KARELIAN OFFENSIVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25565, 19 June 1944, Page 6

KARELIAN OFFENSIVE

MANNERHEIM LINE REACHED LAST FORTIFIED ZONE (Rec 9 p.m.) LONDON, June 17. A Russian communique states that Soviet forces on the Karelian Isthmus to-day fought their way into more than 120 inhabited places and three rail stations, including Perkjaervi, 25 miles north-west of Terijoki. Seventeen enemy planes were shot down yesterRed Army yesterday reached the first outposts of the Mannerheim Line, reports Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The Finns are preparing for a desperate stand "on this last fortified zone, barring the road to Viipuri and the main land approach to Helsinki. The Finns, compared with the RussoFinnish war of 1939-40, have considerable quantities of German material, but the strength of the reinforced Mannerheim Line is an unknown quantity. The correspondent points out that the Red Army’s striking power, which has been thrice unleashed to penetrate two massive defence lines in a week, is already being prepared for a still more powerful onslaught. It is significant that there thus far has been no mention of the Red Army meeting a single German soldier in the Finnish struggle. The Red Star says: “ Finland had tne charce to avoid the blows the Red Army has dealt. The Russian Government showed the maximum of patience to Finland. It is now forced to talk to the Finnish Hitlerites in the only language they understand —the language of guns.” T _ The Russian offensive in the Karelian Isthmus may be a diversionary manoeuvre designed to cover Russia s real aims, says the German News Agency’s commentator, von Olberg. “ Our reconnaissance,” he said, “ shows that the main Russian concentrations are north of Pskov, aiming to thrust to the Baltic States, and around Tarnopol, for a push to the Danube Estuary. Major von Hammer states that continuous preparations for a Russian offensive have been observed in the southern and central eastern front, especially in the Gomel and Smolensk areas.