April 12.
If everything progresses as satisfactorily fon the Norwegian coast as it has up to the present, since Great Britain went to the assistance of that much injured country, Germany is ina fair way to meeting reverse which may have a considerable influence on the manner in which she will continue to conduct the war.
Phe German command really do appear to have been convinced that they did hold mastery over the North Sea, for otherwise it is inconceivable why they should have under= taken the raid on the Norwegian coast, which extended their lines of communication which it was certain the Allies would attack if they possibly could, They could, and they did. Bergen, confirmed, and Trondhjem, unconfirmed,' have been reported as recaptured by the British from the German landing part the Skager Rak, said to have been mined by the Gernmans has been penetrated in force by which at the time of writing was demanding the surrender of Oslo, while the British air arm was actively engaged in supporting the Norwesian forces giving bat-
{le to the German detachments at Elverum the north of Hamar. In Skager Rak a fierce battle was reported still to be con= tinuing. Four German transports have been destroyed there and the German convoys scattered. Two German cruisers have been sunk, the Bluecher and the Karlsruhe, while a number of destroyers have met the same fate. It is reported that a German vessel of the Deutschland class has been sunk off Hor-ten, another warship by the Norwegians at Stavanger, while it is alleged that 40,000 tons of German shipping has been sunk off Oscarsborg fortress. The sinking of a German transport off Arendal has also been claimed.
ud it is also alleged that the Gneisenau hax been stink by Norwegian batteries in Osto Fjord. There is every probability that these reports are entirely correct for they are exactly the type of result which the Allied forces set out determined to effect, but never~ theless owing to the diversity of places from which these reports emanate and the possibility of some duplication they should be there is official The German high command appears have made a miscalculation based, as has been pointed out above, on the belief that Germany did hold command of the North ie ult to understand how they could ever have contemplated the despatch of forces to places so far distant as Trondhjem, somewhere about nine hundred miles from their bases. Not only would the Passage of the original landing forees have to be effected, but the lines of communica tion would have to be maintained at_all ies, and it is unbelievable that the Ger~ mans' would have embarked upon such an \dventure unless they were certain in thely own minds that their lines could be maintained. There is every prospect if the present rate of Allied success is maintained that in the not too distant future the German forees already in Norway will be cut off and left to their own devices until lack of continual supplies forces them to surrender The speed with which the Allies retaliated suggests that their intelligence services a working admirably, for the German coup must have been fully expected for a riposte to be delivered in so short a space of time. The clan with which the Allies accepted this German challenge is amply demonstrated in the manner in which they forced the passage of the mine fields in the Skager Rak and penetrated Oslo Fjord. It was fully in keeping with their naval traditions, and there is not_a Briton or a Frenchman this day who does not fect proud of the prowess of their arms. There is a suggestion that the naval forces in the Skager Rak have been entrapped by the German mine field, but it has to be remembered that in. the last war the Allies proved that if they could pierce one to go in they could do the same thing to come out even in more restricted waters, and there is no reason to believe that they will prove incapable of doing the same thing on this occasion.
In the meantime judging from the scanty reports to hand there was some conflict of information as to what was actually happening in Norway itself. There were reports that the Norwegian Government was prepay ing to negotiate with the German invaders. On the other hand Norwegian forces wore giving battle to the Germans at Elverun, some seventy miles north of Oslo, suggesting that the Germans must have moved very quickly inland after landing at Oslo. It "has now been decided that Norway will Hight on the side of the Allies. Whether the Norwegians negotiated a peace with the Germans, or not, it would have no effect on Allied' action' with regard their intentions in that part of the world, The reduction of Norway to the same status as that which Denmark has accepted—and there can be no real criticism of the Gov-arnment of that country for making the decision it has—would "not restore Norwegian neutrality, which Germany has often, and so flagrantly violated, Tt would continue to be regarded as an enemy occupied country and subjected to all the tages which must arise therefrom. Nor is it likely that the Allies will retire from the ports they have already occupied. for those others which they hope to eapture in as quick Ger-to be expected that will seek 10 take a big revenge the blows which have been' inflicted upon her, and the commencement of war= a scale may now occur at any When the news of this rever german arms percolates into Germany, suredly it will, it may be expected 10 a profound effect on the moral of the people, That the Reich can only hope w offset with stories of other victories. It may be that the long expected raids over Great Britain will soon eventuate, If they do they will be met by the fortitude of the British people encouraged by the news of such a success as this, and with the deter: mination that there will be a demand for eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and will Auplicated by: their armies on and,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.