Evening star., 1941-08-04

Terrain Of KareIia
Is Ally Of Russians
On Finnish Front
Arctic Jungle Makes
BIitzkrieg Impossible;
Woods Extremely Dense
rhs Stars Special News service.

Ths Stars Special News Service.
WITH FINNISH FORCES IN
EASTERN KARELIA.-The Rus
sian Army has . powerful ally for
the protection Of its far northern
lifeline. the Murmansk railway. It's
an Arctic jungle" along the frontier
which would take the blitz out Of
any blitzkrieg
The Karelian terrain Is one Of the
greatest handicaps to the Finnish
advance.
Military experts agree that it COM
pares In summertime with the worst
handicap Of mountainous countries.
Karelia Is not mountainous.
Explaining the handicaps, Gen.
Siilasvuo, Finnish commander In
this sector, pointed to great stretches
Of swampland on the military map
covering the walls Of his head
quarters.
During the wars of past centuries,
the general remarked, Russia always
launched her invasions of this region
In the winter when lakes and
swamps were frozen and could bear
horses, cannon and massed men.
The woods are so dense here that
a soldier cannot see five yards ahead
of his nose" Gen Siilasvuo said. In
the winter Of 1939-4o the 144th and
163d Soviet divisions were wiped
out at Suomussalmi partly because
OF this visibility handicap when they
were on the advance.
Reds Expert Fighters.
The general was asked If the
Russians were good woodsmen.
Russian troops pitted against
us have been situated in these
parts for years and are expert
fighters in forest terrain" he re-
Piled, adding that the Russian
forces here were composed largely
Of the same units he fought in the
previous war.
There commander is Gen. Gau-
sevskiJ, he said, and it was Gau-
sevskij's 54th Division which Gen.
Sillasvuo claimed to have sur
rounded at Kuhmo and was "ex-
terminating unit by unit" when
the Moscow peace of 1910 ended
hostilities.
He paid tribute to the Russians
courage, surrounded Soviet de-
tachments often fight to the last
man." he said.
Twenty thousand lakes together
with countless swamps and hun
oreds OF rivers, many of them with
rapids, tend to make the Karelian
link perhaps the strongest in the
chain OF Soviet defenses facing Fin
land.
Blitz warfare such as the Ger
mans are waging further south
has no chance in this wilderness
Mechanized equipment hits an OBJ
stacle with every revolution of the
caterpillar tread or wheel.
Roads Are Impossible.
The ice age carved and chopped
this landscape into a strange pat
tern. Glacial boulders as big as
houses fortify woods on every side
Some of the lakes are ancient fjords
cut OH from the sea when the Arctic
Ocean withdrew.
What few roads there are in Ka-
relia are almost without exception
undltched lumber trails. Before any
vehicle can make headway, an ad-
vance guard has to clear the way.
sometimes having to chop out COM
pletely new trails through virgin
forests.
Roads must be bolstered by deep
sunk piling covered by logs several
layers thick and then padded with
earth. Often as I travelled through
this war zone, the road rocked un-
derneath like a raft. Lakes and
rivers must be crossed either by
boat or over pontoons. The Rus
SLAMS have blasted all bridges.
Riding in an automobile in this
region is painful experience. Every
few yards the wheels plunge into
holes, bounce OF rocks or sink into
the nire.
Truckloads of wounded soldiers
become even more pitiful sights
when you remember the jolts suf-
fered by one sound OF limb.