SOVIET SUCCESSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 March 1943, Page 3

SOVIET SUCCESSES

IN VARIOUS SECTORS. DONETZ BATTLE SWAYING TO & FRO. LONDON, March 3. A Soviet communique states that the Red Army west of Kharkov last night occupied several more places, killed a number of the enemy and captured much war material. West of Kursk the enemy were dislodged from a strongpoint. The Russians also made an advance west of Rostov. Messages state that the battle in the ’ Donetz Basin, which has been going on for over a week, continues to sway to and fro, and the front has not yet been stabilised. The Moscow radio said that the Russians attacking toward Orel from the south have taken another town on the railway. The Russians in the Kuban have attacked and routed some enemy infantry and destroyed a number of tanks. The Berlin radio stated that the Russian offensive in the Lake Ilmen sector, below Leningrad, has extended to the south. CONFUSION IN FINLAND SITUATION GETTING RATHER OUT OF HAND. " DESIRE TO KNOW WHAT RUSSIA WANTS. LONDON, March 2. The Helsinki radio said that President Ryti has authorised M. Vaenoe Hakkila, who is the Speaker of the Diet and leader of the Great Finland movement, to form a new Government. The radio announcer added: “The situation in Finland is showing increasing confusion, and it has got rather out of hand in the last fortnight. What we want is peace with security. As Moscow keeps silent we are unable to know what Russia wants.” The Berlin radio described the Helsinki announcement as an unexpected change. It added that Hakkila, who is Lord Mayor of Tammersfors, the centre of the Finish armament industries, is a leading member of the Social Democratic Party. “The war will be carried on, and demands full attention. It is constantly presenting Finland with increasingly difficult decisions,” declared Dr. Ryti in the weekend on his assumption of office as President of Finland for a further term. As quoted by the Berlin radio, he said “Our people naturally yearn for peace, like those of any other belligerent nation, but we do not yet see any sign of our war ending, and must continue to harness all our forces.”