FINNS STOPPED AT HANKO

Southland Times, Issue 24597, 20 November 1941, Page 5

FINNS STOPPED AT HANKO

RUSSIAN SEA TRAFFIC CONTINUES (Rec. 7.20 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 18. Although the Germans have many times claimed that Russian merchantmen and warships have been bottled up in the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, the Finns now report that a brisk Russian sea traffic continues practically without interruption between tire Russian garrisons at Hanko and Leningrad. The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says that Finnish troops, augmented by volunteers from neighbouring countries, have scarcely progressed a yard since they began operations against the Peninsula of Hanko. The bombing of the Murmansk railway between Lake Onega and the White Sea continues, but only approximately onethird of the railway between Petrozavodsk and the White Sea has been occupied. The most advanced Finnish

forces are still among the intricate inlets of North Onega. The Finns have pushed northwards along the railway from Petrozavodsk to a point some 150 miles southward of Soroka, a, junction with the railway to Archangel. Therefore, communications between Murmansk and Archangel through Soroka are not yet immediately threatened by the Finns from this direction.

ADVANCE ON MURMANSK RAILWAY

The Germans and Finns co-operating from Salla towards Kandalaksha are at present believed to be within 50 miles of the Murmansk railway. The British and American members of Sir Walter Monckton’s party are unanimous concerning the stubbornness of the Russian resolve to beat the Germans. They saw train after train travelling eastward carrying dismantled factories. The first trucks contained machine-tools, and then came the steelwork, even the brickwork, of the factory. Finally came the workers with their families and furniture, all cheerful and undismayed. IRON DEPOSITS AT KERCH

The correspondent of The Times on the German frontier says Kerch’s iron deposits were the most important in the whole of Russia. Kerch also possessed huge blast furnaces, an aeroplane factory, two electric power stations and two miles of quays, but the Russians entirely destroyed Kerch before the evacuation. Most of the troops and all the skilled workers reached the mainland.