RUSSIAN INVASION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 32, 6 August 1941, Page 7

RUSSIAN INVASION

DISAPPOINTED BY SMALL

GERMAN HELP

BEARING THE BRUNT

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.)

LONDON, August 5,

The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times" says that the easily-de-fendable Karelian Isthmus is packed with Russian troops, who obviously do not expect to be obliged to retreat. Indeed, the idea seems to have crystallised in the Finnish mind that the Russians may launch a great offensive from the isthmus with the object of swarming into southern Finland towards Helsinki.

This eventuality was scarcely mentioned previously, when the Finns imagined that their war alongside Germany would be 'exclusively offensive and would not involve the danger of Finland being invaded.

The Finns are disappointed at the small scale of the German help; the Germans have only five divisions in Finland, of which the majority are stuck in the northern mud, while, the brunt of the most, vital fighting is falling on the Finns, who are believed to have 300,000 troops in the field.

The Germans in the northernmost sector are still floundering on or about the Liza River, which they reached a

month ago in the first- blitz against Murmansk. It has proved very difficult, if not impossible, to move heavytraffic across the tundra, because the dried crust cracks easily and porridgelike mud oozes from seemingly bottomless depths. General Dietl cannot travel "light" with any chance of success against the Russians' well-placed defences. GERMAN EXAGGERATIONS. The Germans' claims to have destroyed the Russian air forces and bases in this area have been exaggerated, because the Germans now mention Russian bombers operating from the Murmansk base. , General Dietl's forces operating against Murmansk consist entirely of Austrians and Germans. The Germans outnumber the Finns on the Salla front, where initial progress was achieved only at the cost of heavy losses, and the Germans' subsequent efforts have been checked. General Siilavuo, who won a reputation in the winter war against Russia, commands the Finnish forces which are driving towards the White Sea exit of the Stalin Canal from Leningrad. The correspondent points out that the Finns opened their campaign _with an offensive against Kakisalmi (at the northern end of the old Mannerheim Line) and v also a thrust to Pitkaranta (at the north of Lake Ladoga, 20 miles inside former Finland). They hoped to envelop large Russian forces, but instead they have failed to capture Kakisalmi and the Russians have maintained possession of the coastal strip. HEAVY FIGHTING AROUND LAKE LADOGA. According to dispatches received in Vichy from Helsinki, heavy fighting is. continuing around Sortavala, on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga, 45 miles inside the old Finnish border. The Russians continue to hold ths town against all attacks, and Soviet tanks are ceaselessly counter-attack-ing, while reinforcements are being brought up. A Finnish communique yesterday claimed: "All Soviet attacks were repulsed, and the enemy lost 2000 men on the Eastern Front. Many were taken prisoner and a large number of enemy tanks and vehicles were destroyed." The latest Finnish communique claims the further capture and destruction of a considerable quantity of war material, including 12 armoured cars, and also states that a great number of prisoners have been taken.