Tüdrukute klubi tele-ekraanil

Tuvastasin eile tele-ekraanilt Tüdrukute Klubi liikme Veronika Elmeti, kes rääkis söömis-sõltuvusest. Oli teine end väga ära ehtinud, nagu vene jõulupuu:

A nice video/ Üks huvitav video

on historic theme/ sellel ajaloo teemal:

Üks põnev tagasiside/küsimus puudega inimeste kohta ja meie vastus

Saabus selline tagasiside:

Ma lugesin teie blogi :) See on hea, see on isegi teisisõnu super.

Siiski jäin mõtesse, et räägitakse tänapäeval väga palju seksist. Jah, tõesti. Seks on hea. See on nagu üks osa igapäeva runtiinist. Osa meie elust. Väga hea, et on olemas inimesed, näiteks nagu teie, kes tahavad ja viitsivad rääkida seksist. Mul on suur sõprusringkond ja tõepoolest mitte keegi ei julge rääkida seksist (väljaarvatud mina).

Mitte sellepärast ma ei kirjuta teile. Asi oli siis nii, et teie blogi maht on suur ja ma ei suuda sealt nüüd kõike korraga lugeda, aga kirjutage natuke puudega inimestest. Miks? No ma kolisin Soomes. Tundsin, et Eestimaa jääb liiga väikseks mulle. Just need inimesed, kes mind depresiivses Eesti väikelinnas ümbritsevad, räägivad samu jutte ja arvavad, et nad on täiuslikud. Täpselt nagu Ingrid. Ja siin Soomes avastasin, et inimesed on väga julmad puudega inimeste vastu. Okei, olemas on kõik mis vajalik, iga ratastooliga inimene saab poodi, linna ja riik aitavad niipalju kui võimalik. Puudega inimese abistaja saab normaalselt palka. Ütleme, et elab nende rahadega ilusti ära. Aga inimesed vaatavad viltu. Näevad tänaval ratastoolis inimest, naeravad talle näkku (95% on purjus noored). Aga siis äkitselt tuli mulle meelde, et Tartus, kesklinnas, tahtis saada mees poodi, kus ta peab ise uksed avama. Mitte keegi ei aidanud teda. Mitte keegi. Ja jälle ma olen samas kohas. Vahet pole, kas ma elan Soomes või Eestis. Inimesed on ikka sama ülbed, kui Ingrid oma parklakohaga.

K.

Inno kommentaar:

ka mina olen seda tähele pannud, kuid Soome osas on see minu jaoks üllatus. Ma arvasin, et seal on asjad paremad. Sest Eestis, olgem ausad, ei pääse näiteks liikumispuudega inimene õieti kuhugi. Ja see, nagu aru saan, tuleneb sellest, et invaühing, või kes neid tegevuslube asutustele jagab, vaatab asjale läbi sõrmede, selle ühingu esindajad võtavad allkirja eest raha ja alkoholi, nagu vanal heal nõuka ajal, kui need asjad niimoodi käisid. Ja kellelgi pole sooja ega külma, poliitikud vaatavad samuti läbi sõrmede, sest puudega inimesi on vähe ja valimistel pole neilt suuremat toetust loota. Kurb lugu, samas sõnades justkui kõik ütlevad, et puudega inimene on ka inimene, neid peab kaitsma ja aitama. Tegelikkus on sootuks vastupidine. Neile justkui öeldaks, et miks sa siia sündisid üldse! Kärva ära juba! Nagu inimene oleks ise alati süüdi, et ta sündis siia ilma, või et temaga mingi õnnetus juhtus.

Tubli, Edgar!

Väljavõte Edgar Savisaare blogist.

Lahe oli Delfist ja Edgar Savisaare blogist lugeda, et ta veedab oma suve mõnusasti Hundisilmal ning loeb Kamasuutrat. Kohe näha, et inimene, mitte robot.

Meie veedame ka suve ühes väikses armsas Eesti linnakeses ja loeme raamatuid. Kamasuutra on mul, tõsi küll, juba läbi loetud ning see on tõesti üks väärt raamat. Aga kui juba suvelektüüri üle arutlemiseks läks, siis mõned minu suveramatud: Apollodorose "Raamatukogu" (parim pilt Vana-Kreeka mütoloogiast, aga kõrvale võiks vaadata Hesiodost), Plutarchose "Elulood", vanad viikingi saagad (praegu on käsil "Kuningas Hrolf Kraki saaga"), Jane Austeni "Uhkus ja eelarvamus", D.H. Lawrence'i "Pojad ja armastajad", Martin Amise uus romaan jm. Kui midagi kergemat tahan, siis võtan ette kas Dickensi "Pickwick klubi" või Cervantese "Don Quijote'i" - hea tuju on garanteeritud. Ja Piibli olen ma ka otsustanud, nui neljaks, selle suvega lõpuni lugeda, Moosese raamatud on juba läbi ning Markuse ja Matteuse evangeeliumid ka. Täitsa lahe lugemine, soovitan kõigile. Kui Aadama ja Eeva järeltulijate nimekirjast üle saate, siis läheb oi kui põnevaks - sekka viinajoomist ja hooramist ja muud intrigeerivat.

Edgar Savisaar kirjutab oma blogis ka, et on mõelnud, et saaks meiega hea meelega kokku ning vahetaks blogimise üle mõtteid. Mis saab meil sellise toreda ettepaneku vastu olla! Kohtume muidugi. Suvi ju!

P.S. Aga armsad blogilugejad, mida teie suvel loete?

Mis juhtus Eestis 1944. aasta sügisel/ What happened in Estonia during Fall 1944

Some more info searched out by Jerry Waters, an estophile:

The Times | September 21, 1944 A NEW BALTIC OFFENSIVE. DOUBLE THRUST IN ESTONIA RUSSIANS ADVANCE 45 MILES

The following Order of the Day from Marshal'Stalin to Marshal Govorov was issued last night:- Troops.of the Leningrad front, having passed to the offensive from the area north of Tartu IDorpatJ, broke through powerful German defenses and, in four days' offensive operations, advanced about 45 miles over a front of 75 miles, liberating more than 1,500 inhabited places. These, included Mustve [45 miles south-east of Rakvere on the north-west shore of Lake Peipus] and Ayinurne [35 miles south- east of Rakverej. At the same time troops of the Leningrad front went over to the offensive west of Narva and, in three days' fighting, advanced to a depth of 37 miles. occupying more than 300 inhabited places, including Vaskanarva [25 miles south of Narva] and Sonda [a railway junction 18 miles east of Rakverej.



The Times | September 25, 1944

FLIGHT TO THE SEA GERMANS ATTACKED IN PORTS

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN MOSCOW. Sept. 14 ... When Moscow's guns, followed by the playing of the Soviet and Estonian national anthems saluted Marshal Govorov and his men for the capture of Parnu on the Gulf of Riga, the Germans had been forced to relinquish all Estonia except the hinterland some 40 miles deep behind Haapsaiu port and two islands, Saaremaa (Oesel) and Hiiumaa (Dagol, the scene of a heroic Russian stand in the early months of' the war. The thrust made by tanks and infantry who covered more than 50 miles in a dark, far outpaced the enemy's futile attempts to organize resistance along the main road from the north-east, and many vehicles are reported to have fallen intact into the hands of the Russian,. who cutoff lengths of the highway in. a series of neat flanking moves.

The Times | September 26, 1944

LAST STAGE IN ESTONIA BATTLE FOR THE I ISLANDS RUSSIANS CLOSING ON RIGA

The. Russian High Command announced last night:- In west and south Estonia our troops developed their offensive to-day and captured more than 800 inhabited localities, including the port of Haapsalu. West of Rujiena 125 miles north-west of Velga] and Valmiera our troops captured the town and railway station of Nlasswate and more than 200 other places.

MOSCOW. SEPT. 25 The Red Army's whirlwind campaign in Estonia and Latvia, now in its second week has become a battle for the narrowing strip of the Estonian coastline, with the islands of Oesel, Dago, and Moon that: enclose the Gulf of Riga. and for Riga itself. In the north the time when the remnants of the German Sixteenth Army are driven into the sea may be very near. There are still strong forces to be disposed of on the approaches to Riga. Perhaps the most significant of the latest news is the passage of the Baltic Red Fleet through the Gulf of Finland, for the Germans laid many mines in these waters., the chief region of resistance inland is now in the low hills of the central Latvian plateau and on the north bank of the Dvina. The Russian successes in the Valmiera region have had their- effect on the fighting in progress on the main Pskov-Riga highway, which crosses the northern part of THE plateau. There is still a fairly large German force south of the Ptskov road on or about the Gutlbene railway, but it vas forced back across the Gauija yesterday and was last re- ported in retreat to the south-west. It will need to move quickly to avoid being squeezed between the closing jaws of the Russian advance, for SaturdayVs break-through cast of Riga was on a high scale, and there are no natural barriers between it and the Latvian capital. Meanwhile General Bagrarnyan's men, still holding the enemy from MitaLu on their left flank, stand on the lower Dvina outside Riga. a broad stream which is difficult to cross. As THE Russians objective is the (destruction of THE German armies it is unlikely that any attempt will be made to storm Riga until THE forces north of the river have come forward.

The Times | October 12, 1944

The Campaign in the North
Since the Russians took Tallinn by storm on September 22, their progress towards the complete reconquest of the Baltic republics has been both continuous and rapid. With a strategic caution none the less well judged because it disappointed the excessive hopes of some who expected the swift advance to Kovno in the summer to be followed by an immediate invasion of East Prussia, they refrained from stepping upon German soil while the group of hostile armies distributed between the Niemen and the Gulf of Finland still impended over their flank. The enemy, for his part, planned to use the threat of these armies to impose the greatest possible delay on the Russian advance, even at the cost of seeing them eventually cut off and prevented from taking part in the final campaign for the defence of the Reich. The defection of Finland from the German cause gravely weakened their position, by giving to the allies control of the northern shores of the gulf; and four days after the fall of Tallinn the German oversea news agency acknowledged that the Russians had occupied the whole of Estonia. The stage now in progress is the reduction of the German garrisons in the two southern republics of Latvia and Lithuania, the continued resistance of which has come more and more to depend on their capacity to hold the great port of Riga. Riga, protected by a heavily fortified zone, has been partially invested since the beginning of August; indeed at one time the Russians, by penetrating to the shores of the Gulf of Riga on the west of the city, cut the whole German force in two, until a counter-offensive in the third week cap- tured Tukkum and reopened a narrow corridor of communication with the armies to the north. The Russian armies, advanc- ing from the occupation of Estonia, have now closed in upon Riga until it is encircled on the landward side at distances ranging from about five to thirty-five miles. The enemy has ordered the town to be evacuated of civilians-presumably of Letts as well as of the large German colony. To complete the investment and make sure of preventing the escape of the garrison requires control of the approaches from the sea; and for this reason the Russians during the last fortnight have been fighting for the mastery of the two large islands that cover the mouth of the Gulf of Riga. They have cleared Dago the more northerly of the two, and most of the more southerly. Oesel: but on the latter a German force still clings tenaciously to the narrow peninsula of Soerwe, which juts out to within a few miles of their positions on the Latvian shore, and for the time being prevents Russian ships from entering the gulf. Meanwhile

The Times | October 17, 1944
EVOLUTION IN ESTONIA A SURVEY AFTER THE GERMAN WITHDRAWAL SOVIET SECURITY IN THE BALTIC
From Our Moscow Correspondent. (Who appears to be a Commie)

With their peculiar taste in bad jokes at the expense of weaker peoples, the German soldiers in the Lettland and Estland (Latvian and Estonian) garrisons referred to them as Fettland and Essenland, and, indeed, it was fattening and feeding they were up to there during their three years' occupation. These descendants of . the Knights of the Cross, who established themselves with methods no less cruel in Estonia 700 years ago, consumed the land's plenty, and when they had to leave they made the peasants drive their cattle before them, or scared them into flight. with tales of Russian frightfulness. They took the timber; they overworked the factories till the machines wore out, then blew them up. They brought nothing into Estonia except propaganda. Lacking thread as well as joy, the peasants stopped embroidering. A representative of the peasants of Harjumaa region, a burly, scowling fellow, who has come to Tallinn to report to the authorities, told how the occupation had affected his community of about 140 farm- steads. Jan Poeder was one of 50,000 Estonian farmers who received land under the 1940 reforms; his holding was in- creased to the extent of 30 acres, and that year for the first time he was able to discard homespun for a suit of manufactured cloth. The German occupation resulted in the revocation of both land reform acts of 1940 and 1919, though in their own in- terests the Germans dared not fully restore the feudal conditions in which the Baltic barons had farmed their Estonian estates. Instead, they were maintained through co- operatives or local authorities, with the vital difference that the State gave nothing in return, either in cash or in kind.

