VITAL BASES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 181, 2 August 1941, Page 7

VITAL BASES

IN ARCTIC CIRCLE British Raids Direct Aid To Russia U.P.A. and British Wireless. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 1. The news of the attack by British naval aircraft on the ports of Petsamo and Kirkenes, in the Arctic Circle, is noted with special interest in the Press. It is greeted as an example of new and more direct assistance by Britain to her new Russian ally. The "Manchester Guardian" says: "Though they cost us heavy losses, the country will be stirred by the news of the Fleet Air Arm's attacks on the harbour of Kirkenes and Petsamo, for they were our first direct military aid to Russia. Germany will wish to send most of her supplies to this northern country by sea, and both the harbours will be her main bases for the attack on Murmansk. "As the Russian aluminium industry is concentrated in factories in the Kolas Peninsula, on which Murmansk stands, she will be particularly grateful for this kind of aid from us. Geography will force us for a long time to help Russia more often indirectly than directly, as in this last sally. There can be no doubt we shall do so not only by our raids on western Germany but, perhaps, by raids of another kind, and certainly by offensive action in the Mediterranean area." The Berlin radio, trying to make capital out of the British attack on the harbour works at Petsamo, said the raid caused a sensation m Helsinki where it was emphasised that Britain started the war against Finland without breaking off diplomatic relations. It added that harbour works owned by Sweden were damaged. A Helsinki communique says Finnish troops, particularly fast, light divisions with cyclists, continue to advance east of Lake Ladoga, crossing vast forest zones set on fire by the fleeing Soviet forces.