Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-05-04
Danish Underground
Lists 1900 Acts Of
Sabotage Under Nazis
BY the Associated Press.

9dDOIdge Un0er NdN!
BY the Associated Press.
STOCKHOLM, May A state O
underground resistance which flour
ished on the doorstep of the MAJ
Reich in Denmark has emerget
from the war as a living mocker,
to the memory of the German Ges
tapo.
The fighting Danes list these con.
tributions of their nation to the AL
lied cause:
Four thousand acts of interna
sabotage against German-controllee
war industries and communications
Destruction of 100000 worth O
Danish property vital to the enemy
military economy.
One thousand lives lost in resist.
ance to the German SIS Gilt.
Guard terror.
Mass support for the Danish-Al.
lied espionage network within tn.
country and rescue system for AL
lied airmen
Fifteen thousand Danish volun,
teers serving in the Allied armed
forces and merchant navy abroad.
Disappointed Hitler.
Once described as pampered pro
tectorate, Denmark turned out to b'
one of Adolf Hitler's many painful
disappointments. 1t was the place
where Nazi Gestapo Chief Heinrich
Himmler's plans were often foiled
In the midst of 1900 German
plainclothesmen in Copenhagen. tn,
Danes directed underground war.
fare without even bothering to move
their headquarters from well.
known street. Their traffic expert.
shuttled information between Den.
mark and nearby Swedish outposts
with peacetime precision.
Despite a close German guard
aged King Christian x maintained
contact with the resistance move
ment and consented to a postwar
coalition government.
The underground in Denmark was
created entirely by wartime condi-
tons which converted a law-abiding
citiZenry into skilled spies and
wreckers. For years after the Ger
man occupation in April, 1910, the
Danes were slow to anger, but by
the time of Stalingrad and Ell Ala
mein they were in the thick of the
fight.
Election Recalled.
Along the historic milestones on
the Denmark road back to freedom
was the general election in the
spring of 1913 when the Nazis got
only per cent of the votes and a
political sitdoWn strike was begun
by the Danish government that sum-
mer, to save itself from the stigma
of Quisling-ism.
Then the Freedom Council, band
ing together scattered resistance
groups, took active charge.
Until now, most members of the
council shielded their identities for
security reasons.
The council pledged itself to re-
sign when Denmark was again COM
pletely free Meanwhile, 1t executed
not only it's own plans but those sug-
gested by the glo-American mill
tary command in the European the
alter of war.
Against this disciplined co-ordi-
mated resistance the Germans sought
revenge with countersabotage against
the property of Danish patriots in
which Nazified gunner of the So
cell2d schalburg Corps participated
But the Freedom Council merely
intensified and expanded its activi-
ties Eventually 1870 illegal newspa-
pers and magazines were circulated
throughout Denmark. Eight daily
papers reported the war on the in
ternal front.
The Freedom Council issued a
weekly communique summarizing
the operations of its partisans. 1t
kept in touch with free Danish or
CARNATIONS in Is foreign countries
1t sent tall, white-haired, soft
spoken Thomas Doessing to Mos
COW, with the rank of Minister, rep
resenting Fighting Denmark.
Thanks to the effectiveness of in
ternal resistance, the Allied air
forces rarely bombed German tar
gets in Denmark. The council re-
ported this spring, for example, that
sabotage and the lack of fuel had
cut enemy traffic on Danish rail lines
to s per cent of the wartime aver
age.
During recent weeks the control
of Denmark slipped more and more
from the clutches of the Nazi Ges-
tapo. Executions of patriots steadily
increased, but as terror it was
futile. The underground was so well
organized there was a standing in
vitation to any accredited American
or British newspaperman in Sweden
to visit the Freedom Council in
Copenhagen-an invitation which
was not accepted only because OF
Allied tectnicalities.