THE GUERRILLA MOVEMENT Thus Poeder, with his holding reduced to 10 acres, and with farming becoming increasingly unremunerative as the short- age of fertilizers, transport, and labour grew, was obliged to surrender half his rye crop, two thirds of his eggs, and 661b. of meat each year; for every pig in his sty half the meat, all the hide; most of the wool from every sheep slain; half the hide and a third of the meat from every ox slain. In return for this during three years he received one pair of wooden- soled boots. In addition he was obliged to meet the demands of German punitive forces frequently stationed in the village. Shortly before the Russian Baltic offensive the Germans ordered the peasants to assemble with their livestock for evacuation. In Poeder's village only 158 out of 1,400 peasants obeyed the order, the rest taking to the woods. In the confusion many lost their livestock. The 158 villagers who obeyed the German order disappeared. In effect, the German occupation re- established a class of poor peasants like that which had earlier existed in Estonia, but at the same time, by generally reducing the living standard of the entire farming community, it forfeited any political advantages that might have been gained by the return of land to richer peasants who had been one of the pillars of authoritarian government overthrown by the establishment of Soviet power in 1940.

The traditional anti-German feeling was revived in the country, and this appears to have prevailed decisively over certain anxieties about the possibility of collectivization resulting from a Russian victory. Evasion of German regulations became widespread. The guerrilla movement received general support, and the Germans' final measures aimed at stripping the country of its livestock were stubbornly resisted. Estonian officials conspired to cheat their masters in regard to deliveries, and German inspectors tended to turn a blind eye on sabotage if well-filled with bacon and schnapps. The Estonian guerrilla movement seems to have been as well led and effective as circumstances permitted. There were rarely fewer than 150.000 German troops in Estonia-at least one German for every seven Estonians. It was necessary for the guerrillas to work in bands of 50 to 80 men and for operative purposes in groups of five or six men. Various detachments were organized by a central command constantly in touch with the Red Army and with much the larger partisan forces in the Leningrad and Pskov regions. These guerrillas' activity was threefold. They played a kind of Robin Hood game in the countryside, protecting the poor and oppressed and exacting vengeance on local traitors; they spied on the land and passed information back to the Leningrad front: they carried out a series of daring, unnerving raids on important objectives. A young railway worker of the Petsere region described one characteristic operation thus:- We received the order to seize an important list of names from the German garrison. Wc made careful preparations and learned the password needed to get in and got hold of two German uniforms. Then we made a diversionary attack at another place in order to drain forces from the garrison. Eight of us in civilian dress with two others disguised as Germans then made for the objective. The password was given to the sentries, who thought it was more prisoners being brought in. We got past all the guards into a staff room, where we found six officers. We killed them quietly by stabbing them, searched them, got what we wanted, and left the way we came. But we had not gone far before our work was discovered. It was a question of ' Dai bog nogi " (with God's help, let's run for it), and all but two of us got away.

BARE CUPBOARDS Peasant resistance was matched by that of the workers. The Germans removed advantages which the poorer workers had gained in 1940, and went considerably farther than the Estonian Government of 1933, in suppressing workers' rights. Wages were reduced. A lack of consumers' goods caused severe hardships, especially among those elements of the population which had little in their cup- boards when invasion came. Without money or goods to barter. workers were unable to use the black market available to the more well,to-do townspeople and peasants. Tallinn workers resisted Ger- man attempts to wreck the power station and other public services on the eve of their departure. Contacts with the inhabitants of Tallinn during walks through the narrow medieval streets revealed that, if the peasants and workers entertain little doubt about the advantages of liberation, there are others whom the events of the past four years have left in a confused state of mind. I found none who expressed approval of the Nazi regime in Estonia, and it is doubtful if more than a very small proportion of those who fled to Germany and Sweden on the eve of liberation had any real sympathy for the Germans.

TALLINN A NAVAL BASE The Estonian Government. which has been in exile during the last three years, has restored the 1941 status quo. Dispossessed peasants have already taken over their former holdings. The law permits private enterprises where less than 10 persons are employed. No collectivization of land is envisaged, but voluntary cooperative movements are encouraged. Freedom of religion is guaranteed. and an organ for regulating the relations between the Church and the State has been created. An Estonian army, in wlhich most of the officers are Estonian, many of the former Estonian army, is being formed. Already a corps of several divisions, raised in the Soviet Union. larger, better equipped than any army Estonia has had in the past, is now increasing with the addition of many who deserted from the forces which the Germans raised during the occupation. The Government includes a number of Liberals and Socialists, and its program indicates that it is less conscious of the need for legislative hurry than during the feverish period before the war. The measure of popular support it gains will, however. probably depend more on THC methods used to carry out the program than on its contents. Russian spokesmen in Tallinn have made it clear that Tallinn is destined to become an important naval base for the Baltic Fleet and that Russia does not intend to permit anyone to interfere with plans for making Tallinn a bulwark of Soviet security.

The Times | October 25, 1944

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES Sir,-I was very glad to sec your Moscow Correspondent pointing out once again the age-old anti-German feeling in Estonia: " the traditional anti-German feeling was revived in the country," he writes in your issue of October 17. It needs explaining, however, why this antipathy was less obvious in 1941, at the end of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States. The reason, is that tens of thousands of Estonians escaped to Finland and to Sweden. It is that the Soviet occupation of 1940-41 was not so. beneficial as your Correspondent implies. Will two easily verified examples suffice ? During the so-called authoritarian period of Estonian independence (1934-38) the trade unions lost, true enough, their political rights, but only these. During the Soviet occupation they obtained the right, if a privilege it is, to be directed by the Communist Party spokesmen sent from abroad. And this direction applied in political as in all other matters of the trade unions. Secondly, as to the cloths made of " manufactured cloth," in independent Estonia a laborer had to toil for two weeks to be able to buy a suit. and these days to buy a pair of shoes: under Soviet occupation he had to labor over six weeks for a similar suit, and a fortnight for a pair of shoes. Yours faithfully. Mng's OLUcge,

Mõned uudised suvest 1944/ Some news about Estonia from summer 1944

Such info searched out by Jerry Waters, an estophile.

June 28, 1944
GERMAN TROOPS IN HELSINKI . FIRST "TOKEN OF SOLIDARITY" RIBBENTROP'S PROMISES

STOCKHOLM, June 27.-German troops marched through the streets of Helsinki to-night towards the Finnish eastern front, as the first token of the "solidarity and perfect understanding" between Finland and Germany. A detachment of Germans marched past the Finnish Parliament building while the deputies were in session. -A.vsociated Press. FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT STOCKHOLM, JUNE 27 According to the best-informed circlcs here Ribbentrop, during his three-day visit to Helsinki, succeeded in persuading the Linkomies Cabinet to shelve their plan for the reconstruction of the Government and to stay in office and continue the war against Russia at Germany's side. It is less certain whether this is the last word in the development of the Finnish situa- tion. The newspaper Aftoni Tidningen reports that Ribbentrop went to Helsinki after Marshal Mannerheim had refused an invitation io Berlin. The last-minute cancellation of the secret session of Parliament last night indicates that the Cabinet is fearful of Parliament's attitude, for the intention was to announce this newdeci- sion then. Strong opposition i.s certain within the *Social Democratic, Liberal, and Swedish Party groups. The postponement of the Social Democratic Party congress scheduled for July 1, which is announced to-day, may also have something to do with Tanner's wish to avoid an open clash with his party colleagues. Since German threats have lost most of their sting, Ribbentrop's foremost means of persuasion was the promise of increased mili- tary help from Germany. Some anti-tank formations, it is reported, are being shipped from Estonia to the Viipuri front.

The Times | June 29, 1944
KEITEL IN HELSINKI
From Our Correspondent STOCKHOLM, JUNE 28 The chief of the German armed forces, Field Marshal Keitcl, has arrived in Hel- sinki to organize German military rein- forcements on the Finnish front. The notorious S.S. Gcneral Sepp Dietrich, chief of the " Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler," is also expected. German spokes- men make much of German chances of restoring the Finnish military position, and specifically describe the fall of Viipuri as " purely temporary." A curious remark by one Berlin spokes- man to-night indicates that General Dietl, hitherto commander of the German divi- sions in north Finland, may be out of the picture. He referred to rumours abroad -which nobody here has heard-that Dieti had been killed in an aeroplane crash, and said he was not in a position to confirm them. In addition to an anti-tank brigadc from Estonia, tile Germans have sent an infantry division to southl Finland, the first to operate outside Dictl's north Finnish sector. The Lufivaffe have also contributed fighters and fighter-bombers for the defence of the Karelian isthmus. The announcement of. Ribbentrop's visit to Finland, which was published in Helsinki last night, showvs that President Ryti and the Forcign Minister, Ramsay. committed Finiand to continued cooperation with Germany with- out even formally consulting Parliament. The announcement says that Ribbentrop complied with the Finnish request for armed aid. Actually, it is authoritatively learnt that Ryti and Ramsay, in return for this promise, pledged Finland to political solidarity with Germany and renounced the right to make a separate peacc-an undertaking wvhich Finland has refused or wriggled out of several timcs before. As the Government have obviously given up any idea of submitting-so Parliament thc ne'v arrangement with Germany-involving com- plete abandonment of the hitherto jealously guarded, principle of Finland's " own war `- the only constitutional way which rc- mains of forcig a debate is for the Opposi- tion to put a formal questicT, to the Prime Minister. This step is now being considered in the Opposition camp. Parliament will sit again on Friday. Swedish newspapers of all political shades to-day, with striking unanimity. deplore the Finnish pledge to continue the war at Germany's side. and most of them represent it as tantamount to sealing Finland's doom

The Times | July 4, 1944
RUSSIANS' HOT PURSUIT

From Our Military Correspondent The Russian pursuit has continued at an almost incredible speed. In previous offensives this year and last the Russians have been handicapped by inadequate mechanization; they lacked motorized divisions and were therefore unable to give proper support and backing to their armoured thrusts. On this occasion they appear to be better off, and it is said that lorry-borne infantry is following close upon the heels of the armour. Another factor in their favour is that they have so little armour against them. The Germans are believed to hold most of their remaining Panzzer divisions on this front south of the Pripet. The transfer to France of a whole Panzzer army corps is particularly crippling to German defence in view of the deterioration of the infantry-and, incidentally, it may be because of this deterioration that Roimmel is using his Panzer divisions so largely for defence at Caen: seven Panzer or Panizer S.S. divisions to only four inlfantry divisions. n f The Germans themselves state that their forces on the Bcresina vere extricated and felt back, hotly pursued by the Russians, to the area of Minsk. But on both flanks the Russians were moving parallel with the retreat, and moviig faster; and their loiig tcntacles have now closed in on the city. Nothing could be more certain than that it has been impos- sible to clear Minsk, which is understood to have been the main German advanced post on the northern front, of its stores. The Russians must have captured a great quantity of booty. A YAWNING BREACH The Germans are hanging on to the flanks of the break-through, attempting at all costs to prevent the yawning breach from widening still further. At Polotsk the garrison held its ground for some time, but has now been driven out, and previously the Russians had been pouring througlh south of the towvn, moving iS miles in 24 hours. Again, the Germans claim to have checked the Russians west of Slutsk, in the southern arm of the enveloping movement round Minsk, but again the Rttssians have swept past it. A double thleat to the trunk line frotn Warsaw to the nortlh is developing at Vilna and Dvinsk, especially at Vilna. Should this rail- way be ctit it is deemed untikely that the enemy would be able to maintain his northern front for long. He might have to clear out of Estonia ancd fall back to some position such as from the Gulf of Riga to the western side of the Pripet marshes, using the middle stretch of the Niemen where it would serve his pur- pose by running conformably to his dis- positions. This would leave him still in touch with his Volhynian and Galiciati front south of the Plripet. But lie seems to be feeling no small anlxiety about that front also. As our Special Correspondent in Stockholm reported yester- day, the Germans prophesy that this will be the scene of the main Russian offensive this summer. They probably hold it in greater strength, but if the offensive against it is, as they suggest, going to put that in White Russia into the shade, they may well wonder what it is going to be like. Within a day or two it will be apparent whether the Germans can avoid complete collapse oti their hard-pressed White Russian front. They have not yet reached that stage, except locally, but they do not appear to be far from it. The official report yesterday annotinced the death in action of two full generals and otle lieutenant-general, an extra- ordinary occurrence wllich throws fresh light on the nature of the fighting.

