I Saw It Happen in Norway

$2.50

CARL J. HAMBRO was President of the Norwegian Parliament, and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, in pre-Quisling Norway. In his book Mr. Hambro engages in demolishing the Nazis’ contention that they merely anticipated the British.

But it is no answer to say that the invasion was so efficiently conducted that it must have been planned months and possibly years in advance. General staffs make all kinds of plans for every conceivable kind of contingency. The facts are that the British and French, on their own statements after the Finnish blowup, had under consideration the invasion of the Scandinavian peninsula, both to go to Finland’s help and to stop the hæmorrhage of Swedish ore iron out of the Norwegian port of Narvik. This scheme may have been dependent upon a Scandinavian invitation. But the Nazis, perturbed about the iron and the possibility that initiative in the war might be snatched away from them, could argue that a general staff must act as soon as they see the smoke. There’s something more in the happenings in Norway than Mr. Hambro recounts, though his book, even with its limitations (and they are increased by the fact that Mr. Hambro didn’t stay long in invaded Norway), is testimony of historical value.