The announcement made by Mr. Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons, on Wednesday, to the effect that the Allied forces had been withdrawn from the area south of Trondheim, was marked with a complete frankness which has been especially noted and welcomed in the French Press. The German high command on the other hand are naturally endeavouring to magnify their success, and there is a possibility that they are becoming so vociferous over the matter that they may rob themselves of some of the psychological fruits of their victory. The attempt by the Allies to halt the invasion of Norway has not been shattered, while the claim to have forced the British to headlong retreat is obviously false when it is recalled that the British were able successfully to withdraw their troops from the threatened area. An embarkation such as that which was undertaken, paralleling in a small way that which took place at Gallipoli during the last war, cannot be done if any disorder prevails amongst the withdrawing troops, and all the evidence points to the fact that a wise decision in the circumstances was carried through with workmanlike precision. And so one phase of Allied intervention in Norway comes to an end. But it is only one phase, and the world will rest assured that the enemy will not be left in quiet possession of what he has gained by the superiority which initiative, and surprise gave him. The Allied forces, embarked upon what was after all an impromptu attempt to render efficient aid to Norway, have met with a reverse on one front. It is possible that they will also have to withdraw from the area served by the Hardanger Fiord, leaving the south for the moment and concentrating upon the north.
If then the Allies have for the moment failed in attaining two of their objectives the fact remains that the port of Narvik, so essential for sea borne cargoes of iron ore from the northern Swedish ore fields is closed so far as Germany is concerned. They will still be able to render resistance to the Norwegians from that area, and from the north of Trondheim, while a change of Allied strategy rather than a withdrawal from(this theatre of war is to be expected as the next development. If it was the German intention to lure the Allies into a large scale commitment in Norway for the purpose of being able to commence some new adventure elsewhere with some prospects of success they have been foiled, while at the same time the damage inflicted upon Germany in the loss of men, transports, materials, and provisions is imposing, clearly demonstrating that the Germans did not have the walk-over which the German high command would now like to claim for itself.
Whatever it has won up to the present, and it is the Allied determination that this shall only be a temporary success, it is very considerably offset by the price Germany has had to pay. Apparently the reckless squandering of life is still part, and parcel of the German military policy, for that has been clearly demonstrated by all that has happened in Norway.
Much comment has been made in neutral countries, firstly, of the frankness with which the British Government has announced the fact of this reverse, and, secondly, the manner in which Parliament, and the country at large have accepted the news. It has again demonstrated as it was during the last war, that the British public is able to support ill-tidings better than any other. There is being shown that same quiet ability to "take it on the chin" which was to be noticed for the first two years of the war, when, in the balance, military successes were exceeded by military reverses. In the circumstances may very well be that from such events as these the younger generation which had no experience of the last war will learn much from their elders who passed through it. So long as a true perspective is maintained such reverses as these may not be without a very considerable psychological value to the Allies. It is essential that they should bear in mind that what is the Allied aim is complete victory over the enemy. The Norwegian campaign, which is not yet over by any means, is, therefore, to be regarded as only one aspect of an infinitely vaster struggle, the issue of which'is doubted by no one. It has to be remembered that it is the last victory which counts.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.