The Times | July 12, 1944
THE DRIVE TO THE BALTIC

The victorious Russian armies, exploit- ing their triumph in the battle of Minsk, stride westward day by day with ever more majestic authority. They have conceded no chance of recovery from the great German collapse. Although it is probabie that the enemy has, called reinforcements from north and south to the 'support of his dissolving armies on the north-central front, nothing that he can do gives any suggestion that he can reorganize suffi- ziently to fight another pitched battle. ,ll pretence of maintaining a continuous front has been abandoned; and where ordered formations can still be held' together in the path of the irresistible advance, the best they can do is to shut themselves up infortresses, as they have n the notable strategic centre of Vilna. rhe Russians waste no time before these positions, but sweep on, well knowing that :hey need not be anxious about the result )f a siege where the enemy is in no condi- ion to attempt relief. They have pene- :rated well into Lithuania, and the frontier )f East Prussia lies only.some eighty miles shead. At the present astonishing rate of sdvance, which there is nothing to check !xcept the difficulties of a lengthening line 3f communications, they would. stand on aerman soil within a few days. This is a time for looking at large maps nd taking comprehensive views. Survey- ng the whole area of the three Baltic -epublics, there are two obvious routes by s'hich the Russians may march to the sea; hey lie on either side of the jutting mass f Courland. One, to which the capture 3r masking of Dvinsk would be the pre- iminary step, leads down the valley of the Dvina to the Latvian port of Riga. The )ther is still s!prter, and has been already 3artly opened up by the thrust of the irmoured columns past Vilna. It follows he valley of the Niemen through Kovno md Tilsit into the territory of Memel, nce a 'protectorate of the League of .ations, which was added to East Prussia ay one of the earliest acts of Nazi aggres- ;ion. This is not only the shortest way to :he sea but the direct route to East Prussia, nd wouid have the advantage of cu'tting Aff an even larger group of armies than the ine from Dvinsk to Riga. If the Russians .hoose to pursue 4t-and, for all the enemy :an do to interfere, their choice is prac- tically free-they will complete a revolu- ionary transformation of the whole -astern front of war. XFirst and foremost, they are now cer- tain of winning the race of the United Nations for entry into the German Reich, an honour that none of their allies will grudge to a people who have endured so much and made so outstanding a contribu- tion to the common cause. The moral -ffect of this first invasion of Germany, which it is certain the enemy cannot long postpone, may prove to have considerable weight even in a strategic calculation. East Prussia may appear only as a detached province on the modern map-that by the bvay is the original grievance by which the Nazis excused their aggression against Danzig and Poland-but its hold upon German sentiment is unique. It is. the original Prussia, as distinguished from Brandenburg; the symbol of the secular German ambition to export Teutonic cul- ture into the Slavonic lands; the breeding ground from which the mixed Slav-Teuton race brought into medieval Germany that creed of iron and blood which we call Prussianism; the kernel of military Ger- many from FREDERICK the GREAT to Bis- MARCK and HINDENBURG. The Nazis have fully identified themselves with the cult, and the approaching demonstration that they are powerless to defend the shrine may react disastrously on that prestige of the regime which is one of the imponder- ables in the conduct of German war. For the enemy's forces in the north the direct consequences of a penetration to the Baltic shore are in any event catastrophic. The whole of the armies occupying Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and maintaining the bridgehead at Narva will be cut off from the main body and from home. There is no need for hesita- tion in reckoning these allied gains, for the essential line of communication of the northern armies, the railway from Warsaw through Vilna and Dvinsk, has been cut at several places, and their position is already beginning to crumble. There are minor lines' farther west by which sup- plies may be sent for a little longer, and these may be supplemented from the sea through the ports of Tallinn, Pernau, Riga, Libau, and Memel; but by the time the Russians reach the coast at any point and thereby intercept the remaining land routes these avenues, must prove in- adequate to maintain the front. The Ger- mans have earned a reputation for cling- ing to, lost positions unexpectedly long, often magnifying the consequences of their defeats by so doing; but it seems now'impossible that they can evade the necessity for evacuation by sea. The withdrawal of the northern armies must be acknowledged to be within the capacity of the enemy's sea-power in the 'Baltic. It will be a grievous confession of failure,. incapable of being interpreted, like the evacuation from Dunkirk, as reculer pour ml2ieux saurer; but the operation is not of comparable 'danger. The Russian air force, whiph with the decline of the Lufjwagie has played a more dominant part in this year's campaign than hitherto, with corresponding'effects u'pon the speed of the victorious armies, can and certainly will harass the reirgat by land and water. But on the surface there can be little impedimnent to the evacuation, for the Russians have no forces in the Baltic- or even in the Arctic, willh which canal communlication was opened by the suc- cesses in Finland-capable of keeping the sea against such formidable units of naval strength as the cruiser Hipper and the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. . But even if the armies of the north escape from their precarious position to fight again elsewhere, the territory they will be forced to abandon is of high strategic importance. It includes the whole southern shore of the Gulf of Finland; and its occupation by the Russians must open up an easy way. of approach to 'Finnish territory, including the capital city of Helsinki, just across the Gulf. The Russians,.who since the open- ing of the battle of Minsk have been taking their campaign in Finland somewhat easily, are no doubt content to do so because they foresee that it will soond be in their power to overrun Estonia, cut the connexion between the Finns and their German patrons, and place: the Finnish Government in a situation in which it has no alternative to surrender. Meanwhile the breakdown of German strategy in the north must compel the Ger- man rulers to face the realities of their military position. This vast calamity, with the still vaster consequences that are inexorably flowing from it, derives from the situation in which their campaigns of aggression have placed them; they have grasped at a continental expanse of terri- tory which it is now far beyond their man- power to defend. The logic that seems to be dictating the next moves on the Baltic has its application in a wider field; and it may be that a shortening of the line every- where offers the enemy the best chance of delaying the end. If he-follows this line of thought he will perhaps hold on to Riga at all costs, while he abandons the Baltic territories farther north, Withdraws from the Balkans to the Danube, recalls KESSELRING for a stand along the Alps, and prepares to stand a siege within the shorter frontiers of the Reich and France. This is the logic of the situation. But the rider of so high a horse as HITLER'S can- not always afford to foliow logic when it enjoins him to dismount.

The Times | July 14, 1944
CHANGE OF TUNE IN BERLIN " TEMPORARY SHORTENING I OF THE FRONT"
General Eremenko's smashing blow at the Panther Line, which was designed to prevent inroads into the Baltic States, has caused quick reactions in the Berlin pro- paganda departments. Even before Dittmar's widely quoted utter- ance, somc German military commenmators, in- cluding writers in the Deuische Aligeneilie Zeitung, began cautiously talking about the expediency of a drastic straightening and shortening of the lines, hinting at an intention to withdraw w-holly or partly from the Baltic States if the Russians continied their rapid advance. Berlin propaganda spokesmen even yesterday were still insisting that the Germans wouild not budge from the Baltic States, and that a dramatic counter-blow was; being pre- pared against the most vulnerable Russian flank. To-day they have swvttng round, and now try to explain tihe advantages for the defence of Germany of withdrawing the northern German flank. Tlley claim that they will thus be able to obtain reinforcements for a temporarily shortened front, adding that this Is merely an incident of the war and that the Baltic States will soon be reoccupicd. The Germans apparently intend to make a deter- minied effort particularly to hold part of Estonia as a bridgehead protecting the gulf of Finland, even if it is cutt off by ihe Russi:an advance to the Bay of Riga. For the same reason the Germans will very possibly try to hang on to the imporiant islands. particularly Oesel and Dago. The Russians; they say, M-ill not easily dislodge them from the northern ccast of Estonia,whilich is protected from the ealst by the long l.,ake Peiputs and- thc im3pregnably"-, fortified. Narva Isthmus. Apcording to the latest trustworthy informa- tion from Germany every available man is being sent to France. Even men home on leave from th- Eastern front, according to this information. are not being sent back to their own units, but most of them are being sent to fill gaps in the formatior,s on the Western front.

The Times | July 14, 1944
ENEMY PROBLEM IN THE BALTIC COST OF A DELAYED WITHDRAWAL

FROM OUR MILITARY CORRESPONDENT While there has been a slight decrease in the pace of the Russian advance in the main Vilna sector, it is still rapid. For example, NVednesday's progress towards Grodno was about 20 miles. Meanwvhile the smashing attack of the 2nd Baltic front covered 21 nmiles in two days in'the general direction of Riga. The commander, General Eremenko, wvho has succeeded General Popov, will be remembered for his success in command of the Maritime Army in the Crimea. - This Baltic offensive is particularly interest- ing in view of the fact that statements made by Gerrnan spokesmen during the days preceding it showed signs that directions had been issued to them to prepare the mind of the public for a withdrawal from the Baltic States. The enemy may, not for the first time, have waited too long-not that the Russian offensive is likely to prevent him from evactiating Estonia and half of Latvia and Lithuauiia if that is in his mind, but because delay may make the task muclh more costly. RAILWAY NETWORK No sign of withdrawal has Yet beeti rc- ported either from Rtussia or from Sweden, which constitutes in this case a good bow window. The present situation may not make withdrawal a necessity, but it has only to develop in its present direction for a few days more to put any alternative out of the ques- tion. The Germans might still hold on to Riga and the middle reach of the Niemen between Kaunas and Grodno, btit would be more likely to have to go back to the frontier of East Prussia, wlhere the Masurian Lakes and a network of roads and railwavs many times as dense as those of Russia would favour defence. - Dietl's successor in command Of the German forces in Finland is Rendulic, like him an Austrian, buE by his name of Yugoslav blood. Hle served in the Austro-Hutngarian army in the last war. A year ago he was commanding an army corps in the Orel sector in Russia. He has also commanded the Second Panzer Army in the Balkans. He wag promoted to the rank of colonel-general thi. year. e German versions of the fighting in Russia, which admit withdrawals in many sectors, a

