Evening star., 1940-04-28

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merely beat them to the Norwegian
scene Of battle.
Producing documents which, he
said, were taken by the German
Army from captured British off,
GERS, from the Oslo Foreign Office
and from allied consular and other
sources in Norway, Won Ribbentrop
said it was clear that British troops
were on their way to Norway even
before the British announced the
laying Of mine field off the Nor
wegian coast April 8 to halt Ger
man ships in Norwegian territorial
waters.
Charges Norway Aided Plans.
Won Ribbentrop, speaking in the
new Reich chancellery to the i'm
pressive assemblage, declared Nor
ways government aided and abet-
ted" these plans for an allied Scan
dinavian front from which Germany
might be destroyed"
But he complimented Sweden for
staying out.
Sweden" he said interpreted
It's declaration of neutrality very
seriously indeed, and at no time
did anything or let anything hap
pen which might not have been in
accord with it,
The Foreign Minister, unSmiling
and grim throughout his half-hour
speech, was particularly vehement
when he accused the allies of mis-
representing their true aims in
Scandinavia.
Allied Assurance Termed Lies.
The knuckles of his clenched fist
were white as he declared that "the
assurances of those in power in
Britain and France chat they did
not plan to send troops to Norway
are only lies and falsehoods."
He was equally bitter in his de-
nunciation of the Norwegian gov
ernment Of Premier Johan Ny
gaardsvold.
I'm full consciousness" he said,
ut disregarded the vital interests of
the Norwegians in order to aid the
western powers in their plans for
extension of the war"
Those plans, Won Ribnentrop as
serted, had been developing for
months "Since the beginning OF
this year England and France have
tried with all their means to bring
about a new scene for the war
He said, ascribing these efforts to
the allies inability TO win the war
on the western front or in Poland.
Quoting Norways foreign minister,
DR.. Halvdan Koht, as saying that
Norway should not take any ac-
ton which might involve her in
the war on the wrong SIDE" the
Foreign Minister said the only ex-
planation for this was that "the
Norwegian government at that time
(March) was from the very outset
prepared not only to put up with
British violation of her neutrality,
but even to join forces with Britain. !"
Documents in white Book"
The foreign Office issued the docu-
ments in Germany's fourth white
book" of the war.
Divided into five general groups,
the documents were said by the
Nazis to have fallen into German
hands in the course of the occupa-
ton of Norway.
The major space in the white
book was devoted to Group "a"
concerning Commands which we're
taken from English officers captured
In Lillehammer."
One of them was presented as
dated April 7, 1910, aboard the Brit
ish cruiser Glasgow, and sllegedly
concerned operation orders of the
9th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters.
This purported order covered
everything from general policy-"to
effect a landing at 512, SAT and 548
and to occupy these ports with view
to denying them to Germany
through the order Of March and
matters of ammunition and raticns.
The numbers, the Germans said,
hid the identity of places.
"Stratforce Plan.
Another document contained the
so-called "Stratforce plan"
"Stratforce," according to the Ger
mans, was the secret name applied
to the general operations plan for
the English expeditionary force in
Norway.
This plan," according to the ma
terial in the white book, "is for
despatch of small forces of infantry,
engineers and attached troops to
512, SAT and 548."
1t continued that the force was to
be maintained from England by
weekly or Today sailings in normal
shipping to "548" and thence by
local ships"
In a page from an alleged diary
of an officer of the 5th Company,
1st Battalion, Leicestershires. ap-
pears the notation:
Sunday, April 7-Rosyth, on to
H. M. S. Devonshire, to go to Stav-
anger" Subsequent entries indi-
Gated delay, but finally, on Satur-
day, April 13, the entry was given
Aboard about 17o0 Is p.m) Lux
ury."
Group "B" contained principally
purported exchanges between the
British Admiralty and consulate in
Narvik and between British con-
suls in Tromso and Narvik in De-
cember, 1899, and January, 1eo re-
garding port facilities.
Espionage Orders" to Consul.
Group c bore the label Espionage
Orders of the Director of the Intelli-
gence Section of the British Ad-
miralty to the British Consul in
Naryik."
It was devoted mainly to a pur-
ported 13-point QUESTIONABLE on
Narvik from the director of British
naval intelligence to the senior naval
control service officer in Narvik.
Group D bore the title Excerpts
from Papers of the French Naval
Attache in OSLO"
Presentations in this group, the