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Friday, May 17, 1940. Wyndham St, Hongkong Telephone: 20615
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VON MOLKE in 1914 launched his Blitzkrieg-inuch_more_rapidly_and successfully than has Adolf Hitler in 1040, despite the fact that the latter also took Holland in his stride.
In August, 1914, the main strength of the German Army had already penetrated into Franca, through Belgium and the line of advanco .extended_from_the_northern end of the Vosges to the Dutch frontier on
the Meuse.
The chief striking force la 1914 odvanced in an enormous, are across the Meuse, the Scheldt, the Somme and Olse to the very outskirts of Paris. As this right wing pressed forward, one army alter another took up the movement towards the left; or south-eastern Bank.
Compare the two Blitzkriegs. The German invasion of Belglu In 1914 started on August 4. Liege had fallen in three days and in the were in Bome time the Germans possession of the entire territory cast of the Meuse. Louvain and Aerschot fell 15 days after the initial invasion, Malines fell six days later. Brussels fell simultaneously with Louvain, |Afteen-days-after-Uke Arst...Invasion. Cambrat fell in 22 days, St. Quentin in 25 days, the Olse was forced in 27 days, the Marne in 28 days and, within 32 days of the first invasion of Belgium, the Germans had reached their furthest point on the outskirts of Paris, which was 30 miles behind the Marne.
The turning point came after 32 days of continuous battle, in which 'a lost. But the million lives were Germans could not keep up the pace and the retirement came. Despite the heavy battles that occurred in the subsequent four yeare, France was never really threatened again.
The comparison is more favourable to the Germinns in the case of Sedan. In 1914, this French city on the Mouse fell a days after the invasion of Belgium, in the prezent Blitzkrieg it fell after three days.. But comparison is hardly fair In this case. Sedan was not the only French border "elly to fall. The Germans.swept into France along an enormous front extending ulmost from the Swiss frontier from what
was then German torrllory (Alsace and Lorraine) almost to the "North Sea" "const.
Taken all in all, Hitler is for bom bind
the schedule of his ip14 Generals.
So, thumbs up!
A PAGE DEDICATED TO THE NORWEGIANS IN H.K.
WHEN
HER
ONE, hundred and twenty- six years ago today, on May 17, 1814, the Norwegian Con- stitution was finally drafted and signed.
n
է՝ ս
Thus the union between Denmark and Norway, which had been in existence since the end of the 14th century, ended and Norway be come
free and Independent. klrigdom. This
of Norway's/ Lutalment wishes was consummated at a small place called Eidsvold, some 30 miles north of Oslo, You will probably remember Eldavoid as it was frequently mentioned in the news during the early part of the German Invasion, and severe fight- ing took place there.
To this place 120 years ago had travelled representatives from all over the country to meet at the request of the Danish Viceroy, Crown Prince Christian Frederik.
The havoc wrought in Europe by the mad doings of another crazed warlord formed the im- mediato
the background for events that led to the summon- ing of this first Norwegian National Assembly.
Napoleon, like his would-be -not- "counterpart of to-day; did
hesitate to trample on peoples liberties and rights, and his lust for power had plunged the whole European continent into a vast battlefield. No country escuped the miserable consequences, not even far away little Norway.
PRIOR to this, Denmark and Norway had been united for some 400 years,
Sweden had also been a member of this Union for a short time but broke away in 1440.
The Union cume into being us a result of the Norwegian Royal line becoming extinct. The im- mediate effect of this was that, the Swedish and Norwegian crowns became temporarily united and
-
NORWAY GAINED
INDEPENDENCE
lished itself as a protest against the Kiel treaty and against the decisions of those countries who had been part- ners to the treaty.
On
Sweden wanted Its pound of fleah and the larger countries
depended whom Norway
wert till smarting under the unhappy
by
Eldavold was to remain in force but Christian Frederik was to abdicate.
The Swedish King, Carl Johan, was to wear the Crown of Norway In addition to that of Sweden.
This fresh Union with Sweden all was a compromise and, like political compromises, was not a success. It is not possible for two strongly independent nations to run In double harness and, as the years
On d'BEACH
conditions brought about by year of warfare and depression.