The Times | July 28, 1944
RED ARMY'S SWEEPING VICTORIES LIBERATION OF LVOV AND DVINSK NEW THRUST TOWARDS BALTIC OUTFLANKING NORTHERN OF ENEMY'S GROUPS
A succession of sweeping victories was announced by the Russians last night. In the north by the capture of Siauliai, the key junction controlling all the railways and main roads in Lithuania, they have cut the main link between the German armies in Latvia and Estonia and East Prussia. Dvinsk and Rezekne have also been captured. The capture of Bialystok and new gains north-west of Lublin have increased the threat to Warsaw. Street fighting has broken out in Siedlce. Lvov and Stanislavov have been occupied, and the bridgehead across the San has been widened. NEARER TO WARSAW STREET FIGHTING IN SIEDLCE The Russian High Command an- nounced last night:- Soutil-west of Pskov Our troops fought tlvir way forwird and occupied Pankinovo, a dis- trict centre of the Leningrad region, and also over 40 other inhabited places. Troops of the 2nd Baltic front, developing their offensive, carried by assault the towns of Dvinsk (Daugavpils) and Rezeknes (Rezhitsa), and fought their way into more than 400 other inhabited places, including six railway stations. Troops of the Ist Baltic front by a swift blow with tanks and infantry capttired the town or Siauliai (Shavli). and foughit their way into more than 150 inhabited places, among them seven railway stations. [Siauliai is the key junction cointrolling all Lithuania's railways and main roads. By its occupation the Russians have cut the main link between the German armies in Latvia and Estonia and East Prussia. Siauliai is 80 miles south of Riga and less than 90 miles from the Baltic.coast at Memel.] Troops of the 2nd White Russian front, as a result of two days' fighting, to-day carried by assault the town and large industral centre of Bialvstok, an important railway junction and a powerful stronghold in the enemy's defences covering the roads to Warsaw, and also fought their way into over 30 other inhabited places. In the Brcst Litovsk direction our troops con- tinued to wage offcnsive battles during which they occupied more than 50 inhabited places. Northi-west of Lublin our troops, developing their successful offensive. captured the towns of Nasutow. Zhelekov, and over 250 other inhabited localities, incliding Gornolin [37 nmiles south-east of Warsawl. Our troops were engaged in street fighting in the town of Siedlce [50 miles cast of Warsaw on the railway from Brest Litovsk]. West of Zamoscze our troops were engaged in offensive battles during whicih they occtipied three towns and fought their way into more than 200 inhalbited places. BRIDGEHEAD WIDENED West of the towin of Lyubatin otir troops car-. ried out successftil offensive operations for the videniing of their bridgehead on the western bank of the River San. They cap- tured the town of Rtidnik, on the western bank of the river, four other towns and over 300 other inhabited places. Troops of the 1st Ukminian front, developing their successful offensive, to-day occupied the large railway centre and strategically impor- tant strongliold. the regional capital of the Ukraine. the town of Lvov. in the foothills of the Carpathians, as well as the regional centre of the Ukraine, the town of Stani- slavov. They also fought theil way into 200 inhabited places. On Wednesdaiv otiI troops on all froniis dis- abled or destroyed 131 German tanks and( shot down 42 acr-oplancs. The following additional report was broadcast last night by Moscow radio:- Ouir air forces last nigilt carried out a mass raid on the railway junction of Tilsit, in Eastern PTrussia. Many fires were seen, railway wagons and military dumps were left blazing. Five German military trains were blown tip by direct hits. Big explosions were seen, whichi wvere particu- larly violent in the soutih-western and caster n sections of the junction. The fires were visible for a distance of 120 miles. FESTIVE PROGRAMMES For the whole of last cvening Moscow'radio ptit out an tinrehearsed, festive programme of victorious news mingled with triumphant folk tunes of the liberated areas. Wireless recep- tion in Britain was good, and Moscow's guns, booming out the tinprecedented number of 80 victory salvos, were clearly heard in London. In the short intervals between the rapid suc- cession of the orders of the (lay Polish, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian songs and marches Nvere played. Thc scleduled radio programme went by the board.-Reitier.

The Times | August 3, 1944
BALTIC ARMIES OUT OF THE FIGHT

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MOSCOW, AuG. 2 The isolation of two German armies under General Lindemann's conmmand in Estonia and northern Latvia, which was announced last night, spells the beginning of the last phase of Hitler's Leningrad adventure. Whatever fate has in store for the divisions that six months ago were in sight of the dome of Saint Isaac's Cathedral, there is little possibility that they will take any further part in this war. Their liquidation may take time, though in Estonian circles here there is a high optimism that the liberation of Tallinn will not be long delayed; a substantial number of troops may escape by sea, but, shorn of equipmiient and shattered by their ignominious experience, it will be manv months before the remnants of the Nord group can play any significant part in the war. To-day's news fr6m the front is dominated by the successful conclusion of the battle of Kaunas, which was celebrated last night by a salute from 224 guns, followed by the play- ing of the Russian and Lithuanian national authemsn. The battle opened on the night of July 25, wlheni from a sccret assembly point in the forest on the bridgchead across the Sventoji near Ukmerge, 40 miles north-east of Kaunas, Russian tanks advanced 20 miles to Jonava fanning otit westward to reach the River Nevezh is. Last Saturday armour operating north of Kaunas broke through and reached the city outskirts. In the, south a Russian battalion crossed the Niemen after the fall of Rumsishkis and. occupyinig a horse-shoe shaped area caused by a loop in the river, protected the left flank of the main forces advancing along the Vilna road. Striking across the Nevezhis north-west of Kaunas other infantry tnits cut the Tlilsit road and reached the Niemen. Kautins was thus almost encircled. According to data, so far incomplete, the defence of Katnas cost the enemy nearly 10,000 men, of whom at least 8,000 were killed.

The Times | August 12, 1944
NEW DRIVE IN ESTONIA 43-MILE FRONT GAINS ON CENTRAL SECTOR

The Russian High Command announced last night: - West and south-west of Pskov our troops, having resumed the offensive, advanced up to 15 miles along a front of about 43 miles and captured the town of Pechory, a district town of the Estonian Republic, and more than 200 other inihabited places. [Pechory (or Petseri) is 27 miles west of Pskov on the railway rUnning west which later branches north to Tallinn and south to Riga.] West of Krustpils, on the western Dvina, our troops, developing their offensive, fottght their way into more than 50 inhabited places, including Rozhy, and two railway stations. North-west and west of Bialystok Our troops continued to wage offensive battles, in the Course of wvlhch tihey occupiea over Ulu in- habited places, including the railway station of Kryshy. North and north-west of Siedlce our troops fought their way forvard and occupied over 100 inhabited places, including the railway station of Kossovruski. West of Sandoniierz our troops were en- gaged in repelling enemy counter-attacks launched with infantry and tanks. They fought to extend their bridgehead on the western bank of the Vistula. On Thursday on all Fronts our troops dis- abled or destroyed 50 enemy tanks and shot do,n 29 enemy aeroplanes in air combat or by A.A. fire.


The Times | August 15, 1944
ADVANCE IN ESTONIA MOVE TO SPLIT ENEMY FORCES,
RONI OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MOSCOW, AUG. 14 Swift progress is being made in art attemnpt to split the Germiain Sixteenth and Eighteenith Armies by severing theralialion- Riga railwav.- The Russians this morning were repolrted to be less than 30 miles tIomil thc line. In addition to Cap1turing Voru. 50 Iiilcs west of P'skNov. unlits fi0om the Leningradl flonlt are advancing rapidhI along the mnain Pskoov-Riga highway, and have reached a point where it crosses the Latvian border. Meanwhile General Maslennikov's lorces are advancing across hilly country in central Latvia on the \ajdonta-Riga road, after inflicting heavy punishmilent on the enemv in the battle for Madona. On the neighbouring 3rd Baltic fronit General Bagran-tvan's men ar C gradually advancing their positions on the Mitau-Rig:a railwvav litiportanit devctlpilmcnts atc expected as a result of General Zukharov's advanice to the River Biebrza. The captuirc of' Mezenin veste-rday was a higly sgilificant gain. for it miieanit that General Zak harov htn t cracked the GeCman lilnC aIt olle of its touglhest places anw haid thiuist into highly sensitive areas within the enemy's defence zone. With Marshal Rokossovsky's forces across the Btug at Hur anid Kamienczyk it should now bhe possible lor the Russians to apply pressure on the wvhole of the regiotn between the Narev and the Bug. and to force the eneilty fromil his main centre of resistance. In the cast a solid front has becn cstablishcd from ilic Biebrza river throuigi NMezenin and \Vyokoye- Ntazoviecki to the Bug at a poinlt where it swvings westwvard From the south Nlarshal Rokossovsky lhas crossed the \%Varsaw-Bialystok railway. and is heading for new stretches of thc river which his men have already crossed at some places.

The Times | August 16, 1944
ARMY'S SUCCESS AT OSOWIEC RED ENEMY OUT-GENERALLED

FROM OUR SPECrAL CORRESPONDENT MOSCOW., AUG. 15 General Zakharov's thrust through the Biebrza-Bobr line towards the East Prus- sian frontier overshadows all other news from the front to-day, even that of the swift advance on Valka by the 3rd Baltic group. Osowiec fortress, which, according to documents found there, the enemy was determined to hold at any price, fell yesterday. Great credit is due to the Russian engineers, who excelled themselves in Toad-laying to enable the armour and artillery to cross the swampy approaches to Osowiec and Goniadz. Though the advancing troops outpaced them- the.guns were man-handled for 30 hours at one difficult point-their swift and skilful work enabled General Sokolsky's artillery to mass in great force for the reduction of the enemy's forts, and the repulse of six sharp counter-attacks in which German armour was involved. The enemy appears to have been soundly out-generalled in a region considered to be his home ground, for Goniadz fell to a shrewd stroke of deception that displaced the defences of Osowiec and enabled the Russians to apply the' squeeze.from both north and south after advancing over the water meadows east of the fortress. In turn the forts were silenced and captured. A last desperate attack before the walls was tirned back, and the Russians. then entered Osowiec. Sweeping on to Valka, the vital traffic hub on the Estonian-Latvian border, General Maslennikov is driving a breach between the Sixteenth and Eighteenth German Armies which will speed the liberation of Estonia and possibly effect it without - General Govorov's troops having to do much more than fill the gaps left by the retreat- ing enemy or gather his trapped forces up as prisoners. No doubt an effort will be made to hold Tallinn and thus to prevent the Red Fleet's minlesweepers from completing the job in the Gulf of Finland, but the speed- of the advance in southern Estonia suggests that the enemy has not the forces to hold the in- terior of the country. Farther south, however, in Latvia, the opposinig forces are well matched numericallv, and the battle for the ancient city of Madona, which was the culmination of a violently con- tested 10-day struggle for the Luban plains, was on a big scale. The Germans are reported to have used severail divisions, five artillery regiments, and several squadrons of self- propelled guns to reinforce the Madona garri- son, and to strike out in the open country of the Luban plain from the central Latvian plateau. Madona's fall is likely to have im- portant consequences in the battle for Gia. The Germans took a hard knock there, and their rough treatment at Birjai must have sapped their strength. GERMAN LOSSES IN UKRAINE The Soviet Information Bureau last night announced .that troops of the 1st Ukrainian front under the command of Marshal Konev inflicted the following losses on the enemy from July 13 to August 12: killed and prisoners 172,360, of whtom 140,000 were killed and 32,360 taken prisoner. Aircraft destroyed ar captured, 687; tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,941; guns of various calibre, 3,615; mortars, 3,868; machine-guns, 5,735, lorries, 11,727.,Retrer.

