GULF OF FINLAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25455, 9 February 1944, Page 3

GULF OF FINLAND

GERMANS LOSING CONTROL RUSSIAN DRIVE ON NARVA (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 8. A German military spokesman admits that the Germans are gradually losing control of the Gulf of Finland, says the Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Mail. Russian control of the Gulf would mean that the Red Baltic Fleet would take over command of the German iron ore routes from Sweden.

Berlin despatches quote a spokesman as saying that the risk of encirclement of the German forces near the Gulf of Finland was obvious. Reserves had been rushed to Narva to hold the city at any cost. Its loss would mean the loss of the key to Estonia, the result of which would be immediately apparent. Correspondents report that the Red Army on the northern front is well on the way to another success. The Russians who are on the outskirts of Narva and before Luga are drawing up their forces before launching new largescale attacks. One hundred Russian tanks, outdistancing the main advance, are cutting off groups of Germans and capturing many prisoners. The Germans in their haste to escape continue to leave the roads strewn with abandoned equipment. The German News Agency commentator, von Hammer, admits that the Russians have dented the German lines north of Neval. The German Overseas radio said the Russians, in new major attacks south-east and north-east of Vitebsk breached the German lines. It claimed that all penetrations were sealed off.