LAND ACTIVITIES AT A STANDSTILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 15, 18 January 1940, Page 7

LAND ACTIVITIES AT A STANDSTILL.

FINNISH FRONT. Successes Claimed By Red Invaders. WIDESPREAD BOMBINGS. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 11 a.m.) LONDON", January 17. The cold has virtually brought to a standstill military activities and has paralysed naval operations, says a Helsinki message. A Leningrad communique reports scouting activities at Murmansk and Gregorieff. and clashes between infantry units at Petrozavodsk. There was minor artillery fire on the Karelian Isthmus. "Our patrols repulsed an enemy attempt to launch reconnoitring operations on a wide front," says the communique. "The enemy suffered great losses. Our aircraft reconnoitred and bom'bed railway junctions and military objectives." Civilians Shiver In Shelters. The Russians bombed the southern areas of Finland for the fifth successive day, while civilians stood for hours in air raid cellars on the coldest day foi 10 years, says another message from Helsinki. Russian airmen mercilessly demolished a hospital at Aekenaes and set fire to houses at Hanko and Turku. Thirty people were blown to pieces when a bomb landed in a crowded sheltei trench. A Finnish communique states that 70 or 80 Russian aeroplanes bombarded towns in the interior. Finnish aircraft bombed enemy troops. A counter-espionage campaign by the Finnish Government has resulted in the execution of a number of Russian agents. , The German commercial attache at the German Legation in Helsinki has re signed in order to join the Finnish Army.