Evening star., 1942-02-23
Germany Reported
Seeking Passage for
Troops Over Sweden
Far North Attack on
Russians Believed Port
Of Spring Campaign
By BLAIR BOLLES.

Indicating that the Axis is making
new plans for fighting in Europe's
far North, the German government
has asked Sweden to permit transit
of Nazi troops from Norway to Fin
land across Sweden, but Stockholm,
which has maintained an attitude
of stiff military and political neu-
trality toward Berlin, has turned
down the request.
That news has reached Washing
ton in confidential diplomatic re-
ports. How serious Allied officials
consider its implications may be
made apparent in President Roose-
velt's speech tonight, when he dis
cusses global grand strategy. The
troop transit request is given added
significance by reports Of German
naval movements of the coast Of
Norway, reports which still lack
official confirmation.
The general military opinion here
is that the Germans in their plans
for augmenting the anti-Russian
strength in Northern Finland have
as their primary aim cutting for
good the railroad line running south
ward into Russia from Murmansk.
Vital Supply Line.
This line Is vital link in the
Northern supply route between the
United States and Great Britain
and Russia. u
without using Sweden, the Ger
mans can still move forces into Fin
land across Norwegian Lapland, but
that is an arduous task in a region
without railroads. The northern
most rail line between Norway and
Finland runs across Sweden, be-
tween Narvik and the Finnish Prov
ince of Oulon, at the head Of the
Gulf of Bothnia.
The main German request to
Stockholm for troop passage Is re-
garded as another sign the Reich
is getting ready for its spring effort
to turn the tide against its one foe
whose prospects Of victory are
bright, the Soviet Union. The warm
ing from Chungking by the Chinese
Minister of War, Gen. Ho Ying-chin,
that Siberia can expect a japanese
attack has a relation to Germany's
Northern European plans, accord
ing to military observers in Wash
ington. .
Effective assault on the Murmansk
Railroad, attack on Vladivostok and
an Axis drive into Iran would in
combination bring about an Axis
encirclement Of Russia and the Red
Army's isolation from supply re-
Enforcement sources outside Russia
Success Not Expected.
The successful accomplishment Of
such a titanic scheme is not ex-
pected here, but the fact that it is
being talked about gives some idea
of the scope of action which the
spring is expected to foster.
Whether Germany long will brook
the Swedish policy of independence
is political question that causes
some concern here among Allied
officials. Reports reaching the State
Department from the one remain
ing free Scandinavian country pOr-
tray a Swedish intention of resist
ing any aggression, but the Swedish
Air Force is none too strong, al
though Sweden has been devoting
an extraordinary share of its public
funds to developing a strong ground
army
Washington diplomats recently
have received several signs of a
deep anti-Nazi feeling in Sweden.
A court in Stockholm found two
members of the Swedish Nazi party
guilty of espionage after their arrest
at the Karlskrona Notifications and
sentenced them to prison, one for
four years and one for eight months.
The Swedish government repudi-
ated a German announcement that
Sweden's unemployed were to be
sent to Germany for war industry
work and declared the unemplOyed