U.S. AND FINLAND

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 235, 1 July 1944, Page 7

U.S. AND FINLAND

Breach Considered LONDON, June 29. In Washington, the Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, conferred with President Roosevelt this morning. Later Mr. Hull said the question of a possible break in Finnish-American relations was being considered, and that an official statement might be issued later in the day. ‘ It is learned that Finland s pledge to Germany not to make a separate peace wag not given by the Government but in a personal letter from President Rytito Hitler, countersigned by the Foreign Minister, M. Ramsay, says the Stockholm correspondent of “The Times.” Ryti not only pledged the present Government but also any future Government that be might appoint. Thus, short of Ryti s resignation, only a coup d'etat could reverse the position. An order of the day issued by Marshal Stalin today announces that Soviet forces have taken Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Karelian Finnish Republic. Murmansk Railway |'Teed. Petrozavodsk lies on the western shore of Lake Onega. Its fall, together with that of the region just to the north ot it means that the whole of the railway between Leningrad and Murmansk is now back in Russian hands. The success also means that most of the isthmus between Lake Onega and Lake Ladoga has been cleared of the Finns. The liberation of this capital and the freeing of the railway tonight resulted in the guns of Moscow firing one of their biggest victory salutes, 24 salvoes from 324 guns. ' , It is officially announced that the Russian troops liberated 30,000 civilians from concentration camps at Pctrozavodsk. The Stockholm “Aftonbladet’s” correspondent, telephoning from Rovaniemi, confirmed the death of General Dietl, the German commander on the north Finnish front in a plane crash during a tour of inspection, VICTOR oFbOBRUISK Large Haul Of Prisoners LONDON, June 29. A Russian communique says that 16,000 of the enemy were killed and 18,000 made prisoner in the Bobruisk action.- ' Moscow radio broadcast a. decree signed by Marshal Stalin promoting Gen-

oral Rokossovsky to the rank of marshal. Rokossovsky, who is 6ft. 4in. tall, is known as the Red Army’s boy general, because of his youthful appearance.