760D.61/1521: Telegram
The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:42 p.m.]
422. My telegram No. 337, July 31,68 and Moscow’s telegram [No. 989], August 8, 1 p.m. The Prime Minister informed me yesterday [Page 350] that Finnish Government had no reason to think there had been any recent increase of Soviet forces in the vicinity of Finnish border but that there was greatly increased concentration of Russian troops in more southerly areas. He said the new defense line in Finland was incomparably superior to the so-called Mannerheim Line of last winter and though not complete was highly satisfactory to the military authorities. Available supplies of munitions had been augmented by receipt of equipment ordered from Germany prior to the hostilities with the Soviet Union and latest receipts included a hundred 37-millimeter antitank guns. The equipment and ammunition ordered from the United States had all been received. The Prime Minister said that the military supplies now available, though they had been costly, represented a form of insurance well worth-while.
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