BALTIC SQUEEZE

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 21, 19 October 1944, Page 5

BALTIC SQUEEZE

German Navy Being Bottled Up (Received October 18, 9 p.m.)

LONDON, October IS.

Swedish trawlers report that Russian submarines and naval units are operating freely in the Baltic near the Bornholm Islands and Aaland Islands, says the “New York Times” Stockholm correspondent. The German naval forces in the Baltic Sea are now being squeezed from the east and west, and have only the Kiel Canal as an escape hole. The German garrison was recently reinforced on Bornholm, where 'the Germans expect imminent Russian landings. ' All traffic in the Kiel Canal has been suspended because a time-bomb, presumably dropped on Saturday from an Allied plane, exploded on Sunday, causing the collapse of the railway bridge spanning the canal, says the "Daily. Express Stockholm , correspondent. Hundreds of workmen were clearing up debris when the mass of twisted steel and masonry fell into the water. Danish shipowners predict the canal will be out of action for at least three months. A Finnish communique reports that the Finns have captured Rovaniemi, in Lapland. The fall of the town came after the Finns had cut the German escape route north from the town. The Finns now completely dominate the Arctic highway to the north.