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Foreign Air Intelligence.

10

44. Japanese naval aircraft bombed the Hanoi-Kunming railway on the 1st and on the 3rd February. On the 1st a train was hit and wrecked, and it is estimated that repair to the railway will take one month. About 150 casualties occurred among the passengers in the train, including five French killed. This railway is a French undertaking of international interest. A previous bombing attack on the same line was reported in paragraph 33 of Résumé No. 20, and it would appear that the Japanese are attempting to deny the use of this line to the Chinese. The military value of the Hanoi-Kunming line lies in its importance as an import route for war material and particularly for liquid oil, of which China is already short.

45. It is understood that many Japanese aircraft are now stationed in and around the Island of Jalvit (Marshall Islands), and that large oil storage tanks are under construction in this group of islands.

RUSSO-FINNISH HOSTILITIES.

46. It is now learnt through a reliable source that the Soviet submarine previously reported to have been sunk by a mine on Christmas Day was 8. 2, one of the new modern submarines of 900 tons. According to Finnish broadcasts, considerable damage was done on the 1st February to Soviet warships and ship- yards during an air raid on Kronstadt. Finnish planes, after a reconnaissance flight on the following day, reported that fires were still burning. A press report states that the Swedish steamer Wirgo, 657 tons, was sunk on the 6th February by Russian bombers near Mariehamn capital of the Aland Islands. She was in company with five other ships en route from Turku to Stockholm.

47. As a result of the measures taken against Soviet naval action it is now impossible to obtain safe access to the Gulf of Bothnia without the services of a minefields pilot. The channel is patrolled and narrow and can be covered by gunfire. Guns are mounted on the Swedish mainland, and the Swedes have loaned field guns to the Finns to act as mobile armament. These have been mounted temporarily, and a Finnish commission is now in Stockholm negotiating for naval guns to improve the anti-aircraft land defences.

48. The week has seen hard fighting on both sides of Lake Ladoga and renewed activity elsewhere; there have, however, been no major developments, though the Finns have gained a considerable local success on the north shore of Lake Ladoga.

On

49. The fighting on the Karelian Isthmus has been particularly severe. the 1st February the Red Army attacked with two divisions and a large number of tanks, in an effort to break through in the Summa sector. This attack penetrated the Finnish position, but the Red troops were later ejected. Since then the Red Army has maintained a steady succession of smaller attacks in the same sector. These tactics appear to be designed to exhaust the Finns and to obtain an eventual break-through by cumulative effect. Though very expensive in men and material, they must, to some extent, be achieving their object. The handling of the Soviet troops shows some improvement over former standards.

North of Lake Ladoga, the Soviet drive to relieve the sorely-tried force in the Kitela area was held east of Loimola. Finnish operations developed satisfactorily and by the 4th February the Finns had dispersed the greater part of the force and captured much war material. The Russian force at Kitela originally comprised two divisions, but it is possible that some part of it success- fully made good its retreat and it seems unlikely that more than one Soviet division was heavily involved. Pressure on the Mannerheim line may force the Finns to divert troops from this sector and render further exploitation of the ir success difficult.

The Soviet 54th Infantry Division, in the Kuhmoniemi area, is in some difficulty and is being supplied chiefly by air. Soviet troops in the Suomussalmi and Salla sectors are attacking, but the Finns appear to be holding them without difficulty. An interesting item of news is that the Russians now say that the Finns have a 14-mm. anti-tank gun which will penetrate any tank.

52. The Soviet Air Force has been very active in attacks both on Finnish troops and on the civil population and there are indications that they have marked down a number of towns for systematic destruction. On the Karelian Isthmus Russian aircraft have bombed and machine-gunned Finnish troops by night, for the first time.

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