The Times | August 18, 1944
IN LIBERATED RUSSIA II-POLITICAL ISSUES RAISED BY RED ARMY'S ADVANCE RELATIONS WITH THE BORDER STATES

From Our Moscow Correspondent As it strides towards Germany the Rcd Army is now, fighting in regions the inhabitants of which are mostlv non-Russian. Its lines now cross territory inhabited by Karelo-Finns, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Huzuis, Moldavians, nd Rumanians. Wherethere are Byelo-Russians and Ukrainians their national identity is to some extent affected by Polish influences. The baroque churches of Poland, the severe Lutheran architecture of the Baltic lands, the tiny flamboyant wooden Uniate churches on the Carpathian slopes-these are a re- minder to the Red Army man that he has entered lands where the faith of his parents is unknown. The advance into regions so varied by nationality, creed, and local tradition- lands whose experience of Soviet Socialism was brief before the wvar, others where allied Poles are recognized to enjoy full sovereignty, and. some where alieni Rumanians live-creates a complex of political tasks not all of which can be postponed. In general, the Russians have been behaving with scrupulous correctness in the lands of allies and enemies, while within the constitutional borders of their State no haste is being made to effect radical changes. The policy of non-inter- vention adopted in the case of Poland, Rumania, and Czechoslovakia has to some extent been applied also to lands in- corporated into the Soviet Union beforc the war and now largely recovered from the Germans. Till the end of the wvar these areas will be largely contfolled bv the Red Army working through the civil authorities. THE CURZON LINE The most recent official maps do not indicate any frontier between the Soviet Unionl and.Poland other than the Curzon Line, and in view of. the Soviet offer to delimit the frontiers on the basis of this line it is unlikely that Soviet institutions will be definitely re-established in its vicinity until the position has been clarified by a Soviet-Polish understanding. There is a difference between a Soviet Union anxious to consolidate its strategic fron- tiers in face of a Germany preparing to pounce on it and one which is organizing those frontiers on the assumption that Germany will be broken and pinned down and that Poland and Czechoslovakia will be governed by the principles of regional collective security. Pending final decisions, the Poles con- nected with the Comniittee of National Liberation express the view that the firmer is Russian confidence that the future Poland will associate itself unreservedly in the organization of security in Eastern Europe, the deeper will be Afoscow's sym- pathy for Polish aspirations. Meanwhile, in the liberated part of Poland, the inhabi- tants are apparently still in that condition when little matters but their regained freedom and the opportunity to get their own back on the Germans; and although civil administration has already been transferred to Polish authorities in most of Lublin province, elections to village and town councils have been held, State and German property taken over bv the Committee, and trade unions organized, the energies of the new administration seem almost entirely absorbed in the task of putting the region on a war footing. So far as can be ascertained here, the pace is not being forced except for the purpose of sustaining the war effort. There is much to indicatc that in the Baltic lands the Soviet authorities have not yet resumed the policy of socialization beg.-n in 1940 and that particular care is being taken to ensure that xvhatevcr stcps arc taken they will be under the direction of their own elected representatives. It is not, perhaps, sufficiently known tuat in 1940 Moscow on several occasions opposed the more extreme demands of the revolutionaries in thesc lands, so that in Latvia and Estonia prominent Socialists and Liberals were prepared to join the Governments while keeping aloof from tlho Communist Party. POPULAR SUPPORT The number of persons adversely affected by land reform in Latvia amounted to about 2 per cent. of the total population and less than a fifth of the total landowners; in Estonia the figttres were about 2.5 per cent. and a fifth respec- tively. In each country the landowners whose individual holdings were increased by land reform far outnumbered those wvhosc estates wvere reduced. In Lithuania only about 5,000 landowners had reason to complain, while the great majority of peasants had their holdings increased. Unless there is a wholly unexpected de- velopment it is unlikely that the Soviet authorities will change their policy of seeking to enlist popular support on the broadest possible scale. The intelligenisia and technicians may look forward to a life with the vwhole of the Soviet tOnion as a field for their talents and a market for their products. Here, as elsewhere, contemporary life in the Soviet Union, with its well-defined scale of rewards anid honours for merit in all fields of service, availability of work in the governmental niachine, opportuni- ties for swift advancement in the Red Army and RedFleet (including the mer- chant service) and in industrial manage- ment, is likely to make no inconsiderable appeal to members of the middle class, the foundations of vwhose security have been swept away by the Nvar. Two features of the process of rehabili- tation common to all areas liberated by the Red Arniy are the importance attached to the restoration of cultural facilities and the mildness of treatment of persons who have strayed from a fully loyal attitude under enemy pressure. Over half the budget for the restoration of liberated areas is devoted to the provision of cul- tural facilities, including capital expendi- ture on schools of all kinds, theatres, libraries, cinemas, and clubs. CRITERION OF GUILT Leniency towards those whose powers of resistance have not becn strong enough to wvithstand economic and other forms of pressure during the occupation has not caused the authorities to relax their stern- ness towards those wlho chose ta serve the enemy of their own free will, but a foreign investigator wvho was recently granted exceptional facilities to study the question found that of the school teachers who for a period of years taught under the Ger- mans without giving the invaders reason to complain only about 5 per cent. wvere. considered punishable, the rest being trans- ferred to other posts without loss of repu- tation. Generally the criterion of guilt is supplied by local public opinion, for, as it w'as neatly put, only strikers really under- stand the attitude of a " blackleg." Conditions remain very hard in the liberated regions. The arduous and deli- cate process of evolution from slavery to freedom is being directed wvith prudence, understanding, sympatby, and often for- giveness. Concluided


The Times | August 22, 1944
PROGRESS IN ESTONIA DRIVE SOUTH OF TARTU FIGHT IN NARVA BAY

The Russian High Command announced last night:- South-east and south of Dorpat [Tartu, in Estonia] our troops fought their wav into more than 30 inhabited localities. East of Riga our troops overcame enemy resistance and occupied a town and several inhabited localities. North-west and west of Mitatu otir troops repelled attacks by major forces of enemy infantry and tanks. On the orders of the commander the town of Tukium [the Latvian railway junction 35 miles west of Ri-a3 was evacuated. and our- troops withdrew to more favourable positions. Nortil and south-west of Shavii [Siauliail our troops repelled attacks by enemy tanks and infantry. North-east of Praga Ittie suburb of Warsaw on the opposite bank of the Vistula] our troops. after successfully repelling attacks by enemy infantry and tanks, passed to the counter-attack and fought their way into more than 50 in- habited places includfilg four railway stations. North of Sandomierz ouir troops fought battles to enlarge their bridgehead on the left bank of the Vistutla and improved their posi- tions. In ile liquidation of the encircled German groups we destroyed thc following: - Eighty-eight tanks and self-liropcllcd gunsr 18 armouredl carriers, 142 guns of various calibre. more than 10( mortars. 35 tractors, and more than 100 lorrics. The enemv lel't up to 12,000 dead on thc hattletield. Ottr troops capttired 20 tanks antd self- propelled gulns. 72 gLtns of various calibre. S3 mortars, 120 machine-gttns. atnd more than 5.000 tommy-gun1s and rifles. We took 1 55') prisoners. On other sectors of the fronit tliere was recoiinnaissance activity and on some sectors local lighting. On Sundaiy our troops on all fronts destroyed or disabled 206 German tanks and( shot down 88 German aircraft. An official report on naval activities issued in Mioscowy last night said: ' The Red Baitier Baltic Fleet sank four German destroyers of 1,200 tons each tl Narva Bay. The crewvs were taken prisoncr or drowned. One hundred and seven Geiman officers and tmen were picked ttp by Soviet slhips. Tile destroyers sLink in Narva Bay were modern ships of tile type built in 1942 and 1943. Their speed was 34 knots. Thcv each1 cttrried fottr 1O55mt. gtns. twso autttonlattc 371nm. guns, threc 20mtn. gLmns. and six tor- pedo ttthes. Each had a crewv of 191.

The Times | August 31, 1944
HARD FIGHTING IN ESTONIA- GERMANS' POSITION DETERIORATES

FROM-OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MOSCOW, AUG. 30 The collapse of German resistance on the river lines of Ramnicul-Sarat and Buzau tore apart the last natural de- fences of Ploesti. The River Cricov, about three-quarters of the way from Buzau to the great oil city, was unimportant as a barrier. The Germans say they had in- adequate forces to offer more than spora- die rcsistance on the Ramnicul-Sarat, and though . at some places stiff fighting occurred, the river's bridges were taken intact, and infantry and fresh tank units are to-day moving southwards across the Walachian plain to Bucharest. The successes in Rumania have tended to over-shadow the battles elsewhere, but in at least two regions these are exceptionally violent, and though their fury has slackened a little the German counter-attacks are not less frequent. A Russian officer who returned from the Warsaiv front on Monday informed me in Lublin that every village east and south of the city was. being contested grimly. On the approaches to Velga, the important communications centre on the Estonian- Latvian borders, the Germans are stubborniv rcsisting, although their general position has deteriorated since the Russians overran all the ground between Tartu and Lake Pyha and thus forced back the enemy's northern wing. For the past week sharp fighting by relatively small groups has been going on in the broken country northi-east of Vaka. Now the Russians are increasing their pressure from the sotith- east by advancing along the Latvian borders from Hargla. -Their progress is gradual but steady. RUMANIAN DELEGATION IN MOSCOW Moscow radio reported last night that a Ramanian delegation has arrived in Moscow to discuss artmistice terms. The delegation consists of Prince Stirbey, M. Visoianu. M. Patrascanu, Minister of Justice, M. Damacianu, Deputy Minister for- the Interior, M. Cristupop, and Lieutenant- Colonel Focsaneanu.-Reuter.

Veel infot ajaloost/ Some more info from Estonia's history

The Times | February 25, 1928

INDEPENDENCE DAY IN ESTONIA. FINNISH INTEREST.

(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.) RIGA, FEB. 24. Estonia today is celebrating the tenth anniversary of her independence. At Reval the festivities began yesterday and were continued to-day with great animation. The Government has received numerous telegrams of congratulation from foreign States. The. Latvian Minister is personally taking part in the ceremonials, and the diplomatic representatives attended a solemn sitting of the Diet this morning. All the houses in Riga [Latvia] are displaying the Latvian and Estonian flags.

HELSINGFORS, FEB. 24. The tenth anniversary of Estonia's independence has occasioned here a remarkable display of official rejoicing, intended to demonstrate the intimate political and racial relations which obtain between Finland and Estonia. In a message to Estonia the President of Finland, M. Relander, a.assures Estonians that the Finnish nation also celebrates Estonia's holiday and rejoices that the sister nations have found each other. Similar feelings were expressed by the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, and the President of the Diet, who all drew attention to the great affinity between the Finns and Estonians. The public buildings are beflagged and an official delegation has been sent to Reval The Finnish newspapers do honor to Estonia in articles and poems.

The Times | June 15, 1939
BALTIC STATES AND RUSSIA FEARS OF A SOVIET PROTECTORATE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES Sir,-The formula which, according to your Diplomatic Correspondent, should set at rest the minds of the Baltic States and also satisfy the U.S.S.R. will not necessarily bring Europe nearer to a peaceful settlement. The diffidence of the Baltic States towards the expressed desire of the U.S.S.R. to guarantee their independence, achieved 20 years ago with German aid at, the expense of Russia, is perhaps in- sufficiently understood here. The following facts deserve to be well weighed.

On March 28 last the U.S.S.R., in a note verbally addressed to Estonia, said that it would regard as a violation of Russo- Estonian treaties " for which Estonia must take the consequences " any agreement concluded by Estonia with a third Power, of her own free will or otherwise, which (a) diminished Estonian independence, (b) granted exclusive privileges to such Power, or (c) resulted in the economic, political, or military domination of Estonia by such Power. In other words, Estonia was warned not to make any pact for her protection against an invasion by Soviet naval or military forces, on the pretext of protecting Estonian sovereignty. The U.S.S.R. thus seeks to establish a form of protectorate over the Baltic States, whose reply has been (a) in Estonia, Latvia, and Denmark, the conclusion of pacts of non-aggression with Germany; (b) in Finland, a joint arrangement to refortify the Aland Islands, despite the attempted veto of the U.S.S.R. at Geneva, for which the Finnish Government and Press hold us also responsible. These Baltic States might be of cardinal importance to us in case of war; our negotiations with the U.S.S.R. have pushed them into " reinsurance " agreements with- Germany. They clearly fear that, inspired by the desire to protect them against Germany. Britain may give involuntary assent to a Russian protectorate which they are determined to resist, preferring the prospect of German protection in case of war to an incursion of Soviet troops under any pretext that diplomatic ingenuity can devise. Their fears are not vain, for the form of pact desired by the U.S.S.R. enables that Government to declare aggression to be " threatened" by a third Power, and on this ground to embark upon a war which must involve us and from which no " formula," however skillfully worded, would save us. A pact with Moscow would be too dearly bought at the cost of losing the good will of the Baltic States, a courageous and determined body of neutrals. Delicti poeniteat illos, nos non credidi nus. " Let the guilty repent, we have never believed." Instead of pressing the Government to conclude at all costs a pact with the U.S.S.R. we should urge' it to make a firm stand against any attempt on the part of Russia to encroach upon the sovereignty of the Baltic States. They are the best judges of their interests, which in the ultimate resort are also ours.
Your obedient servant. ARNOLD WILSON. House of Commons, June 12.

The Times | February 27, 1928
GERMANY AND ESTONIA. OBJECTION TO "OFFENSIVE" PROCLAMATION.

