Evening star., 1941-08-11
Russian Says Firms
Cross Lines in Large
Numbers 10 Give Up
Red Star Observer
Declares Soldiers Lack
Former Will to Fight
By ERSKINE CALDWELL,

MOSCOW, Aug. live have
been taking so many Finnish pris-
oners who voluntarily cross our
lines on the Karelian Peninsula that
the novelty has worn off and I
don't go to see them unless there
is something particular 1 want to
find out" Lev Slavin. military
observer for Red Star, told me.
Slavin, who wears the badge of
honor and medal for bravery in
Mongolia in 1889. was in Moscow
for two days before returning to
the front.
He said large numbers of pri-
Yates surrendered, but it was un-
common for officers to give up.
He explained this by quoting this
story told to lin by Finnish pris-
oner:
In our unit there's lieutenant
who told me that being a private
l could surrender to the Soviets If
wanted to, but that he couldn't
do 1t because he didn't think the
Russians would believe him because
he was an officer
Slavin said that when the Red
Army wanted a Finnish officer to
question, they had to send out and
capture one and in such cases he
was not always an unwilling pris-
oner. He said members of the Red
Army regiment who opposed the
Firms a year and half ago found
it difficult TO believe they were the
same people. He said at that time
the Firms would not give up for
any reason, but would fight until
they died"
No Longer Want to Fight.
But now, Slavin said, they didn't
want to fight, and gave up in large
numbers at the slightest oppor-
tunity. He called the present Fin
nish Army a pale imitation of the
German Army
How long the Firms can hold
out" Slavin said, depends upon
what help Germany will give them
and when the Soviet Union will
force an attack upon them"
According to him the food situa-
ton in Finland is indescribably bad
not only for the civilian popula-
ton but among the soldiers as
well. He said timed food issued
by the Finnish Army contained
small nourishment and that the
canned meat contained only a small
piece of meat with the remainder
of the contents potatoes and cereal.
1t was said that engagements on
the Finnish front were in no way
comparable to those south of the
Baltic Sea because the terrain was
swampv and there were many lakes.
There are many streams and deep
woods along the entire front.
Slavin said Finnish prisoners
made much better impression on
Red Army men than German pris-
oners. He said the Firms had human
faces and conducted themselves
with human dignity.
Il can't say that about the Ger
mans" he said. They are machines
and not human beings"
Depending on Tanks.
Slavin. who also had visited the
Estonian sector of the northwest
front said the Germans had put
full dependence on tanks and motor
lied equipment in that region.
Il recently witnessed the manner
in which the Germans put so much
trust in tanks that it was their un-
doing in this particular instance"
he said
They sent about $50 tanks into
rapid movement and we allowed
them to go as far as they wanted
to. Then We cut off their supplv
line and prevented fuel from reach
Ing them. The Germans ran out of
gas and couldn't go forward or re-
treat. They dug their tanks as deem
INTO the ground as thev could. Most
OF them dug down so deep that only
the turrets were above ground. We
let them alone for a while and then
thev began firing at us.
Instead of returning their fire
we sent out aviation over the 450
tanks and blasted every one of them
out Of the ground"
NOT single tank returned to
the German lines"
Slavln said another time he wit
messed German ATTEMPT to take q
Russian position with infantry
carving machine guns.
Ten or II large tanks came to-
ward us and when within range of
our trenches suddenly turned paraI- |
lei. The tanks were travelling at |
ABOUT 10 kilometers an hour (about |
A m. p. h) and at first we couldn't
ngure out what the Germans were
up to. Then we saw infantrvmen
jumping off fast-moving tanks with |
machine guns. After emptying the |
tanks of infantrymen they returned
to German lines at a fast rate of |
speed
I'VE expected the Germans living |
on the ground with machine guns to |
open flre on our position but when
we sent a patrol out to investigate
we found that almost every German
was injured in some way or else his
machine gun had become disabled
Some Of the German prisoners
We took told us they had been
ordered to jump off the tanks while
going 10 kilometers an hour and
they weren't able to survive the
shock of the fall Most of them had
broken arms and legs or brain
conclusions"
(Copyrighted, 1e41, by Newspaper PM. ynr