FINLAND’S PART IN WAR

Southland Times, Issue 24533, 6 September 1941, Page 7

FINLAND’S PART IN WAR

REPORTED DESIRE FOR PEACE DENIAL BY M. LOZOVSKY (Rec. 7.40 p.m.) LONDON, September 5. M. Lozovsky, the Soviet spokesman, again denied the reports of RussianFinnish negotiations for peace. He added that the severe economic conditions in Finland had “caused many casualties” and had naturally aroused discontent. Rumours continue to circulate in Sweden that a RussianFinnish armistice is impending. A German observer in Stockholm said Germany would do her utmost at present to prevent the Finns from halting military operations. On the other hand neutral observers believe that though they would object to Finland’s defection for reasons of prestige, the Germans would be secretly glad of the opportunity to remove the six or seven divisions locked up in the northern zone. _

The Daily Express says that President Roosevelt, through the American Minister in Helsinki, Mr Arthur Schoenfeld, expressed the desire of the American people that Finland should end her quarrel with Russia and reveal herself a democratic nation in fact as well as sentiment. Besides claiming that the Finns have reached the former Russian-Finland frontier everywhere except the Ribachi Peninsula, Helsinki dispatches report an intensification of the drive towards the Murmansk-Leningrad railway, which is reputed to provide bases for three sectors situated in the “waist” of Finland, where the railway most closely approaches the Finnish frontier. The capture of Salla, Kuusamo, Uhtua and Kutno is claimed.