later to come, which
should decide with some finality the
question of sea power versus air
power. To date, mastery of the sea
has not been effectively challenged.
Aircraft's ability to wound a fleet
has been demonstrated, but, to para
phrase Napoleon, God appears still
to fight on the side with more battle
ships. One of Germany's urgent
motives to achieve decisive victory
in Norway is the moral effect it would
have on Italy, now the object of high
pressure from Berlin to turn the axis
to military account in the Reichs
interest.