(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.) RIGA, FEB. 26. An acute conflict between Germany and Estonia has developed in connection with the celebrations on Friday of Estonian independence. The German Government has objected to certain passages in the Estonian Government's proclamation to the people, and the German diplomatic representatives re- fused to take part in the festivities with the representatives of the other Powers. Tension had already existed in connection with the amount of compensation paid to German landowners for alienated property. The Germans consider as most offensive a passage in the proclamation referring to the German occupation of Estonia in the War as " a time of hard trials for the Estonian people. The country was oppressed more than even in Russian times. We learned what would be our lot if fate bound us to the German Empire." The Soviet representatives also abstained ; apparently they were offended by the references to their past deeds.

The Times | June 12, 1947

BALTIC DISPLACED PERSONS
The following are extracts from two letters received by the Editor: - Kindly permit us, the undersigned, to draw the attention of your readers to the anxiety which we feel concerning the fate of tens of thousands of Estonians now interned in displaced persons' camps in Western Germany. There is no need to stress that these D.P.s are uninvited guests in Germany. They have no material support, no work suited to their qualifications, and no prospects for the future. It is, therefore, perfectly natural that they should return to their own country and take their places among their own people. Their continued, internment is due entirely to the abnormal situation in the camps: instead of accelerating repatriation, camp authorities are conducting propaganda against any such desire. They also take other measures to prevent repatriation, including actual physical prohibition. Those responsible for this dangerous political game are persons of Baltic descent who were compromised by collaboration with the enemy during the occupation. In 1946 these individuals set up the " committee of Baltic Peoples " at Detmold, which is doing its best to assume political leadership of all regional, Laider. and youth committees. The whole trend of their activities runs counter to the agreement reached by the Moscow conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Those who wish to return home are terrorized, and if this does not help they are forcibly restrained. Soviet Estonia is now going through a period of all-round reconstruction. All branches of national economy are working at full speed; activities in fields of science and culture have reached unprecedented dimensions. Everywhere there is shortage of labor. The country can guarantee work for everybody at his own trade or profession with pay and other conditions in accordance. Those who have returned are already working in factories, on farms, or in cultural and scientific institutions. These facts expose the ridiculous rumors spread by former Nazis to the effect that repatriates are sent to Siberia.

Estonian public opinion deems it essential to put an end to an abnormal state of affairs in D.P. camps, to stop all propaganda against repatriation, and to help D.P.s to return home as speedily as possible. We also believe it essential to dissolve the reactionary " Committee of Baltic Peoples," its branches and camp committees that only serve as asylum for war criminals. J. NUUT. Secretary of Estonian Academy of Sciences; R. LEETOJA, Chicf Agro, nomist, Ministry of Agriculture, Esto- nian S.S.R.; AINO BACH, artist; RIHO PATS, Professor of Tallinn State Con- servatory; E. MURDMAA, merited teacher, Estonian S.S.R.; BETTY Kuus- KEMAA, actress of " Estonia " State Theatre; F. TUGLAS, People's writer of Estonian S.S.R., corresponding member of Estonian Academy; 0. MADDISON, merited scientific worker, member of Academy of Sciences, secretary of its physics and mathematics section; F. RAUDKEPP, Head Doctor of Republican Neurosurgical Hospital; R. KLELS, Dean of Faculty of History and Philo- logy, Tartu University, Acting Director of Academy's Institute of History, J. KARNER, merited writer, Estonian S.S.R. Moscow (by Cable).

On the occasion of the meeting of the Moscow Conference the Baltic D.P.s in Melle (Province Hannover, Germany) laid down their work on March 11 for a one-day general and hunger strike. The aim of this action was to draw the attention of the world public to the still unsettled question of restoration of the independence of the Baltic States. At a meeting representing Melle D.P.s it was unanimously decided to appeal to the United Nations, and to submit the following claims:--(I) Immediate withdrawal of Soviet occupation forces from the Baltic States. Restoration of the sovereignty of the Baltic Democratic Republics. (2) Release and return of those citizens of the Baltic States who were deported to the Soviet Union. (3) Guarantee of freedom and human rights for all small nations, and resistance to every form of violence impartially and-without exception. More than 6,000,000 Baltic people are desperately waiting for this settlement A. KbDAR, K. SEPPEk, Estonian Repre- sentalives; A. AUZINS, E. BAKUZIS, Latvian Representatives; J. MIKELENAS, A. PETRAUSKAS, Lithuanian Repre- sentatives. Baltic D.P. Camp " Daugava," (23) Melle in Hann., Germany, British Zone.

The Times | October 7, 1939

RUSSIAN GRIP ON BALTIC FATE OF BORDER REPUBLICS PRESS COMPLACENCY
From Our Own Correspondent MOSCOW, Ocr. 6

M. Munters left Moscow for Riga last night after a dinner at the Kremlin celebrating the Soviet-Latvian Treaty of mutual assistance. M. Stalin, M. Molotoff, Marshal Voroshiloff, and other leaders attended the dinner, which, according to the official announcement, was held in an extremely friendly atmosphere. Observers here are surprised that the Latvian Treaty, unlike the Estonian, does not provide for special facilities for the transport of Soviet goods to the Baltic, especially since Riga is a larger and better equipped port than Tallinn. It is thought that this matter has been reserved for a later settlement in concert with Lithuania, whose Government are also engaged in negotiations with the Soviet Union. It is expected that the Soviet Union will desire to send goods from Vilna through Kaunas towards the Latvian ports.

The newspapers make no apology for having deprived Latvia and Estonia of their independence. They claim rather that the Soviets have conferred an in- calculable benefit upon these countries by protecting them and thereby also on the Soviet Union, preserving her from becoming involved in the European war. While aggressive and imperialist Powers are seeking means to extend and continue the war, the Soviet Union, it is claimed, has alone sought and found ways of consolidating and keeping peace in the larger part of the European Continent. Russia's neighbours understand that the peaceful life of labour they enjoy is due to the efforts of the " Great Government of Socialism " and therefore show a natural desire to improve their relations with the Soviet Union. "RESPECT FOR THE WEAK" Thus Izv'estia. The newspaper also claims that the Estonian and Latvian pacts are the fruit of the trust felt in the Soviet Union, which has never exploited its great power to the detriment of small, weak countries, and always respects the forms of Government chosen by other nations. This startling statement will doubtless carry conviction in Russia, where the general public have not had an opportunity of studying fully the circumstances which attended the making of the treaties. Pravda refreshingly had less to say about the Soviet Government's benevolence towards other countries than towards the Soviet Union itself. If, says Prai'da, some Great Plowers nursed a desire to involve countries neighbouring with the Soviet Union within the orbit of their imperialist policy, if some Powers hoped to use Latvia as an instrument against the Soviet Union, the pact. of mutual assistance finally ends such machinations.

The newspaper also attacks the League of Nations. The Soviet Union (it is stated) tried to construct peace through even " that mess " before resorting to other more effective methods. The newspaper expatiates on the approval that Soviet citizens feel for the wise policy of Stalin, " great leader of nations," which ensures firm, calm, and fruitful socialist labour in Russia, while a second imperialist war is enveloping the capitalist world. The imperialist world may try to pervert the significance of Soviet policy, but (says Pravda) truth is so strong that it must penetrate the conscience of all nations and particularly of the workers in capitalist countries, whose shoulders bear the burden of the new war for the predatory personal interests of imperialist Governments. It is noteworthy that the newspapers, despite Soviet-German friendship, do not distinguish between the Reich and Great Britain and France, but appear to characterize all belligerents as imperialist and capitalist Powers. It is understood that some 12 British and six Swedish steamers with cargoes of timber for England are at present delayed in Archangel-not Murmansk, as previously reported. The difficulty of their release is connected with the Russian demand for advance payment in dollars, deposited in a neutral country. Negotiations are in progress to overcome this difficulty.

Ettevaatust Valio Zero Lactose piimaga!

Väljavõte Valio kodukalt.

Olen nüüd paar korda proovinud juua Valio Zero Lactose piima, mis pidi olema normaalne laktoositalumatuse puhul, aga mõlemal korral on pärast piima joomist tabanud mind kõhuvalu, kõhulahtisus ja kõhupuhitus. Ütleks isegi, et hullemad mürgitusnähud kui tavalise piima puhul. Samas Valio laktoosivaba juustu puhul sellist reaktsiooni pole.

Ma ei tea, kas Eesti turule toodetakse mingit saasta, aga igal juhul see piim küll, vähemalt mulle ei sobi. Võimalik, et sellesse piima on lisatud mingeid säilitusaineid (piim säilib pool aastat), sest nahale tekkis ka lööve, mis on tavaline säilitusainete, näiteks kaaliumsorbaadi puhul (sisaldub ka näiteks kauasäilivates jookides, mille pakendile on kirjutatud sõna "mahl"). Valio lisab seda kemikaali näiteks jogurtitesse. Aga selle Zero Lactose piimapaki peal pole viidet säilitusainele.

Üks põnev analüüs/kommentaar Irja ja Inno hääle kohta

mille panen kohe eraldi sissekandena üles (saabus StereoMilt):

Siin nii mõnigi kirus Irja häält. Peab tunnistama, et nii Innol kui ka Irjal ongi hääletoon selline, mis alguses tundub suht kummaline. Kui ma esimest korda nägin mingit videot kus need kaks olid USAs, siis tundus Innol olevat siuke kahtlane mõlaraadio diskori hääletoon vms ja Irja tõepoolest tundus olevat sellise kõrge ja kimeda häälega tsibikene.

Aga see kõik on esiteks vaid suht primitiivne ja moonutatud esmamulje. Ja teiseks mida aeg edasi läheb, seda rohkem on tulnud välja, et tegelt ikka Innol on siuke päris mõnus karune toon, mis sobib tema mõmmiku või mõnusalt muumitrolliliku olemusega ja et Irja kõrgeregistrilises hääles tegelt leidub ühest küljest nii omalaadset sensuaalsust kui ka sügavust, sellist vaimset sügavust siis. Üleeile kui ma Irjaga juttu ajasin, siis ta meenutas mulle tooni poolest suht kangesti ühte kirjanduseõpetajat keska päevilt.

Mingis mõttes on Irja häälega samad lood nagu sopransaksofoniga. On palju inimesi, kellele sopransaksofoni toon on ikka ilgelt vastik, sest see on, jällegi, liiga kõrge ja kriiskav, noh peaaegu nagu prääksuv part. Samas leidub jällegi inimesi, kellele just sopransaksi tämber on kõige kaunim maailmas. No ok, Kenny G imeb lurinal, aga soovitan kuulata näiteks Sidney Bechet'd, Steve Lacyt, Coltrane'i "My Favorite Things", see on hoopis teine tera. Kuigi vahepeal millegipärast tõesti kisub Irja hääletoon natuke kõrgeks ja selliseks piuksuvaks, võib Irja toonis tihti kuulda samasugust sumedust ja sügavust, nagu võib kuulda sopransaksofoniga sarnanevas Ungari rahvapillis tarogato, mis on jällegi selline keeruline ja kõrge instrument, aga ometi nii mõnegi jaoks kaunim maailmas.

Panen siia lingi ühele YouTube'i kontsertvideole, kus võib kuulda meloodiatekstuurina koos kõrget naishäält ja sopransaksofoni. Selles kuidas seal saksofonist Yochk'o Seffer mängib, on minu arvates küll midagi Irjalikku. Kas või sellepärast, kui karmid tuurid tema soolo seal kohati sisse võtab, mis teadagi sobitub Irja sõjaka ja amatsoonliku küljega. Seffer on üks nendest, kes suudavad soprani panna sama intensiivselt kõlama nagu tenorsaksi. Nagu Irjas leidub mehelikke kalduvusi. And check out related videos: Inno ja Irja New Orleansis! Noh seda vist muidugi sellepärast, et ma ise juutjuubis olen mõlemad videod favoriidistanud.

Ja siin viidatud video:

Ja aastast 1940/ And from year 1940

Such info searched out by Jerry Waters. Can anybody explain, please, does this de facto occupation of the Baltic States mean also de jure occupation?!

