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MORE GAINS BY
SOVIET
Heavy Attacks On
Finns
AIR SUPERIORITY
"The; Age" Special Correspondent and A.A.P.
LONDON, April 24.
To-day's Moscow communique stated that the
Russians in the last two days on one sector of the
Kalinin front had repulsed several German counter
attacks. They had killed 1200 German officers and
men, destroyed several tanks and captured booty.
On another sector of this front they had overcome
stubborn resistance and captured a strongly fortified
village.
In the extreme north, Soviet units are launching
heavy attacks against Finnish positions on the Svir
River. Local engagements are also in progress
Around Leningrad.
Air operations are being hampered by water
logged aerodromes, but the Moscow newspaper "Red
Star" reports considerable aerial activity around
Staraya Russa, where the 16th German Army is
trapped.
The paper adds that recent German
air attacks on Murmansk, Leningrad,
Scbastopol and other Soviet cities had
been utter failures. The ' German
Messerschmltt and Junker planes were
no match for the Soviet's latest model
lighter plane.
Signs arc multiplying that Ger
many's second campaign will not be
much longer delayed, and that when
It conies it will be a blitzkrieg of
blitzkriegs. The main armies con
tinue to be bogged In mud, but behind
the front preparations are proceeding
apace.
Meanwhile Red army patrols are
harassing the enemy wherever pos
sible, especially on the Karelian front,
where the Finns claim to have Coun
tered 150 Soviet attacks in a fort
night. Moscow admits that the Kare
lian fighting continues, and claims
minor successes, Including the out
flanking of the Finns' main fortifica
tions. The position is confused, but
the Red army Is apparently attempt
ing to push back the Finns north of
the Svir River.
Russia's confidence in the outcome
ol the war was expressed by M.
Lozovsky, the officii Snyipi . cookes-
man, who said: — "Germany has riine-
tenths of her forces concentrated on
the Russian front, but the Red Army
has enough reserves to clear the in
vaders from Russia. We are moving
up troops and reserves to the front."
M, Lozovsky praised the raids by
the R.A.F. on Lubeck and Augsburg,
adding: — "More and better raids is
the only language that the Ger
mans understand. Hitler's precau
tions In Western Europe— the instal
lation of M. Laval in Vichy, the trans-
' fer of Marshal von Rundstedt to
France, the warnings to occupied
countries and the strengthening of
defendfcs — were seen in their true per
spective only if viewed against the
background of the Russian front."
Cautious observers, notably the
"Daily Telegraph's" diplomatic cor
respondent, points out that Marshal
von Runstedt's reorganisation of the
rear door defences is merely a logical
military precaution before the eastern
offensive is launched. Germany's
nightmare of a two-front war is
nearer reality than at any time since
France's collapse. The German com
mand is, doubtless, estimating the
forces that the united nations might
throw into Western Europe, and is
making its eastern and western de
ployments accordingly.
Well-informed circles, however, in
sist that Hitler must attack Russia
regardless of the dangers involved,
because he needs the Baku oil, and it
is also doubtful whether the German
army and the home front could stand
up to a second winter campaign
RgRinst Russia.
Nazi Line Pierced
A Kuibyshev message states' that
after a pitched battle the Russians
have broken through the German
front line defences near Bryansk, in
the central sector, 90 miles west of
Orel. Fierce fighting is now in pro
gress inside the Bryansk defence belt.
Major-General Sir Charles Gwynn.
commenting upon the Russian situa
tion, said: — "Berlin complains about
the conditions; Moscow is content to
adapt its action to them. So much
has been said about the German
spring offensive that the possibility
of a Russian spring offensive has been
rather ignored. Yet it is'certain that
the Russians will not be content to
wait passively for a German onslaught
when the ground dries."
A Moscow communuique reports
that fourteen German planes were
destroyed on Wednesday for the loss
of eight.
The "Times" correspondent at
Stockholm says that great activity
is reported behind both the Russian
and the German lines in the past few
days, especially on the railways; as
troops and material are hastily being
forwarded for the expected titanic
battles.
German sources mention the daily
bombing of Russian concentrations
in the rear, but apparently this is
sporadic, doubtless because the aero
dromes are still waterlogged. There is
little to report this week about the
Russians' bombing of the immediate
German rear,, from which it is clear
that the great and inevitable air con
test has not yet begun.
There has been more intense activ
ity, however, by Russian guerillas and
raiders lecently, particularly around
Bryansk, thence to Orel, which,
coupled with direct operations, has
hampered German supplies to both
the semi-beleaguered towns.
In the Donetz basin, where activity,
despite the softness of the ground,
supports the view that the Germans
are preparing their main thrust to the
Caucasus below Kharkov, the Rus
sians and Germans for a long
stretch are lined up on the respective
banks of the Donetz, from where the
ice has disappeared, and each side is
already attempting to reconnoitre or
raid the opposite bank by means of
river craft.
Soviet ships now ply also In the
shallow Sea of Azov, whence at least
one small raid was made this week to
the west of Taganrog. The Crimea
has become more active with renewed
Russian attacks from the Kerch
peninsula. Fierce fighting here is in
evitable, as German plans in the
Caucasus must include the expulsion
of the Russians across the Kerch
straits.
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