Rebellion in Denmark - From the very first the outbreak
of the Danish people and the resistance of the Government to the exorbitant demands of the Nazis were a forlorn hope, in the sense that they could not by themselves win deliverance from Denmark's " protectors " ; but none the less they were a sign of the bitterness and exasperation caused by three years of German ascendancy and the hope caused by the successes of the Allies. By their progressive exploitation of a country which they professed to treat as a friend the Germans turned passive acceptance of the situation into revolt, which first took the form of sabotage and subsequently of open defiance and rebellion. The ultimatum' presented to the Danish Government was rejected. Armed resistance and guerilla fighting immediately followed General Hanneken's declaration of a state of emergency, and King Christian's bodyguard resisted the forces sent to arrest him, until the King himself stopped the useless slaughter. No one imagined that the Danes, three years ago, yielding to the over- whelming strength of Germany, were willing co-operators ; but it might have been supposed that the Germans, anxious to prove that their "New Order" conferred benefits on Europe, would have con- trived not to antagonise them to the point of hopeless revolt. That they failed is another proof of Nazi political ineptitude. Having struggled to retain their democratic usages with the Nazis at their doors, the Danes in the end have stopped short at nothing to range themselves on the side of the nations fighting for freedom.
