Evening star., 1943-05-09

DIR. FRITZ CLAUSEN.
had been pulled down and the swastika
hoisted.
Angrily he demanded the reason from
the German sergeant of the guard.
"Orders, sir" said the soldier.
Either that flag comes down." said
the King, cor will send Danish soldier
to take it down.
I'm that case your majesty, will be
obliged to shoot the soldier"
But the SOLDIER said the king, will
be me-"
Denmark, say Danes on the basis of
latest reports from underground agents
in their native country, does not appear
to be as strongly fortified as the rest of
the West European coast-and need not
be since there are great natural OBJ
stacles to an invasion. Practically Moth
ing has been done on the island of
Zealand, where Copenhagen and Elsinore
are located, nor on the other big Danish
island, Funen. Around these and the
Kattegat. the branch of the North Sea
between Denmark and Southern Sweden.
the big province of Jutland is like
slightly bent, protecting arm. 1t lp-
cludes more than two thirds of all DAN
ish territory Jutland lies directly on
the North Sea. There all the German
troops ION leave" are concentrated.
There also are four large airdromes.
There are two others in Zealand.
The North Sea shore is fairly we'll
protected by coastal batteries but, say
the Danes, it would be a gross eKaggera-
ton to say that it is studded with guns
and pill boxes,' as are the coasts of
Holland and Belgium The biggest of
the fortified positions is directly across
the Skagerrak from Southern Norway
on the North Sea Coast. On the Nor
Wegian coast is similar fortifcation.
The two, acting together, could probably
prevent any ships getting through this
body Of water.
- Sand Hampers Defenses.
But in attempting to tortify Denmark,
say the latest Danish underground work.
encountered an unexpected difficulty.
The coast consists of deep, unstable sand
which offers no secure foundation for
gun positions. They must dig down to
a solid chalk floor which lies at varying
depths. They have had great difficulty
in ting this floor at Hanstholm, the
site of the Skaggerak fortiication.
1t is worthy of note, the underground
workers say, that none of the guns ever
have been fired in exercises and the
Germans apparently are afraid to fire
them. One informant says German off,
GERS in Copenhagen have told him the
guns are practically worthless without
better foundations.
The need for strong defenses against
invasion, they say, is mlnimized by the
extreme difficulty of any large-scale
troop landing on this coast. First there
are three dangerous reefs to be crossed.
They parallel the coast all the way from
German South Slesvig to the Skagerrak
Even small vessels cannot get over them
without very skillful navigation, and
then only in fine weather There are
no harbors whatsoever. 1t is possible
for barges to make land, and supposedly
there have been few commando raids.
But even when the time is carefully
chosen the peril of running afoul of the
reefs is great and on calm nights the
Germans keep an especially sharp watch.
There is very broad "foreshore !"
The beach is perfectly fiat and the fiat
country runs back for miles. There is
no possibility of concealment. Only luck
could prevent very heavy casualties in
an amphibious operation.
Once established on the peninsula
there would be nowhere to go, so far
as the Danes can see, except for a
narrow corridor through Slesvig to
reach German soil. But, they insist,
there is no question of the great value
of holding the Jutland air bases for any
projected invasion of Norway, and the
enemy would be in bad state without
them.
Danes Cooperation Studied.
What help could be expected from the
population itself is highly prolematical,
Jutland is a land of fishers and farmers.
They resent the Germans, and this re-
sentiment is growing but they lack arms
and organization for any major uprising
But they doubtless could be depended
on not to help the enemy.
Actually the little country is making
no inconsiderable contribution to the
Allied cause. In the service of England
are between 100000 and 100000 tons of
Danish shipping manned by Danish
crews. Altogether there are about 5000
Of these sailors. Sometimes fishing
boats slip away under German eyes and
set course for Britain. Such boats are
sometimes filled with refugees. And there
are several thousand Danish soldiers in
the Allied armies, including few flyers
They are a hardy, adventurous, stub
born lot, awaiting the first opportunity
to win back their native land.
Unfortunately, Denmark was unable to
contribute any aircraft. In the spring
Of 1910 1t possessed only few military
fighters. These were shot down as soon
as they took to the air. The little coun-
try had had no choice but to accept
Germany's pledges Of non-aggression, al
though few Danish leaders put much
actual faith In them.
! talked today With one q the chiefs