The Times | July 5, 1940

OCCUPIED BALTIC STATES CAUTIOUS SOVIET POLICY

FROM A CORRESPONDENT Within a month of the departure of Hitler's Baltic Germans from Tallinn on May 18, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were occupied by Soviet troops, and Governments enjoying the confidence of Moscow were set up in each State. During their 20 years of independence, by unremitting sacrjfice and united, dogged, well-planned efforts, these States had struggled out of war-ravaged, poverty-stricken conditions to a standard of living incomparably higher than that existing in the Soviet Union. This prosperity the Soviet leaders aim to preserve. Therefore they have subtly avoided arousing animosity. The Communist Party was declared illegal in these States several years ago.. The newly appointed Governments include no member of the Comintern nor any Communist national of any of the States-some were in prison, others had escaped into Russia. Few are Socialists, alt are avowed Nationalists, and almost all are drawn from the professional class of the community. Internal administration has not yet been interfered with and there are indications that changes are to be introduced only in an ostensibly constitutional manner, such as by elections. In each State, a few hundred political prisoners, not only Communists, were immediately released. The retention of President Paets, of Estonia, and President Ulmanis, of Latvia, at their posts is a guarantee of no disturbance, for these popular leaders have piloted their countries through many storms, and the people are confident they will do their utmost to retain the greatest measure of autonomy possible. The flight of President Smetona shocked the Lithuanian people, as he was their first President, had been President since 1926, and was virtually Dictator for 10 years, and Parliament, elected four years ago, was artificially of one party- his supporters. The Presidents of Estonia and Latvia, too, had periods of authoritarian regime, to avoid civil war after attempts at a Puttscl. In Estonia this had been succeeded by a Government nominated by the President assisted by a Chamber of Deputies- 80 elected members- and a National Council representing the Army, learning, religion, finance, and labour. In Latvia, election depended on profession, not geography. The State Economic Council and State Council of Culture represented the Chambers of Trade and Industry, of Agriculture, of Labour, of Professions, of Arts and Crafts, and of Art -1o T _11-r

The Times | June 17, 1940

DEMANDS TO BALTIC STATES ESTONIA AND LATVIA
TALLINN, June 17.-Estonia has accepted demands from the Soviet Government "to guarantee the carrying out of the Soviet-Estonian Mutual Assistance Pact," it is officially announecd here. The Estonian Government, after accepting the demands, resigned, and the President is taking the necessary measures for the speedy formation of a new Ministry. The Soviet demands include one for the augmentation of the Soviet garrison in Estonia, and Red troops will now be stationed in several new centres.-Reter. According to a Moscow dispatch to the official German News Agencv, Russia has also sent demands to Latvia similar to those presented to Estonia. *.* A message on Lithuania's acceptance of a Soviet ultimatum appears on page 5. SOVIET

The Times | August 2, 1940

RUSSIAN POLICY IN EUROPE NEUTRALITY REAFFIRMED M. MOLOTOFF ADDRESSES SUPREME' SOVIET COUNCIL RELATIONS WITH BRITAIN

M. Molotoff, the Soviet Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, reviewed Soviet relations with foreign countries in the light of the present war. He declared that Russia would remain neutral, and that efforts to detach her from the Pact with Germany had failed. Relations with Great Britain, he said, had not improved, though he acknowledged that the mission of Sir Stafford Cripps showed a desire for a better understanding. COURSE OF WAR REVIEWED INCORPORATION OF TERRITORIES Ile seventh session of the Suprcme Council of the Soviet Union met in Moscow yesterday (says Reuter). M. Molotoff, President of the Council of People's Commissars and Commissar for Foreign Affairs, made a statement on foreign policy in which he said:- Since last spring the war has been developing rapidly. In a matter of a month or six weeks the Gcrman Army not only broke the resistance of France, but compelled her to sign armistice terms under which the greater part of her territory, including Paris, remains in the occupation of German troops. Although she has obtained an armistice, France has not yet obtained peace. Of the two Allies that confronted Germany and Italy, only England has remained; and she has decided to continue the war, relying on the assistance of the United States. There is no need to dwell here on all the causes that brought about the defeat of France, who revealed her exceptional weakness in war. Clearly the cause lay not only in bad military preparedncss; of considerable importance was also the fact that, unlike Germany, leading circles in France treated too lightly the role and the weight of the Soviet Union in European affairs. Recent events have shown that the ruling circles in France were not connected with the people, and far from relying on its support, feared their people which is deservedly famed as a liberty-loving people with glorious revolutionary traditions.

HITLER'S " PEACE" In her war against the Allies, Germany achieved great successes, but she has not yet achieved her principal objective- the termination of the war on terms which she considers desirable. On July 19 the German Chancellor again addressed England with an appeal to come to terms with regard to peace, but the British Govcrrment, as we know, rejected this proposal. Thc British Government interpreted this proposal as a demand for England's capitulation and stated in reply that they would continue the war until victory. This means that the Government of Great Britain do not wish to give up the colonies which Great Britain possesses in all parts of the globe and declare that they are prepared to continue the war for world supremacy, in spite of the fact that after the defeat of France and the entry of Italy into the war on the side of Germany this struggle involves considerably greater diffiulties for Great Britain. The first year of the war is drawing to a close but the end of the war is not yet in sight. It is more problematic that we are now on the eve of a new stage in the intensification of the war between Germany and Italy on the one side and England, assisted by the United States on the other. All thcse events have not caused a change in the foreign policy of the Union. True to her policy of peace and neutrality, the Sovict Union is not taking part in the war. Our relations with Germany, which underwent a turn nearly a year ago, remain entirely as they were laid down in the Soviet-German Agreement. This agreement, strictly observed by our Government. removed the possibility of friction in Soviet-German relations and has assured Germany a calm feeling of security in the East. Developments in Europe, far from reducing the strength of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact, on the contrary emphasized the importance of its existence and further development.

BRITISH AMBASSADOR Referring to speculations in the foreign Press on the possibility of disagreement between the Soviet Union and Germany, NJ. Molotoff added:- These attempts have been exposed more than once by ourselves as well as by Germany and swept aside as worthless. We call only reiterate that in our opinion the good-neighbourly and friendly relations that have been established between the Soviet Union and Germany are not based on fortuitous considerations of a transient nature but on the fundamental State interests of both thc U.S.S.R. and Germany. It must also be noted that our relations with Italy have lately improved. An exchange of views with italy has revealed that there is every possibility for our countries to ensure mutual understanding in the sphere of foreign policy. As regards Soviet-British relations, no essential changes have lately occurred in them. It should be admitted that after all the hostile acts committed by Great Britain against the U.S.S.R. it was difficult to expect that Soviet- British relations would develop favourably. The appointment of Sir Stafford Cripps as Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. possibly does reflect a desire on the rart of Great Britain to improve relations with the Soviet Union.

RUMANIA AND BALTIC Referring to the " problems " whose successful solution" had expanded Soviet territory and multiplied the forces of the Union, M. Molotoff spoke of the cession of territory by Rumania, and said: - The frontiers of the Soviet Union have thus been advanced westward to the Danube, which, after the Volga, is the biggest river in Europe and one of the most important routes for commercial exchanges between a number of European nations. In general, our relations with Rumania should from now on take a perfectly normal course. The problem of the relations between the Soviet Union and the Baltic countries entered into a new stage when it was found that the mutual assistance pacts concluded with Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia did not lead as was expected to a rapprochement between Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on the one hand and the Sovict Union on the other. The bourgeois groups who were governing Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were incapable of applying honestly the mutual assistance pacts concluded with the Soviet Union. It became absolutely impossible to tolerate any longer such a state of affairs, especially in the conditions created by the present international situation.

The most important measure taken by the pro-Soviet-Governments created in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia was the organization of free Parliamentary elections. The Diets of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. elected by a tiniversal, direct, equal, and secret vote, have already pronounced themselves unanimously for the establishment of the Soviet regime and the incorporation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the Union. This means that the Union will increase her population by 2,880,000 inhabitants of Lithuania, 1,950,000 of Latvia, and 1,120,000 of Estonia. Thus with the Bessarabian population and that of Northern Bukovina, the population of the Soviet Union will have increased by approximately 10,000,000. SOVIET MILLIONS If to this we add more than 13,000,000 in- habitants of the Western Ukraine and Western. White Russia, the increase in the population of the Soviet Union in the past year will exceed 23,000,000. It is worth mentioning that 19-20ths of that population formerly formed part of the U.S.S.R., but had been forcibly taken from it by the Westerm imperialist Powers when the U.S.S.R. was weak. The Union will now speak in the name of at least 193,000,000 people. The fact that henceforth the frontiers of the Soviet Union will be transferred to the Baltic Coast is of primary importance to our country. As a result we shall have ice-free ports on the Baltic Sea of which we had great need. The Finnish Government has accepted our Proposals for the demilitarization of the Aaland Islands, and for the establishment in these islands of a Soviet Consulate. The future development of Soviet-Finnish relations in a sense favourable to the two countries dcpends principally on Finland herself. Thus, if certain elements of Finnish Government circles do not cease their repressive anti-social actions, which are opposed to the consolidation of good neighbourly relations with the U.S.S.R., the relations between the U.S.S.R. and Finland may suffer accordingly. Our relations with the Scandinavian countries, Norway and Sweden, cannot depend on the situation which has been created. As regards Norway, nothing definite can be said at the moment in view of her particular situation. As regards Sweden, it must be recognized as a fact of particular importance that our two countries are interested in the development of economic and commercial relations.

AIRCRAFT OVER OILFIELD Regarding the Balkan countries, the fact of the establishment of diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia must be particularly emphasized. Our relations with Bulgaria may be considered normal. In our relations with Turkey, no essential change has occurred. It need only be said that the documents recently published in the German White Book throw a disagreeable light on certain aspects of the activities developed in Turkey. The explanations given afterwards by the French Ambassador to Turkey changed nothing of the nature of these documents. In this connexion I must say that early in April the Soviet Government made representations to Turkey concerning a foreign aeroplane coming from Turkish territory which flew over the region of Batum, where there are many oil refineries. At first Turkey denied that any aircraft whatever had emerged from Turkish territory. Later, however, Turkey promised to take measures against such flights in the future. As regards Iran, there is no new important event to report. However, speaking of Iran, too, it is impossible to pass over in silence another incontestable fact. Late in March the region of Baku received a visit from two foreign aeroplanes coming from the direction of Iran. The Iranian Government deemed it necessary to deny this fact. But in this case also the documents of the German White Book throw sufficient light on the incident in question. It must be observed that the repeated dispatch of these foreign reconnaissance aircraft could not aim at anything other but a complication of our relations with our neighbours. As regards Japan it may be said that recently our relations have tended towards normalization to a certain extent. It can be recognized that there are certain general indications of the desire on the part of Japan to improve her relations with the Soviet Union. I am not going to dwell upon our relations with the United States of America, if only for the reason that there is nothing good to be said in this matter. The fact- that the United States authorities are illegally withholding gold quite recently bought by our State bank from the banks of Lithuania, Latvia. and Estonia has provoked the most energetic protests on our part. We can only remind the United States Government, as well as the British Government, which adopted the same attitude, that they bear responsibility for these illegal acts. With regard to our relations with " great national China." who is fighting for her existence, they have retained a friendly and good-neighbourly character arising from the Sino-Soviet Pact of Non-Aggression.

IMPERIALIST APPETITES The changes which have taken place in Europe as a result of the great success of German arms cannot be considered as already promising a speedy liquidation of the war. The strengthening of one belligerent party and the weakening of the other has- produced serious repercussions not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world. Among the countries which have followed France in defeat are Belgium and Holland, whiclh have large colonial possessions which they can no longer defend with the same force as in the past. As a result the question of the distribution of colonies is becoming more and more acute. Imperialist appetites have been whetted not only in distant Japan but also in the United States, where there are quite a few covetous amateurs who are dissimulating their imperialist plans under the banner of anxiety " for the interests of the " Western Hemisphere." In these conditions, the Soviet Union must show its keen vigilance as regards its exterior secuirity and the strengthening of all its interior and exterior positions. In order to ensure new successes for the Soviet Union, we must always remember the words of Comrade Stalin, who said: " We must keep our entire people in a state of mobilization, ready to face the danger 'of military aggression, so that no hazards and no manocuvres of our enemies abroad can take us unawares." If we all remember this sacred duty, no cvent will take us unawares, and we shall achieve new and even more glorious successes for the Soviet Union.


