Evening star., 1939-12-07
Russians Declare
FinIand's S Defense
Line Is Smashed
Reds Also Reported to
Have Cut RoiIwoy
Line to Sweden
By the Associated Press.


MOSCOW, Dec. IA Soviet Rus
sian army has smashed the main
Finnish defense line on the Karelian
Isthmus, the Leningrad command
announced today, and is thrusting
on northward.
The Leningrad communique said
Soviet troops, after artillery pre-
paration, broke through the main
defense line of the Firms along the
Vuoksi water system. known among
Finnish White Guards as the ''Magi-
'not-Kirke' Line"
The natural defenses of the
Vuoksi water system, a chain of
lakes and watercourses zig-zagging
almost across the 65-mile wide
isthmus north of Leningrad, had
been augmented, it is said, by pill
boxes, trenches, wire entanglements,
tank traps and mines.
The Firms defended the line with
artillery, machine-guns and auto
matte rifles.
(The military attache Of the
Finnish Legation in Washington
said the Russians could not have
broken through the Finnish
main defense line" as claimed,
judging from the distance the
Russians themselves said they
had marched. He asserted the
Notifications were not line, but,
like the French and German
frontier works, a deep area. The
attache said the Russians might
have reached the first part of
this area, which he said was
only lightly fortifiedD
Heavy Red Losses Reported.
The Karelian defense line is
known in Finland as the Manner
helm Line, named for Field Marshal
Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, Finnish
generalissimo.
GA Swedish woman newspaper
correspondent reported to Stock
holm that the Firms were exact
ing a tremendous price for the
invasion of the isthmus. She
quoted a Finnish commander,
Alexander Meelblom, as saying
the Russian frontline forces
there, counting airmen, num-
bered at least 100000, with an
other 100000 in reserve. Hell
sinki military experts have esti-
mated that 100000 Russians were
engaged in the campaign on all
fronts.
("Whole companies advancing
in line were moved down by Fin
nish artillery and infantry in
thousands" the correspondent
wrote. Many Russians had no
leggings, only overshoes, which
were filled with straw and bound
with cord.')
The Russian advices said the
isthmus line lies about 16 miles from
the border at its nearest point and
that, aside from the break through,
Red forces advanced all along the
narrow neck of Finland north Of
Leningrad.
Reds operating against the Finns'
western flank in the isthmus re-
ported capturing mo and Mester-
jarvi, in the Fort Ino area on the
Finnish Gulf, and Perkjarvi, %
miles from the border on the Lenin-
grad -Viipuri Railway.
Rail Line Reported Cut.
Slogging through snowy forests
north of Lake Ladoga, on the middle
eastern front, Reds were said to have
cut railway line running from tnat
large body of water across Finland
to the Swedish border. The Rus
slams said their forces had crossed
the railway between Nurmes and
Joensuu, 140 and 80 miles north of
the lake. respectively.
In the Petsarno region, northern
most Finland, the Russians reported
no new advances.
(Finnish reports to Helsinki as
serted that all attacks of the
Red Army had been repulsed
and that eight tanks were de-
stroyed, among 80 wrecked since
the war started last Thursday
morning.
(The Films also announced
that two Russian planes were
brought down when their en-
emy staged an unsuccessful"
raid on Petsamo, the Arctic port,
the planes being among SO shot
down In the week-old conflict.) e.
Tass, the official Russian news
agency, meanwhile issued q denial
of Norwegian reports Of Tuesday
that Finnish airmen had destroyed
60 Russian planes 1T Murmansk