SOVIET ATTACK IN ARCTIC

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24536, 19 March 1943, Page 2

SOVIET ATTACK IN ARCTIC

Russian military enterprise admits I no limits. With a general offensive in { progress at the centre, a hard deI fensivc battle raging in the Ukraine, and major assault operations proceeding on the Tainan peninsula opposite the Crimea, forces have been found to conduct a drive against the German base at Petsamo, Finland's port on the Arctic. The objective is probably to remove the constant enemy threat to Murmansk, the only Soviet ice-free port that Allied convoys can reach. Although the direct connection with the main Russian front—the double-track Leningrad railway and the Stalin canal —has been cut by the Finns between Lakes Ladoga and Onega, communi- ! cations are kept open on a branch i railway from Murmansk to Archangel. Until the Finns' hold on the main line can be broken, Allied sup-i | plies landed at Murmansk have to I

I take this circuitous route. The detour is especially important during the six months of the year that i Archangel is closed by ice. The Ger- | man divisions based on Petsamo [represent a constant threafj, to this life-line, but have shown little fight ,since their initial thrust was parried at the opening of the German attack on Russia in 1941. They consist of Austrian and South German troops and many of them have pined in the bleak Arctic region since the Narvikcampaign in the spring of 1940. Their morale is credibly reported to have fallen very low. The majority never cared for the Nazi regime and, although they fear the consequences of defeat, few any longer believe in a German victory. Out of their despair in the long Arctic nights came the bitter forecast: "The war will end when the British are eating rats, and the Germans ersatz rats." It is against these low-spirited troops that the Russians are directing their drive to secure the communications of ice-free Murmansk.