The Times | August 8, 1940

SOVIET HOLD ON THE BALTIC ESTONIA TAKEN INTO THE FOLD
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT MOSCOW, AUG. 7 The Soviet Supreme Council last night received Estonia into the Soviet Union. Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated at the two previous sittings, so that the shore of the Gulf of Finland and of the Baltic from Viborg to the German frontier has now officially become Soviet territory. After an interlude of 20 years, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have now returned to Russia as constituent Republics of the Soviet Union. In the spring of this year the Soviet Government found that the treaties with the Baltic States were insufficient from the standpoint of Soviet security in view of the alteration in the balance of power which had been brought -about by the European war, and in view of what the Soviet Government regarded as the equivocal foreign policy of the Baltic States Governments. After further negotiations in Moscow, the Soviet garrisons in all the' Baltic States were largely increased. The subsequent elections returned Parliaments which sent to Moscow the delegations that have been appearing this week before the Supreme Council with applications for incorporation in the U.S.S.R.

HIGH HOPES OF RUSSIA M. Molotoff, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, at the opening sitting of the Supreme Council explained the reasons for Soviet policy towards the Baltic States. The delegations gave reasons why Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia should join Soviet Russia. These were the same in each case-the overthrow of capitalists, landlords, and bourgeois regimes which wanted to involve the Baltic States in the war so that they might serve as springboards for the British imperialists to take action against the Soviet Union. The delegations stated that they expected that the aspirations of the workers, the peasants, and the intelligentsia for a higher standard of living would be gratified in Soviet Russia. As in the case of the Latvians and Lithuanians, the delegation from Estonia marched into St. Andrew's Hall at the Kremlin carrying banners, and also the application for admission contained in a handsomely bound volume. The delegates included an Army officer of high rank and three women. Having concluded the business of the Baltic States, the Council proceeded to the ratification of important labour and agricultural decrees issued in recent weeks.


The Times | August 7, 1940
ESTONIA JOINS SOVIET UNION Before a crowded session of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow yesterday Estonia (says Reuter) appealed for incorporation in Soviet Russia. The appeal was made by M. Lauretskis, Secretary of the Estonian Communist Partv, who referred to the "state of misery of Estonia under the bourgeoisie, whom t'he British put into power after the German occupation." He declared that only membership of the Soviet Union could guarantee Estonia's prosperity, peace, and independence. Estonia's application was unanimously granted by the Supreme Soviet (states Exchange) thus completing the incorporation of the thrce Baltic countries and Bessarabia and Bukovina with a combined population of about 10,000.000 into the U.S.S.R.


The Times | June 18, 1940
SOVIET FORCES MOVE IN LATVIA AND ESTONIA OCCUPIED MOLOTOFF'S ULTIMATUM

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT STOCKHOLM, JUNE 17 The occupation of Latvia and Estonia by Soviet troops, similar to that already carried 6ut in Lithuania, began last night. Large forces of mechanized infantry and artillery continue to pour into the three Republics. Some people estimate that half a million troops have already crossed the frontiers, but it is impossible to say with certainty. The operations against Latvia and Estonia began yesterday when a Note was handed by M. Molotoff to M. Kocins, the Latvian Minister, requiring an immediate change of Government and the free passage of troops to occupy the most important centres in Latvia, in order to guarantee the fulfilment of the mutual assistance pact signed last autumn with the Soviet Government. The Note alleged that Latvia and Estonia had violated the pact because they had not cancelled their previous military alliance, but had even cxtended it by including Lithuania and trying to include Finland. M. Molotoff handed the Estonian Minister a similar Note. In the course of yesterday the Latvian and Estonian Governments intimated their acceptance of the ultimatum, whereupon the entry of the Red troops began. In Kaunas there was announced a provisional list of the principal members of the new Lithuanian Government as follows:-M. Paleckis. Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior; M. Kreve-Mickevicius, Foreign Minister; General Litkauskas. Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief; M. Pakarklis, Minister of Justice; Ni. V'enclova, Minister of Education; M. Vidmantas, Minister of Communications; M. Mickyi. Minister of Agriculture. The Minister of Finance has not yet been appointed. Germany has informed the Soviet Government that President Smetona and some members of his Government have arrived in Germany and have been interned. SOVIET WARSHIPS AT RIGA According to dispatches from the Latvian capital (says Reuter), Soviet warships have entered the port of Riga and Soviet armoured cars and tanks have taken up positions in the city itself. The Governments of Latvia and Estonia have resigned.


The Times | July 25, 1940
Russia on the Baltic

The announcement at the week-end that the National Assemblies of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, convened for the purpose, have decided on the incorporation of their respective countries in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has been received here with mixed feelings. The three Baltic States had enjoyed a full measure of the traditional British sympathy for small nations. In their fight for independence after the last War they received liberal British support. Their relations with Great Britain were always entirely cordial. The British market was the most reliable outlet for their products. Indeed it may have been -the virtual severance of trade relations between them and this country since the outbreak of war which finally convinced them of the hopelessness of their plight. Yet, whatever happens now, this experience of independence has not been wholly lost. Literally and, metaphorically, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have "put them- " selves on the map." They have gained self-respect and, won the respect of others. They have secured a recognition for their languages and literatures which should not be impaired under the new regime. The sudden decision for reunion with Russia, unanimously and simultaneously taken in the three countries, was clearly the result of peremptory prompting from Moscow; and the United States Government has been logical and consistent in applying its doctrine of non-recognition. Yet personal sympathy for those who so gallantly upheld the national independence of these countries, and in particular for their Ministers in London, who have pro- tested against the decision, should not blind us to certain aspects of the situation which preclude hasty judgment. The case is on a widely different footing from that of Finland. These countries came into being at a period.which, in its enthusiasm for the panacea of national self-determination, seriously underestimated the difficulties inherent in the creation of tiny national units. Territories whose popula- tions were no larger than those of many modern cities were called on to maintain armies, navies, parliaments, diplomatic representatives abroad, and all the paraphernalia of a modern State. The burdens and the responsibilities were too great. It was a far cry from the Baltic to Great Britain, and a still farther one to the shores of the American continent. In the long run these small countries were com- pelled to look for protection to one of their great neighbours. In this issue their free choice would never have been in doubt. Throughout Latvia and Estonia the oppressive exactions of the Baltic barons were far more vividly remembered and keenly resented than the intrusion of the Russian official and Russian garrisons. Even if they had been tempted to turn to Germany for counsel or assistance, HITLER'S attitude would have rapidly disabused them. By the German-Soviet pact of last August HITLER not only conceded the Baltic States to STALIN but facilitated the transaction by the removal lock, stock, and barrel of the large and prosperous German community. What has happened was the product of HITLER's decision, however unwelcome this further extension of Russian power in the Baltic may now appear to the German General Staff. The unanimous vote for incorporation in Soviet Russia reflects, therefore, not merely pressure from Moscow but sincere recognition that this was a better alternative than absorption in the new Nazi Europe. Those Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians of the older generation who remember the black days of the past and who took part in the struggle for libera- tion can hardly avoid some feelings of bitterness and disappointment. But many of the younger generation, who knew none of these things, had become increasingly conscious of the limited outlook and restricted economic opportunities of life in a midget State; and they will accept the decision with greater resignation. The most difficult problem which confronts the new regime is probably that of land tenure. The last twenty years' have witnessed the growth of a strong tradition of peasant ownership and cooperative marketing. In Estonia and Latvia the standard of living and the level of education are far higher than among the peasants on whom collectivization has been imposed in other parts of the Soviet Union. It is reported that farms of less than seventy-five acres, which will include a large proportion of the peasant holdings, are to be exempt from nationalization. This is an act of wisdom which, if maintained, will do much to smooth the inevitable hardships of transition. It may be hoped that equal wisdom will be shown in discouraging the victimization of those associated with the national regimes of the past few years. The principal impulse to such victimization is likely to come not from Moscow but from local leaders of the Left who had suffered imprisonment and other disabilities under those regimes. The Soviet authorities will probably discover that they have nothing to gain from the prosecution of such vendettas.

The Times | June 19, 1940

SOVIET TROOPS IN BALTIC STATES OCCUPATION COMPLETED
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT STOCKHOLM, JUNE 18 Soviet troops yesterday and today reached all the chief centres of Latvia and Estonia, and although they continue to arrive the occupation may be considered as virtually completed. Armoured cars and tanks dominate the bridgeheads and chief crossroads in Riga, and units of the Red Fleet have entered the ports of Riga and Tallinn. New Governments in Latvia and Estonia have not yet been formed, but negotiations, with the presentation of candidates for approval, are proceeding with Soviet officials who have arrived in Riga and Tallinn. President Ulmanis, in a broadcast last night, told the Latvian people that he is remaining at his post and urged all to carry on their usual work. This has had a quietening effect. A curfew was ordered in Riga yesterday between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., and shops selling alcohol and arms have been temporarily closed. The new Lithuanian Government has- ordered a far-reaching amnesty, freeing several hundred political prisoners, especiallv members of the Left Wing.

The Times | July 22, 1940
BALTIC STATES JOIN RUSSIA NEW SOVIET REPUBLICS
The three Baltic countries-Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia-yesterday decided to become Soviet Republics and to unite with Soviet Russia, according to the official German News Agency correspondents in Kaunas, Riga, and Tallinn (states Reuter). The newly elected National Assemblies of all three Baltic countries are said to have voted unanimously for this important change in their Constitutions. The following proposals are stated to have been placed before the Lithuanian Parliament:- (I) Acceptance of a new Constitution; (2) cooperation with the Soviet Union; (3) regulation of the land question; and (4) dispossession of the big banks, factories, and large enterprises. The diplomatic representatives of the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, and Great Britain are said to have been present at this session of the Estonian Parliament, where a proposal was also adopted unanimously for the election of a Committee of Nine for the management of Estonia's political system.


The Times | July 13, 1940

OCCUPIED BALTIC STATES MOVING TOWARDS THE SOVIET SYSTEM

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT STOCKHOLM, JuLY 12 In Estonia,. Latvia, and Litlhuania this week there have been rapid developments in the direction of alignment with the Soviet system. Parliamentary elections in the three republics will take place during this weekend. Although the electoral methods are not exactly similar to those of the Soviet, they are, in important aspects, very much alike. The ballot will be secret and universal, but practically everywhere only one set of candidates will be allowed. Feeble attempts to nominate bourgeois or non- Socialist candidates have been quashed, and although the approved candidates are not all formally designated as Communists, they, in fact, are all Communists or semi-Communists. Order and relative tranquillity exist outwardly in the three States, but a considerable movement towards the Left is in progress beneath the surface. Numerous arrests continue to be made quietly in Lithuania, including those of ex-Ministers and high officials. On Wednesday M. Merkys, the former Prime Minister, reached Riga. with the intention, it is alleged, of flying to Stockholm, but he was discovered at the Riga aerodrome and arrested. Apparently the former dictator, M. Valdemaras, escaped and accepted Soviet citizenship. It is noteworthy that he -was one of the Soviet delegates representing the Ukraine over 20 years ago at the negotiation of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany, and it was only afterwards that he became identified with the new Lithuania. He is said to be now somewhere in the U.S.S.R. The Government of Lithuania have banned the teaching of religion in the schools and have already dismissed all religious teachers. The first collective farm has been sanctioned in Latvia. It does not follow exactly the Soviet model, being limited in its area to less than 500 acres and to a small number of participants. It is announced that collectiviza- tion will be on a voluntary basis-but that was the case in the U.S.S.R. M. Selter, the former Foreign Minister of Estonia, has been tried at Tallinn and condemned in, absentia. As the Estonian representative at Geneva, he was recalled a fortnight ago, but ignored the summons, and his whereabouts are at present unknown.