Norway refused to yield and war with Sweden broke out on July 27 the but was over by the 14th of following irionth.
An armistice was signed which
followed by # was
convention the stipulating the summoning of Assembly to pass legislation sanc- tloning the Union of Norway with Sweden.
The
Constitutional
Low
of
went on, this became increasingly obvious. The end, as you all know, came in 1905 when this Union was dissolved and Norway's present King, Haakon VII was elected, and in the subsequently
crowned Cathedral at Trondheim.
And this time the end of a Union with-
was brought about poodshed, be.
out any attempt at
cause the work at Eidsvold had been well and truly done in 1814 and the final dissolution of
the
union, with Sweden was only its natural and obvious sequence.
AS I write this, I have in my mind's eye a picture of the building at Eldevold where the dramatic events of 1814 were enacted,
It is a neat, white-painted wooden building with a. rather, arnate door in the middle frontage. The building has been preserved by the nation as a monument to the men and the work they zo bravely performed, and the building hus, to the Norwegians, been a symbol of freedom and independence and a tangible reminder of the courage. that inspired the great men who gave them the Constitution. T
I
do not know whether the build- ing still stands or whether it has been binsted out of existence by the horrors of war.
But whether it is still there or noi, the spirit it housed in 1814 stil remains and will stand the Norwegians in good lead to strengthen them and their allies in their grim task, until the last enemy is driven out of their be- loved country,
Hitler Invaded
Country
My
H
TITLER had done in Norway what all Scandinavians had
by-
later the three kingdoms became been trying to believe he Dr. BJARNE
one under Queen Margaret in 1397.
A great deal has been said and would never do.
written about this Union between Denmark and Norway.
There were bad times and there the were prosperous times, and conflicting interesis of the two kingdoms become strikingly up- parent during the Napoleonic Wars.
Norway's trade with England had increased tremendously since the second half of the 17th century and the hostililles with England affected Norway very adversely and brought to a conclusion the period-of-remarkable-prospority which the country had experienced up till then.
During the war in 1013 Christları Frederik, the Danish Crown Prince, arrived in Norway as Viceroy.
The following year, In January, the war between Denmark and Sweden ended and by the peace of Kiel, signed on January 14, Nor- way was ceded to Sweden,
When this became known in Norway the Viceroy immediately decided to summon a legislative 86- sembly as neither he nor the Nor- wegians themselves had the slight- est intention of accepting any ces- slun. To summon, a National As- sembly, in 1814 was no easy matter.
SINCE the German inva- sion most of you, no doubt, have studied the map of Nor- way and
therefore, will, realise that distances in that country are great.
As an example. I may mention that the distance between Eidsvold and Trondheim alone is about 350 miles. There were, of course, no railways,
W
My first thoughts were for Copenhagen my friends in rather than for Norway. It is ja curious fact, but we tend to believe nowadays that bombs jare a better late than Nazi "pro-
tection."
difficult In any case, it was for me as a Norwegian citizen
BRAATOY
London correspondent the Labour Press in Den-
imported raw materials, has she been able to improve what would otherwise have been a meagre existence.
But her products must in any case be taken to Germany. by sen, which is precisely what Hitler's action has made impos- -aible...
of
mark, Norway, Sweden & Finland.
Hitler's chances of getting .frorn Norway's own iron ore the farthest north are now even less than they were be- fore.
From the mines DIL the to measure the news about my own country, Norway has been Bergen or even Trondheim, cut Arctic seaboard the ore must go at peace-with-all-the world for ting the country in two at that. 130 years.
narrow waistline.
-by-sea-to-Narvik
The British Navy has cer-
Nazl
We have experienced strained But it is a far cry from es- tainly stopped all that trafic. relations with only one country tablishing themselves at any of. And if the invasion of Nor-
When we those points, and governing the way is a dead loss to during that period. broke the union with the Swed- country.
economy, the Invasion of Den- ish crown in 1905, some people In a strictly military sense, mark is an even greater loss. on both sides of the frontler Norway may be defeated, with Danish farming and Danish were prepared for the use of the greatest ease.
industry are able to provide a armed force But we wenthered But defence to-day does not surplus for export only if the that danger without firing a consist only of military defence. raw materials can be got from Ishot.
