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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaHIM- Nazi-Russ Thrust Into Balkans Feared Next Move in Europe; Reich Threatens Low Counties (EDITORS NOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are ihose of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper. i I I . Released by Western Newsoanei Unlnn THE WAR: Norse Blitzkrieg M . . . The Reich's government thereby there-by assumes protection of the kingdom of Norway for the duration . . . The Reich's government is convinced that it serves Norway's best interests by this action . . . All resistance would have to be and would be broken . . . Day before. Britain had planted and France were sinking with their ships, the folks back home were somehow relieved that the war had finally started. In the Lowlands. Adolf Hitler's blitzkrieg in Scandinavia brought justified fear to Dutch and Belgian hearts. It was learned authoritatively authorita-tively that the Nazis delivered a virtual ultimatum to both countries. mine fields along' the Norwegian coast, hoping thereby to block Nazi trade lanes through Norway's territorial terri-torial waters. Hopping mad, Oslo protested. More resolute, Germany took action. So fast, so secretly that it was over before the world knew, Nazi troop ships seized Copenhagen while the government ordered Danes j to offer no resistance. Up north along the Norwegian coast the Reich staged a modernized 1 version of the old Trojan horse trick. At Bergen, Narvik, Trondheim and other ports peaceful looking merchant mer-chant vessels suddenly bristled with guns. Crewmen turned into marines. While warships steamed up the Oslo imorming them that any attempt to place themselves under British-French British-French protection would serve as the signal for an immediate, lightning light-ning attack. Strict censorship was clamped down in both countries, while Britain's War Czar Winston Churchill hinted in a speech to the house of commons that the allies expected this to be the next site of Nazi aggression. In the Balkans. Significantly silent was Germany's axis partner. Italy, but a fast developing crisis in the nearby Balkans held great potential danger. Same day as German troops reached Oslo. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels charged ijuiu, au neavy tri-motoreo oomo-ers oomo-ers landed troops at Oslo airport and sent them marching against the j city. The government fled inward to Hamar, hurling a declaration of war at the invader. After seven months, hostilities had finally started. Reactions What happened at sea the next two days was at best a guess, for no observer trnou, hn,,, vnnn kt..-; oiunn witn sabotaging Germany Germa-ny s Danube river outlet to southeastern south-eastern Europe. Precipitously, the next 24 hours found Russian troops massing on Rumania's Bessarabian frontier, while Hungary, Jugoslavia and Bulgaria Bul-garia received simultaneous ultimata from Germany: Give us control of all Danubian shipping. Danger here was that the allies might consider this unneutral, bringing war into the Ra Irane A l . uuv iiiaiiji nai, allied and Norwegian ships were locked in the biggest North sea battle bat-tle since Jutland. In 48 hours an estimated 27 naval vessels reached Davey Jones' locker, lock-er, 20 of them German. Early reports told that British ships had pushed their way into Bergen Ber-gen and other Norwegian Atlantic . iew nc.urg ,ater jt was learned without confirmation that the allies had placed mines in every British-French-owned oil well in Rumania, Ru-mania, threatening to blow them up if the Germans or Russians invaded. in-vaded. In Russia. Silent as a sphynx about these goings-on was Moscow the Reich's No. 1 ally. But observers observ-ers wondered if Hitler's invasion of norway and Sweden might be part of a plot for eventual Nazi-Soviet dismemberment of Scandinavia Sweden, on the hot spot, held her breath. In Sweden. Thoroughly alarmed, certain she was next on Adolf Hitler's Hit-ler's list. Sweden ordered a constant watch, full army mobilization and nightly blackouts. To every pound of Sweden's 1.500,000-ton merchant marine went the radio message: Seek a neutral haven and stay there. WHITE HOUSE: Scandinavian Rebound Back from a Hyde Park holiday sped Franklin Roosevelt. It was time to take more neutrality precautions. pre-cautions. Off to the state depart- mpnt in coiwt. n r, . . iMUUEKN TROJAN HORSE Nazi "merchantman" at Bergen ports held by the Nazis. They were ; even reported steaming up Oslo fjord, threatening to bombard the . city unless the Germans evacuated. , But such news was premature. Despite fierce fighting, every Norwegian Nor-wegian port remained in Nazi hands. Though several troop transports were sunk in the Skagerrak battle, ,It was substantiated within a few hours that 20,000 Nazis had landed in Oslo alone. In London. French Premier Paul Reynaud flew to London for conferences confer-ences at No. 10 Downing street. A few hours later he left smiling, returning re-turning to tell an enthusiastic Paris: "I am sure the allied navies will live up to their glorious traditions." Meanwhile Britain's Neville Cham-berialn Cham-berialn told commons: "This fresh and rash act of aggression will rebound re-bound to Germany's disadvantage ..." Though men of both Britain I 1 ...... . UI u . a. aid went Norway's Minister Wilhelm Morgen-stierne Morgen-stierne and Denmark's Henrik De Kauffmann. Soon the wheels began turning swiftly. First presidential Job was to extend ex-tend the ban on (J. S. shipping against Norway. Sweden and arctic ports of both Russia and fTTTl Finland, r , k ' , J Next, while - -f ',!.- ViJ Envoys Mor- iv-f-1 ' V genstierne - r x and K a u f f. ' ," tj ' ' mann waited 1 y M ' 'I anxiously, the jrfaii"" f1 1 President: ft "Froze" ah f J ' i bank balances ' AJl ' 'i and foreign L- - - U ' V ' " exchange "3 transactions MORGENS'nKKNE involving Assets frozen. Norway and Denmark, thus prevent-ing prevent-ing the Reich from seizing those country's assets in the U. S. ' ft Authorized foreign sale of several new type warplanes. CONGRESS: Idle Week Day before Germany Invaded Scandinavia North Carolina's Sen. Bob Reynolds made a speech. Said H?ri rW.aT' Sweden and D-mark did not get Into the last World war . . . (they) are today within a stone s throw of a repetition of the same thing, and they are not going to get into it." 8 B hinR k o 6 WPek' OUts,de of rib-Jh rib-Jh f ReJyn0ldS' consres man. aged to spend a little time In committee com-mittee sessions. Most eyes were on the European war. however. Con-gressional Con-gressional items: ft To avoid boosting the debt limit Colorado's Senator Adams sugges ed that the treasury be authorized ..,uey io meet specific appropriations. ft Several senators got worried about Alaskan defenses. Reason. Russia has recently built fortifica-tions fortifica-tions in the north Pacific. One sue gestion was that the O. S. shoufd take sovereignty over Wrangell Is land which lies midway between Alaska and Russia, ft Ohio's Senator Tart labeled "100 per cent regimentation" several pro-visions pro-visions of the Wagner-Lea bill re lating to Investment trusts ft President Roosevelt vetoed the Starnes alien deportation bill Rea son: Its penalties for alien spies and saboteurs were minprflnrm. |
