Moscow, Dec. 23.
Soviet Russia never believed she would be able to subdue Finland by "blitzkrieg" (lightning war) for she always knew of the Finns' many fortifications and the great difficulties lying ahead of an advancing army in the form of thick forests, innumerable lakes and the extremely cold climate the Leningrad General Staff announced in a communique today.
"Three weeks after the outbreak of Finnish-Soviet hostilities, the communique declared today:
"Finnish territory renders advance most difficult. There is a lack of roads and the terrain is broken up by impassable forests and innumerable, very deep lakes. The terrain, moreover, is cut by lines of defence, artillery nests and machinegun positions provided with reinforced concrete dugouts.
"For four years," the communique alleged, "Finland constructed these fortifications with the help of three great foreign nations. These nations disputed the securing of influence in Finland with a view to obtain bases for an eventual attack against Len-ingram and Moscow. The Soviet Army knew of these difficulties and never thought that it would be able to defeat the Finns by blitzkrieg.'
"The Karelian Isthmus," the communique pointed out, "is the most difficult sector for it is covered with a thick network of fortifications. Nevertheless, even in this sector, the daily advance recorded by Soviet troops has been three kilometres (2 miles) on an average. At some points, the Mannerheim Line already has been broken by Soyict forces, "the Leningrad General Staff cozcluded.—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.