Daily Post - 31.08.1943, Blaðsíða 1

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Tuesday, August 31, 1943
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Scandinavian Sitnation Tense; Danes Resist
Clashes With Axis Troops Occur;
Part Of Navy Escaped
London, August 30th.
With Nazi military law proclaimed in Denmark; clashes be-
íween the Danish land and naval forces and the Germans, as a
xesult of the escape and the scuttling of the Danish navy, and
with threatening notes passing between Germany and Sweden,
íhe situation in Scandinavia is extremely tense.
The unrest in Denmark came
to a crisis, when Werner Best,
Nazi Gguleiter in Denmark,
returned to Copenhagen with
new demands from the Nazi
regime, including the trial of
Danish citizens, suspected of
.sabotage, by German military
eourts, and the demand that
the Danish Government de-
clare military law.
Reports from Sweden say
that the Danish Government,
supported by King Christian
X, refused these demands to-
tally. The first reports had it
that the government had there-
upon resigned, but later mes-
sages believe that this is not
true and that the Nazis have
interned King Christian at his
palace Sorgenfri, and may be
keeping the members of the
Cabinet in custody.
Yesterday morning the Ger-
man Commander in Denmark,
General von Hanneken, had
proclaimed martial law. Simul-
taneously Stockholm messages
reported that it had come to
clashes between the Royal
Guard and the Germans at two
places at least in Copenhagen,
and that there had been casu-
alties on both sides.
Later in the day came the
news, also from Stockholm,
that seven Danish warships—
one small cruiser and six minor
vessels—had' arrived at the
Swedish port of Malmoe and
Landscrona, carrying some civ-
ilians besides their crew, and
that the rest of the Danish
Fleet had been scuttled in the
port of Copenhagen. The num-
ber of shins sunk by their
fiertnan Note
Rebukes Sweden
Replying to a sharp pro-
test against the sinking of
two Swedish fishing boats in
the Skagerak by German
mine sweepers, Berlin to-day
insolently alleges that the
boats were spying, and
threateningly remains the
Swedish Government that
their country is on three
sides surrounded by German
military forces, and that
German patience is not inex-
haustible.
crews, as given in the mes-
sages, varies from some 20 odd
/ to 45. ,
Early this morning the Dan-
ish Legation in Stockholm offi-
cially announced that as soon
as the Nzi martial law was pro-
claimed, the Danish crews, who
saw no way to escape proceed-
ed to scuttle their ships ac-
cording to orders previously
given by the King and the
Government. Among them was
the 3,500 ton armoured ship
“Peder Schram”. Its sister ship,
the “Niels Juel”, had been
sunk by German divebombers
while trying to escape to
Sweden. It is feared that there
were some civilians aboard the
latter. ' -
The Danish Legation also
confirmed Swedish reports that
it had come to a pitched b.ttMe
'Continued on Page 4).
Further Allied Air Raids In
Southern líaly
In the Mediterranean, more air attacks have been made on
the Axis railway and communication system in southern and
Middle Italy.
On Saturday, American*’
Middle East Liberators attack-
ed the great Italian naval port
of Tarnato in daylight. The
main targets were the railway
station, which received direct
hits and suffered extensive
damage, and the docks, where
several heavies were seen to
burst on the targets. A big Ita-
lian cruiser in the harbour also
received a direct hit.
This was followed up Sunday
night by an attack by Bostons
and Baltimores, which also
blasted other objectives in and
around the toe of Italy. And on
Sunday, new Allied formations
kept up the good work, so that
it is stated by correspondents
that over this week-end a heav-
ier bomb load was dropped on
south Italian targets than at
any time since the Sicilian cam-
paign. Besides this, the Allied
planes shot down 21 enemy
machine for a loss of eight of
their own.
Yesterday, Flying Fortresses
made a heavy raid on the rail-
way station and airfield at
Octe, some 40 miles north-west
of Rome. The Fortresses met
with very little air resistance,
and escorting Lightnings found
only one Axis fighter to shoot
down:
On Saturday, American
planes made heavy attacks on
railway stations around Nap-
les, especially on Annunziata,
some 10 miles south of Naplés i
on the Gulf. Here, some fifty
Axis planes came up to inter- j
cept, and the big American i
planes shot down 15 of t.hem. 1
The railway net around Naples
is now da’lTr
Allied air atta'’1'-
Yank Troops On
New Pacific Isle
It was announced in Wash-
ington last night, that Ameri-
can trops had made a landing
on Arundel Island, just north-
west of New Georgia, without
any Japanese resistance.
Australiari messages report
sharp fighting all along the
Salamaua front, - where the
Japanese have launched one
counter-attack after another,
but so far entirely without suc-,
cess.
The messages state that G m-
eral Sir Thomas Blamey, C.-in-
C. all land forces in the South-
West Pacific, has arrived in
New Guinea, and it is believed
that he is going to lead person-
ally the final assault on this
Japanese stronghold, which is
expected to fall soon, as the
Allies are already in the out-
skirts of the towns defences.
Allied aircraft yesterday
made a heavy and concentrated
attack on Japanese supply and
ammunition dumps, as well as
the airfield at Hansa Bay. Huge
fires were started, obserable
from 60 miles away by the Al-
lied crews returning to their
bases without any losses.
Don’t P A
h' initcsw-
/