The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-14
CLAIM HOLD
IS NOT YET BROKEN
Continued From Page One)

which the high command reported
hit twice by air bombs and in
capacitated two days ago.
3. German crews have taken over
all Norwegian war vessels found in
the Nazi occupation of the northern
kingdom.
4. A steady stream of German
soldiers continued to move across
the Skagerrak, reaching Oslo 'in
large numbers" while heavy artil-
lery went to Trondheim to strength
en- the captured Norwegian coast
defenses.
5. German penetration of the Nor
Wegian interior continued relentless
ly and in the far north their troops
took over the Narvik railway which
brings Swedish ore to the Arctic.
6. British air attacks were inef-
f%ective, raiders losing II planes yes,
terday while the Germans were
five.
(The British admitted the loss of
IL aircraft in attacks Friday and
Saturday on German-held bases in
Norway but claimed a munitions
warehouse was blown up in Bergen,
a hangar badly damaged at Stavan-
ger and warships and supply ships
bombed and machine-gunned).
Almost Scornful
Cprno9nC Jyorn a1p1oe+ e,o,,F,l -
British reports that the Skagerrak,
the kattegat and the North sea
were being mined to bottle up Ger
man shipping and naval vessels.
The British navy cannot lay
mines in spots which its ships can
not reach" they said.
Yet, in the midst of all derogatory
references in the German press to
the British as a fighting nation,
many Germans feel Britain is pre-
pairing something unusual.
These sources said that Britain's
initial naval sally into Narvik last
and action generally in
the North seat has been "planless''
and from this they deduced the
present activity is desultory only
because something methodical is in
the offing.
With Denmark under German
control and the campaign in Nor,
way proceeding, Sweden was seer
by Germans to be veering from
what was interpreted here as hos.
tile neutrality toward Germany to
benevolent neutrality.
The swedish government, accord
ing to information received in the
Wilhelmstrasse, appeared to have
given assurances that the press and
radio no longer would depend upon
news alleged to be of British and
French origin and hence hostile to
Informed sources asserted there
was a practical economic side to
the question of SWeden's neutrality.
Ice-Free Soon
When the port of Lulea, at the
head of the Gulf of Bothnia, be
comes ice-free next month. it was
considered likely that Germany
would try to have iron ore from
northern Sweden shipped from there
than along the Norwegian
coast regardless of how strongly
German forces may have become
entrenched along the latter.
Beyond that, neutral military ex-
Oerts in the German capital said
they felt Sweden may yet by the
of circumstance be drawn
nto Germany's military orbit, de-
spite the present German disavowal
If any plans for protecting her.
Such a contingency might arise,
hey said, if Britain should succeed
30 effectively in mining the Katie
sat and the ~Skagerrak that contact
the German forces of oc-
:upation in Denmark and Norway
would be cit off from each other.
In view of Germany's pledges not
draw Sweden into the affair, how
ever, it was emphasized that this
inc of reasoning lay in the field of
speculation.
1t was not until late tonight that
he high command revised to a total
If five, from the earlier announced
oil of two, the German airplane
osses in an encounter yesterday
Bergen. British losses first
placed at eight and then at
10 warplanes.