NOTABLE VICTORY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 January 1940, Page 5

NOTABLE VICTORY

GAINED -BY FINNISH FORCES AT KIANTAJARVI Crack Russian Division Destroyed PRISONERS AND MUCH WAR MATERIAL CAPTURED PRESSURE ON VITAL RAILWAYS RELIEVED (By Telegraph.—Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, January 3. For military reasons the extent of a crushing- victory gained by the Finns at Kiantajarvi has been carefully screened in the communiques, states the Kiantajarvi correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.’’ It has surpassed'the Finns’ terrific blow in the Suomussalmi sector, 200 miles farther north. It involved the destruction of a crack Russian division of 18,000 men and the capture of much war material and 700 prisoners. Three Russian divisions participated in twin battles at Kiantajarvi and Algajarvi. 'The Russians were not ill-clad, badly trained or proletarian cannon fodder, but well-clothed, fully-equipped shock troops. The Finnish strategy has made monkeys of the Soviet High Command, securing the eastern front for two months. The officer directing this tactical masterpiece has been promoted from colonel to general. The Finns are now tying the Russians into knots east of Algajarvi. A message from Helsinki states that the Finnish triumph at Kiantajarvi, coupled with the successful thrusts into Russian territory elsewhere, has relieved the pressure against the Joen-suu-Nurmes ami Oulu railways, which are most important, for the transport of Finnish reserves.