The advantages of a controlling position in Norway, so strongly
urged on the Führer by Admiral Raeder, were not unappreciated in
Whitehall. From the end of November 1939, when the Russians
attacked Finland, the possibilities of fishing profitably in
Scandinavian waters were seriously considered by the British
Government. Of the voices that were raised in favour of active
measures of this sort, one in particular was clear and
insistent—the voice of Mr. Churchill, then First Lord of the
Admiralty; for Norway—or some of it—was within easy reach of the
Navy. Clearly the Allies had every justification for supporting
Finland. The wanton aggression committed against a weak and
unoffending neighbour by a vast dictatorial power on terms of
intimacy with the Nazis cried for redress in the name of
morality and the democratic cause. Cries for redress, however,
are apt to pass unheard until they fall on willing ears. In this
case the ears were already well down to the ground. For some
time past the Allies had been studyin