WAR IN FINLAND

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 29, 3 January 1940, Page 7

WAR IN FINLAND

| GERMANS MAY INTERVENE DEPENDS ON ALLIES. SOVIET PLEA DENIED. c (United Press Association —By Elcctrio Telegraph—Copyright.) Deceived January L D. 45 a.m. LONDON, Jan. 2. Germany to-day issued a warnt mg’ that she might enter the ltus- - sian-Fiunish conflict if British i soldiers appeared on Finnish soil, 1 j or the Allied shipment of muni--5 j lions to Finland reached decisive -proportions, states the Berlin - correspondent of the Associated Press. However, it is denied that ’ Stalin has requested 200,01)0 ex- [ pert engineers and technicians to reorganise the Soviet’s economy ' and industry. It was earlier reported from Copenhagen that the Politiken’s Berlin ; | correspondent says Stalin has asked ! Hitler for 200,000 German technicians, engineers, and specialists to reorganise | Russian economic life, especially the transport system. He offers good salaries and a free hand under his personal protection. The correspondent adds that Russia is unable to carry on the campaign in Finland without immediate help from skilled men, upon the despatch of whom continued Russo-German collaboration largely depends. The only question is whether Germany can spare the skilled men. ATTACKS RENEWED. FINNS UNP.ES IST!NG. TURKU CASTLE BOMBED. Received January 3, 10 a.m. HELSINKI, Jan. 2. The Russians renewed their fierce i attacks against the Manncrheim Line | on- the Karelian Isthmus to-day, try- ] ing to rush vital positions with masses of men and material. I Russian artillery' has been pounding j the Finnish lines for 36 hours with increased intensity and the gunfire is : audible at Wiipuri. All reports agree that the Finns have thus far not yielded an inch. A largo number of Russian wounded freeze to death in No Mail’s Land. Turku Castle was set on fire b.v a Russian bomber yesterday when two were killed and four wounded. It is still burning to-day. It dates from the Thirteenth Century and houses Finland’s finest museum. An earlier report stated that Russian bombers set ablaze the centre of Turku. TROOP CONCENTRATIONS ON SOVIET FRONTIERS. ■ TURKO-RU MAN lAN STEPS. NEW FORK, Jan. 1. It is reliably slated that Turkey is reinforcing her eastern and northeastern defences, says the Belgrade correspondent ol the New York 'limes. New concentrations are based at Diyarbekir, Erzincan and Kars. Already six of the 13 army corps are stationed east of Sivas. It is understood that the new dis- ! positions increase the military forces 1 'ii Eastern Turkey by about one-third. “ imultaneously it- is confirmed that J Iran and Afghanistan are continuing to j strengthen their armies on the Russian iVontier. It is logical to believe that there are concrete indications of Russian military movements between the Black and Caspian Seas. Rumania is reported to have recently withdrawn three divisions from Bessarabia, leaving one division of cavalry j and three divisions of infantry east lof the Pruth River. In the event of j an invasion, it is believed Russia would ! press south between the Pruth River j and the Carpathian Mountains, and therefore Rumania lias two divisions of ; cavalry and 16 divisions of infantry j around Cernanti, seven divisions on I Uie Hungarian frontier and seven in the Dobruja. ENEMY 0E BOLSHEVISM. DUCE'S POLICY UNCHANGED. ROME. Jan. 2. “Mussolini’s policy has not. deviated a hair’s breadth, especially where'Bolshevism is concerned.” declares- the Relazioni Internationale. the Italian. Foreign Office’s organ, reviewing Jt-alv’s policy in the latter port of 1939. The journal adds: “The'three great Mediterranean peninsulas, namelv, the Italian. Snanisli and Danubian Balkan, are hound bv a common civilisation and destiny If Bolshevism penetrated any one of them the whole of the Mediterranean would be endangered. Italy will never allow Bolshevism to cross the Carpathians.” BRITISH AMBASSADOR. “A PROLONGED HOLIDAY.” MOSCOW, Jan. 2. It is officially explained that the British Ambassador (Sir William Seeds) has not been recalled, but is taking a holiday which, “in view of the present Soviet-British relations, may be prolonged indefinitely.” Earlier it was reported from Moscow that the British Ambassador had an interview with the YiceCommissar for Foreign Affairs (M. Potemkin) on Thursday to take leave prior to returning home for some weeks’ leave. Sir ‘William Seeds has l>ecn prevented for some time from taking leave bydevelopments in the international situation, which included the prolongedperiod of negotiations in Moscow Infore Russia seceded from the anti-ag-gressio.n front and bo was known to bo in need of a holiday.

It lias been made clear in well-in-formed quarters in London that his return to England just now has no political significance.