SOVIET OFFICERS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 260, 1 August 1939, Page 9

SOVIET OFFICERS

Killed In Mongolia Fighting? • Independent Cable Service.) MOSCOW, July 30. General Kholzunov and three other high air force officers were killed in a crash. An official communique states that General Kholzunov and his brother officers were killed while fulfilling their duties. Many army officers, including Marshal Voroshilov, Defence Commissar, and bis aides, signed a statement paying a tribute to the dead men.

Observers express the opinion that this gives the lie to stories of a new purge which were recently published in the foreign Press, as the statement contains the names of men who are alleged to have been removed from command. The Press Association states that General Kholzunov and the other air Officers, who include Major Cherkassov, a bombing expert, are believed to have died during the lighting in Outer Mongolia. They will be given an elaborate military funeral, at which Marshal Voroshilov will be the chief mourner.

Reports that General Shteru, commander of the first array in the Far East, has been removed have been dispelled by his signature to a statement paying a tribute to the dead flyers.

A message from Moscow published yesterday mentioned General Shteru. one of General Bhiecher’s successors when the Far Eastern army was spiit into two, as among 75 Soviet highlyplaced officials who had been degraded.