Word: isthmus
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...where they would burn homes and civilian morale. Northeast of Lake Ladoga,* Red tanks and infantry tried to make headway where three of their divisions had been whittled to bits. As usual, they were driven back. At Taipale, Vuosalmi and along the Vuoksi in the centre of the Karelian Isthmus, tired Finnish defenders stood firm under fresh concatenations of heavy Red artillery, replying with their own shells to break up the enemy's attempts to advance. At the Mannerheim Line's right centre, north of its gaping break-through at Summa, the Red juggernaut inched forward...
...Helsinki, the Finnish Government tentatively issued the following announcement: "The Soviet Government is believed to have planned the presentation of demands to Finland more far-reaching in character than those presented last autumn." Paris-Soir printed rumored Russian demands as telephoned from Stockholm: 1) the whole Karelian Isthmus, including Viipuri; 2) all territory northeast of Lake Laatokka, including Sortavala; 3) the northern part of Finnish Lapland, including Petsamo; 4) a naval base at Hanko, plus the whole Hanko peninsula. The demands were said to have been presented in the form of a 24-hour ultimatum. For that piece of reportage...
...line the Finns were expected to make their next stand. The eastern end of the Mannerheim Line would eventually have to be abandoned also, with that part of the Finnish Army probably retreating to join the forces north of Lake Laatokka. Apparently the Finns hoped, by thus splitting their Isthmus army, to harass the Russian rear with guerrilla tactics, keep the Russians too busy to organize a drive on Helsinki before spring...
Though there was no sign of a Finnish collapse, not even the Finns could deny that they had suffered a bitter defeat. The Russians had rounded the bend of the Isthmus, were only 150 miles from Helsinki. Before them lay, not a carefully built line of fortifications, but a series of makeshift positions, with half an army to defend them. And while spring's thaw would make the going tougher for the Russians, it would also thaw out their frozen northern army, bring better bombing weather. As if to give the Finns a taste of what is in store...
From Helsinki, LIFE'S Cameraman Carl Mydans broadcast to the U. S. a description of the fighting on the Isthmus. Likening the war to a football game, Cameraman Mydans left little doubt as to how desperate it had become. Said he: "Last week Russia sent in her first team and the war went into the last quarter...