WINTER LULL ENDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 87, 14 April 1942, Page 5

WINTER LULL ENDS

FINNISH FRONT

LONDON, April 13. After the winter lull, intensification of operations is reported from the Finnish front, particularly in the central and northern sectors. The Finnish High Command claims that Russians attacks were repelled. Further south, the Germans are reported to have had to rush up planes and troops which were,being held in reserve to assist surrounded strong points. The German 53rd Alpine division, which was in reserve, has been switched to the Leningrad front. The 223 rd, 226 th, and 227 th divisions are among the units on which the Russians claim to have inflicted heavy losses.

The greatest weight of the Russian aggressiveness around Kharkov has shifted from south to north of the town, particularly around the Belgorod railway junction.

Advancing Russians on the Smolensk front entered two villages and released 8000 Russians who had been gathered by the Germans for forced labour.

The Russians under General Meretzkov on the Leningrad front, with a spearhead of cavalry, have driven a deep wedge into the German lines, splitting their communications, states the "Red Star." The Germans threw in six fresh battalions and used divebombers in groups upward of 40, but failed to dislodge the Russians.

The Soviet President, M. Kalinin, in the "Isvestia," said that the Russians now have absolute superiority in numbers of aircraft, and also possess more tank divisions than at the start of the invasion. The German army, he said, had passed its zenith, the winter campaign had undermined its morale, and even crack troops were now surrendering.