HEAVY FIGHTING IN FINLAND

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 68, 13 December 1939, Page 9

HEAVY FIGHTING IN FINLAND

Defenders Retain Most Positions

BIG SOVIET LOSSES CLAIMED Further Bitter Clashes Near Lake Ladoga By Telegraph. —Press Assn.—-Copyright. (Received December 12, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, December 11. Heavy fighting occurred at widely separated points on the 800 miles Finnish front from the Arctic Ocean to Lake Ladoga. The Finns are sturdily holding most of their positions, despite a Russian claim of further advances. Tonight’s Finnish communique states that for the fifth successive day the Finns repulsed violent assaults in the vicinity of Lake Ladoga, destroyed seven tanks and annihilated three Soviet companies. They abandoned Salla after bitter fighting. The communique adds that the Finnish batteries at Bjorko (a port on the Karelian Isthmus) carried on a duel with the Red fleet for two hours. The Norwegian newspaper “Norges Handels-og Sjofartstidende .quotes the statement of an eyewitness that the Russian naval base at Kronstadt was in flames after a bombardment.

According to a message from Rome, a semi-official news agency report from Oslo states that 500 Russians were killed and 200 taken prisoner in recent attacks in the Petsamo region.

Life In Helsinki

Although over two-thirds of the population of Helsinki have been evacuated, cinemas are reopening, buses and trains are running skeleton schedules, food is abundant and cheap, ami six newspapers are published daily. Russian prisoners state that the Red armies are without ambulances and doctors. Many Asiatics are fighting with the Red army.

Last night’s Finnish communique claimed that for the fourth successive day the Russians were driven back from the Finnish line on the Karelian Isthmus.

No details are given of the fighting in the extreme north, but apparently the Russians have been attacking with some force on the eastern frontier at about the narrowest part of the country. The Russians appear to have fortified the island of Hogland. They are also reported to have launched an attack on Hanko, but the Finns say it was unsuccessful. A Finnish report states that the air force bombed enemy detachments and co-operated with artillery in the destruction of an enemy column of armoured cars and motor-cars. An unconfirmed report says that the railway line leading from Murmansk to the Finnish frontier was bombed. —By radio. IMPORTANT POINT RECAPTURED Tiie recapture by the Finns of Sucmussalmi, about 10 miles from the eastern border, where the Red Army was endeavouring to cut across central Finland, was announced in a Daventry broadcast late last night. TRIED TO ENLIST Schoolboys In Finland LONDON, December 11. The Fininsii Charge d’Affairs in Stockholm, JI. Erkko, revealed that 0000 Finnish schoolboys tried to enlist. ASSIST FINLAND Appeal To Christians (Received December 12, 7.5 p.m.) HELSINKI, December 11. Bishop Kaila, of Finland, appealed to Christians throughout the world to assist the Finns in the name of the northernmost outpost of Christianity. TRAWLERS DETA INE D French Purchase In U.S.A. (Received December 12, 7.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, December 11. The coastguard detained five trawlers purchased by France a.s minesweepers pending the AttorneyGeneral’s ruling whether Germany would be entitled tn damages from the l uited States in the event of the vessels damaging German property. Three others sailed earlier.