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Show WS& mm BUS USKB Wm - ........ : soviet fleet may attempt ar?.iylai;d:;:g Helsinki Denies Moscow Report-of-Smashing Through. Lines By NORMAN B. DEUEL . H E L S I NKI (Helslngfors), Finland, Dee. 7 (UP) Finnish army headquarters charged to day that the red army was firing fir-ing poison gas shells on the eastern front and reported Finnish Fin-nish troops fighting back strongly against Russian attacks. at-tacks. An official communique Issued by army headquarters said that 11 Finnish soldiers were poisoned during dur-ing an artillery attack north of Lake Ladoga yesterday when Russians Rus-sians allegedly fired artillery shells containing poison gas. Russian radio claims that soviet troops took the town of KivlnlemL thus Implying that the soviet forces broke through the Mannerhelnt line, were officially denied here. The soviet offensive has 'failed to crack the main Finnish defenses, known as the Mannerhelm line, officials of-ficials said, and at many points the enemy still la 5 or 10 miles from the outposts of the defense works named for General Baron Carl Gustaf von Mannerhelm. The Mann elm line has not even been dented, let alone being broken, as claimed In Moscow, the Finnish officials reported, pointing Out that the line consists of many fortified positions extending deeply deep-ly Into Finnish territory and that it Is not possible to "break through" in any given spot by .a single thrust. The heavy snow and the lakes of southeastern Europe are aiding defense of the main line. It was ' said. The lakes and rivers are an Integral part of the defenses across the Karelian Isthmus. Finnish naval experts reported that soviet Russia was believed to be Intensifying naval operations . In the Cult of Finland in preparation prepara-tion for an attempt to land troops on the Finnish mainland. With Finnish forces fighting stubbornly against the red army on the arctic coast and at three points on the eastern and southeastern south-eastern frontier. A new attack from the sea might be designed to encircle Helsinki by a campaign somewhat similar to the German lightning offensive on three fronts against Poland. Experts said that the soviet naval operations also appeared to be an attempt to blockade Helsinki. Waters Wa-ters off the Finnish capital were reported mined by the red navy so that only small ships could move' among the small coastal islands. Seagoing craft already have ceased to ply from Helsinki, Kola and Vllpurl (Viborg) on the gulf coast. Finnish shipping can continue from the west coast, however, as long as the Rrd navy Is unable to (CootlnuoA on Sato Two) I Column Ski ! RUSSIA FLEET 1 MENACES FINNS (Ceathniad from Pose One) penetrate the Gulf of Bothnia, lying ly-ing between Finland and Sweden. Isles Bar Bed Navy Although the Finnish Aaland Islands lying at the entrance to .the Gulf of Bothnia are not yet completely fortified, they are a formidable barrier and are now believed to be an effective obstacle to the soviet fleet because both Sweden and Finland have sown mines in that area. Few of the routes there can be used by large ships and both sides of the Islands can. be controlled by small coastal ships armed with antiaircraft guns and torpedoes. Finland's famous "shaere" tiny reefs also aid in protecting the south coast Helsinki, for Instance, Is protected pro-tected by seven of these little reeflike reef-like Islands, which Swedish Grand Admiral Ehrensvaerd called the "Gibraltar of the North" when they were transformed Into fortresses for-tresses In the eighteenth century. The forts are out from solid granite. gran-ite. They have been modernized and now are called Suomenlinna. Boas Fleet Busy Although soviet ships cannot be seen from the mainland, the Red havyWai"6elteved W TjenperRlni beyond the fortress Islands. De-sroyers De-sroyers and. submarines wer jm-derstood jm-derstood to be off the coast. Finnish military authorities prohibited pro-hibited reports in detail on weather weath-er conditions, but It was learned that visibility continued poor on the southern coast, making new Russian air raids unlikely at present. Finnish officials reported today that letters found on pilots of Russian planes shot down in Finland Fin-land showed that the soviet attack at-tack on Finland had been planned long ago. One letter, they Mid, had been written by a soviet pilot to his fiancee, but not mailed. In It, he was said to have explained that he had to leave for the front long before the date of the border "Incidents" that started the war. |
