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Russo-German Liaison.

38. Up to the outbreak of war the Service Attachés of the German Embassy in Moscow consisted of the Military and Assistant Military Attachés and the Naval Attaché. Since then 5 additional officers have been added, including an Air Attaché.

RUSSO-FINNISH HOSTILITIES.

39. The Russians are reported to have commenced minelaying from aircraft in the Gulf of Finland. As a rule, the mines have broken through the ice and left the parachute lying on top. Finnish surveying sections have been chartering the positions with a view to removing the mines as soon as the ice permits. When, however, the mine falls in a cleared channel, sweeping operations are almost impossible owing to the narrowness of the channels. The mines are non-magnetic.

40. It is thought that another Russian submarine has been sunk in the minefield off Märket, North-East of the Aaland Strait, but there is no conclusive evidence.

A reliable report states that the Kirov is now in dock at Libau. works are seriously damaged and one of her funnels is shot away. expected to be ready for sea for about two months.

Her upper She is not

41. A considerable number of Finnish mines are being exploded by the action of the pack ice. This, however, was expected, and there is a reserve of mines ready for laying in the spring. The two small minelayers building at Åbo have so far escaped damage in spite of the frequent bombing of that place. They are to be sent over to Sweden as soon as they can be moved, but difficulty is being experienced in getting engines for them. The latter were originally ordered from Germany. It is also hoped to get the icebreaker Tarmo, which was lately damaged by a bomb, over to Sweden for repair.

The position as regards ammunition for the coast forts is still bad. The forts on Ladoga and at Koivisto are firing a considerable quantity, and ammuni- tion is being obtained by denuding other coastal forts and batteries which are not yet in action. Replacements are urgently needed, and we are supplying 2,000 rounds of 8-inch and 15,000 rounds of old 6-inch ammunition.

Convoys are still running to Sweden with the help of icebreakers, and a regular night service of lorries has been started across the ice between Vaasa and Umeå (in Sweden). The crossing takes from two to three hours.

42. The chief news of the week has been the Russian offensive on the Karelian Isthmus which continued with unabated pressure up to the 17th February, By that date the Finns had been compelled to withdraw from the forward defences of the Mannerheim system between Summa and the Vuoksi River, where attacks had developed their maximum intensity. In this sector the Russians have penetrated to about eight miles on a front of twenty to twenty-five miles, and they are now approximately half-way through the Mannerheim defensive system. The Soviet attacks were not confined to the sector between Summa and the River Vuoksi; important subsidiary attacks were made across the ice towards Koivisto, in the Gulf of Finland, and in the Taipale sector in the east of the Isthmus. The position in the Koivisto area is still obscure, as Russian claims to have captured the fortress are denied by the Finns. The Russians also claim to have captured Rionsaari Island (three miles south-west of Johannes), but there is no confirmation of this. Whatever the truth of these claims, there is no doubt that the Finnish forces in the extreme west of the Isthmus are in a dangerous position, as their line forms a salient sixteen miles deep and only eight to twelve miles wide. Their position is not, however, necessarily as critical as might appear since the ice along the coast will carry traffic and offers alternative lines of supply and retreat. On the eastern half of the Isthmus front the Russian troops appear to have made little progress, but heavy fighting is still going on, especially in the Taipale sector. Since the 17th February the Russian offensive on the Isthmus has definitely decreased in violence, but it is too early to say whether their effort is spent or whether they are merely moving their artillery and regrouping their forces preparatory to a further attack. If they have the means

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