FINLAND’S POSITION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 September 1941, Page 5

FINLAND’S POSITION

NO NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE ANOTHER MOSCOW DENIAL. REPORTED REQUEST FROM PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 5. The Moscow spokesman, M. Lozovsky, again denied Russian-Finnish negotiations for peace. He added that the severe economic conditions in Finland “have caused many malties” and naturally had‘aroused discontent. Rumours continue to circulate in Sweden that a Russian-Finnish armistice is impending. A German observer in Stockholm said that Germany will do her utmost at present to prevent the Finns from halting their 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 which are locked up in the northern zone. The “Daily Express” says that President Roosevelt through the American Minister in Helsinki has expressed the desire of the American people that Finland should end the quarrel with Russia, and reveal herself a democratic nation in fact as well as in sentiment.

Besides claiming to have reached the former Russian-Finland frontier everywhere except in the Ribachi Peninsula, in the Arctic, Helsinki dispatches report an intensification of the drive toward the Murmansk-Leningrad railway, which is reputed to provide the Russian bases in the three sectors situated in the “waist” of Finland where the railway most closely approaches the Finnish frontier. The capture of Salla, Kuusamo, Uhtua, and the north shore of Lake Kutno, is claimed.

A Helsinki communique yesterday stated: “The enemy, stubbornly defending himself, has been completely defeated in the Karelian Isthmus. The old State frontier has been reached along its whole length. The war booty as a result of the latest operations includes thousands of motor vehicles, nearly 2000 horses, 200 guns, and an enormous number of light arms. Prisoners total .10,000. The mopping up of scattered units west of the isthmus is proceeding. The German news agency reports that Field-Marshal Mannerheim in his message to the troops stated: “Karelia is free, though innumerable burnt-out houses, factories, and woods will long testify to the true nature of Bolshevism.”