There are evacuation measures oversen.
the Danish
to be taken, to get the civilian They depend on foreign fer- Familiar names leap into the population out of reach of ag- tilisers and feeding stuffs for farms, foreign news. That of Bergen stands gressive frightfulness.
In a country like Norway the metals and other supplies for out-an old sea-faring town on vast countryside provides shel- their manufacturing industries, the west coast
of Norway; ter in a measure unknown to Does Hitler imagine that where I spent happy boyhood highly industrialised countries. coal from the Danish Faeroe Oslo itself, remember, is a Isles, pyrites from Greenland Other towns along the south town of only some 200,000 in- and fish oll from Iceland will be coast of Norway LOO. My habitants, Bergen has about permitted to get through after family comes from that area. 100,000.
years.
All these towns face weat Spreading out, into the val- across the North Sea. In the leys and mountains, along the days before modern communica- coasts, into the maze of fjords, tlons, they were near to the evacuees of Norway
08
can
this?
From a stratégic point
of: view the Invasion of Denmark
England as they were to the disperse into such small groups was, of course, child's play
rest of Norway.
Roads were few and far between and were just the kind of roads one
that they will be able to evade It is not so much the flat would expect to find in a country
Until some thirty-five years the forces which the Germans nature of the. Danish mainland ite where nearly 75 per cent. of
and ago, a citizen of Bergen could will be permitted to get across and islands which lays Den area consists of bare rock
more quickly the Skagerrak.
mark open to attack. Added to these reach Scelland granite mountains.
It is the sea which cats into dimculties, the summons were sent than ho could reach his own Life in the open has become out in the height of winter.
second nature to the young the country from all sides, and You will readily realize the hard-capital; Oslo, in the east.
Since then a railway across generation of Norway. They allows the attacker to outflank ships these representatives had to
defensive position the undergo in their horse-drawn sled- the mountaina has tied the two know their country as the old any gez on snow-covered roads or on
cities together, and stearnship generations did not, from ski- Danes might take up. board small and often quite open-
winter and Only by transforming the boats along the rock-bound const, travel round the long const han ing tours in the and for many of them the process been speeded up.
hiking and sailing holidays in country into a forest of anti- But I had school, comrades in the summer.
- aircraft guns and the shores of getting there took weeks.
But their determination-to-see-a- free and independent Norway saw Bergen who needed five days Moreover the Increased mill into a barbed wire line_of them through all their difficulties to reach their homes in North- tary training of recent years coastal batteries could
may have provided Norway Danish people have averted the and the love they bore the country ern Norway," of their forefathers Inspired all.
In fact, the enormous length with an advantage on which fate which has now come upon: their
them. deliberations. The
work of the National As of the country and the moun the Germans had not counted.
and tainous character of the interior The fighting forces of Norway Given the advantages of, the sembly started on April 10 concluded with the iming of the have caused Norwegians to find may be puny, but they may also Norwegian position, the. Danes, Constitution and the election
associations overseas as natur- prove stubborn. If not left to I am certain would have acted- Prince
Christian Frederik Monarch of Norway,
ally as they make. contacts at fight the invader entirely on as we Norwegians.are acting. great and noble work had been home.
their own. dono.
A free and independent Norway had been re-crested and the country was full of confidence and happily looking forward to its future, determined to prove its ability to stand on his own feet.
of
ax
:.
the
Given the tremendous dis Nevertheless, patriotic feeling.
advantage of the Danish pošl- tian, a responsible Norwegia in strong. Nothing would have been left of national unity in Hitler will get no booty out Government would have had to Norway to-day if the Govern of this invasion of my country, act us did the Danish Govern mant had answered the Gormas Cut off from the outside ment. Minister in any other way than world, Norway becomes a very Both can only hope that the nightmare. which has suddenly. poor country, indeed. BUT it had risen from the it did. ashes of a devastated and un- The Nazis may take towns in Only as a great carrying distorted their quiet lives will casy Europe, it had estab-the-south. They may have nation and a manufacturer of be of short duration.
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