Talks with Sri Aurobindo

14 APRIL 1940

PURANI: It seems the Germans are carrying their guns and machines in aeroplanes to Norway.

SRI AUROBINDO: Why can't England do the same? They don't seem to want to do anything that involves work. They want to capture or conquer without doing anything. They don't have any initiative. In individual actions they have so far shown superiority, but in group actions what they have is organization and they have perfected only that. Even Gamelin has organised his army perfectly but he has not shown any military genius. So long as Chamberlain is at the helm, nothing will happen. He applies only business intelligence to politics.

PURANI: They have captured the Faroe Islands which appear to be strategically important.

SRI AUROBINDO: Where are they?

PURANI: Somewhere between Orkney and Norway.

SRI AUROBINDO: Then they are of no importance. Hitler is not such a fool as to go and occupy Iceland or Greenland.

NIRODBARAN: Does Chamberlain direct the military operations?

SRI AUROBINDO: No, he supervises all the departments and is advised by the military, but if the Ministry is against any move of the military, they can't do anything. If Hore-Belisha had been there, he could have done something.

SATYENDRA: He was the man we were thinking of the other day and, on this very point you have mentioned, he resigned. Somebody remarked about the occupation of the Faroe Islands that the Governor there had only six guns. The British had no difficulty in occupying it. (Laughter)

SRI AUROBINDO (after some time): I can't understand the moves of the British. As soon as they heard of the German occupation, they could have occupied Bergen. Bergen would have been far away from Oslo and yet within striking distance. If Germany had six destroyers, they could have brought twenty. Even if a great part of. their fleet had been lost, they would have gained a lot. They seemed to be enamoured of the idea of blockade, the navy's starvation of Germany and they are daunted by the presence of the Siegfried Line on their east. They don't want to risk anything. They are tied up by their organization, while Hitler fixes himself to nothing. He considers all possibilities and strikes according as it suits him.

PURANI: Yes, the British must have their plans and moves fixed beforehand: "If such things happen, then we shall do this or that." Instead, they appear to do things too late and decide only after a move has been made by the enemy. The countries still remaining neutral are already scared and can't rely very much on the Allies.

SATYENDRA: There was something in the papers about the Balkans—some threat to the Allies.

SRI AUROBINDO: And I suppose the Allies said they were watching the situation. (Laughter)

NIRODBARAN: Without Norway, can the Allies' blockade be effective?

SRI AUROBINDO: It can be. They can impose it with their navy. If they can smash the German fleet now, then there is a chance of peace as was prophesied by the London astrologer Blake.

NIRODBARAN: If the Germans have only 20,000 troops in Norway, scattered in various places, they can be easily routed.

SRI AUROBINDO: If the Norwegians could have fought like the Finns, there would have been some resistance.

EVENING

SRI AUROBINDO: (looking at Purani): The French news says that one German officer was shot by Hitler's order because he criticised Hitler's invasion of Norway, saying that it was a blunder which would bring economic ruin to Germany and all sorts of faults and crimes would be imputed to Germany.

PURANI: The German people will perhaps like it as a deserved punishment.

SRI AUROBINDO: Many people must be thinking like this officer, only they won't dare to speak out. He, being a military man, was outspoken. His conviction got the better of his prudence. The news report also says that one more major left the puppet ministry and joined the Norwegians. Perhaps he has become wiser. This puppet ministry is composed not only of professors: there are many majors in it. The German fleet seems to have lost heavily - two big battleships have been destroyed. If the whole navy is destroyed, the Germans will be in a very bad position. They will be quite isolated in Norway.

PURANI: They are said to be carrying troops in aeroplanes.

SRI AUROBINDO: That can't come to much. Only ships can carry enough.

PURANI: If the Allies can set up a base somewhere there, it will be very advantageous for them: they can then attack German bases.

SRI AUROBINDO: Of course.

PURANI: In Denmark the Germans can't do much because Denmark has to depend on import for foodstuff. It has very scanty resources of its own.

SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, Germany will have to support the Danes when it can't even support itself.

PURANI: It seems the Norwegian industrialists and landowners are in favour of Germany. There's news that the Russian fleet is in the Arctic.

SRI AUROBINDO: Fleet? Only some ships perhaps. Their fleet is either in the Baltic, the Black Sea or at Vladivostok. And if it is in the Baltic it will be noticed if it comes out.