Evening star., 1940-01-12
Newsmen Brewing 40 Below
To Cover War in Finland
Biggest Problem Is to
Keep Feet Warm,
A. P. Man Writes

BY the Associated Press.
COPENHAGEN, Jan. 11.-Between
so and 70 war correspondents are
covering the hostilities in Finland
and their difficulties are great. even
when there is no danger from bombs
or bursting artillery shells
The cold, frequently hitting 40
degrees below zero, the snow and
ice. the long winter nights made
worse by blackouts, and unlimited
hours of work-all these test the
mettle of even the most seasoned
neWspapermen.
Most of these war correspondents
had their baptism of fire in the
Finnish War in the opening day
air bombardment of Helsinki, the
capital Some of them since have
been under fire at the front, and
all have had to run for shelter dur
ing the frequent Soviet Russian air
raids of Finnish cities.
Censorship Difficulties.
Finnish censorship, although not
notably severe, offers difficulties All
news, cabled or telephoned, must
be submitted to the censor. Most
troublesome of all is the hampering
aof communication between cities.
The Associated Press has large
staff of its own in Finland. Lynn
Heinzerling. formerly stationed in
Berlin and later at Danzig, took
charge at Helsinki we'll before the
Soviet invasion He had with him
native assistant, Paul Sjoblom,
the Associated Press peacetime cor
respondent.
Soon Heinzerling was joined by
Thomas F. Hawkins. recently in
charge at Stockholm, and later by
Wade Werner, head of the Copen-
hagen Bureau.
The correspondents at the front
encounter trying weather conditions.
Hawkins recently took 40 hours to
tour the front by motor car, in
Guiding "a hours of actual driving
through the cold and with only four
or five hours sleep at farmhouses
or field hospitals,
Keeping Feet Warm Problem.
The biggest problem in covering
the war" he wrote, "is keeping
warm feet" This is what he had
to wear.
| Reindeer boots, felt shoes, doeskin
and inner wool socks, two pairs OF
pants zone of heavy ski weight, two
suits of underwear, two wooden
shirts, sweater jacket and fur
sheep-lined coat.
| Coverage of the war now is we'll
arranged by the larger news organi-
cations, with some men stationed in
Helsinki. some going to the front
and some to provincial cities when
the occasion arises. Military passes
are issued for such travel.
In Helsinki are made public the
daily army communique and an
nouncements from the government
information bureau.
Foreign correspondents in Helsinki
have difficulty getting information
from other cities except that given
out officially because they are for
hidden to telephone between cities
in Finland and therefore have
trouble checking any rumor or re-
ports they may hear.
Scandinavian News First.
In such cases the news usually
gets out first through large Scan
dinavian newspapers whose dis
patches are relayed to the United
States and other nations abroad.
These newspapers even in peace
time have Finnish correspondents
at all large Finnish cities, and these
provincial newsmen in wartime may
file news to their papers-through
the Helsinki censorship office-while
the foreign correspondents are for
hidden to telephone the provinces.
With its large staff. the A. P. is
able to cover the northern and east
ern fronts with men on the spot,
maintain a 24-hour service in Hell
sinki and have men available for
dashes elsewhere as the news
breaks.
Communication between Finland
and the outside world so far has not
been seriously affected by the war.
Correspondents may use either tele-
phone or cable. The telephone is
faster and generally is used to
transmit urgent news.