IN FULL FLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 16, 19 January 1940, Page 8

IN FULL FLIGHT

45,000 RUSSIANS

RELENTLESS FINNISH ATTACK

"WAISTLINE" SAFE

& THREAT AVERTED

KBy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received January 19, 2 p.m.) J LONDON, January 18.

Forty-five thousand Russians are In full fligty on tne Salla front after a relenttess Finnish attack for some days past in which the air force disorganised the Russians' rear. The weather and the constant cutting of communications have beaten the Russians here, and in view of the collapse of the supporting forces in the Petsamo, Kuusamo, and Suomussalmi sectors the Finns are of the opinion that the "waistline" is safe till the spring.

The Finnish advance in ..the Salla sector indicates thai* a very acute^ threat to the vital lines to Sweden" has been averted and1 the point of the Russian arrowhead severely blunted. The Reds here were within 20 miles of Kemittrask, from which the railway runs toßovaniemi and the Gulf of Bothnia. This is the furthest point the invaders have reached on Finnish soil.

Fighting continues fiercely in the bleak and sparsely-populated country around Markajarvi, which is 18 miles south-east of Salla. The Russians attacked unsuccessfully north-east of Lake Ladoga, and Finnish patrols wiped out strong Russian patrols further north. According to the French radio, the Finns so far have lost 20,000 in dead <*■*.„ and wounded and the Russians 150,000, s Hiany hundreds of whom have simply fallen into, a peaceful sleep which is death from cold.