SOVIET LOSSES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20996, 26 December 1939, Page 5

SOVIET LOSSES

SUCCESS OF FINNS HEAVY RAIN OF SHELLS SLAUGHTER OF CIVILIANS (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Dec. 26, 11 a.m.) HELSINKI, Dec. 25 An official statement, summing up three weeks of war, states: “The Russians’ losses have been enormous. We have cut up and scattered entire companies of regiments, which were mercilessly driven into the raking fire of the defenders. We have destroyed or captured over 200 tanks, dozens of planes, dozens of guns, and hundreds of machine-guns. Our losses were comparatively slight.' “The Russians, repeatedly and violently attempting to break the defences, failed everywhere. The enemy pressure was heaviest on the Loimolakitela line, north from Ladoga, against which the Russians concentrated in vain.

“The Russians killed 100 civilians on the first day of the war—a slaughter which steeled the people’s will and power to resist. “The Russians attacked the centre of the Mannerheim Line on Sunday and rained shells on a sector two miles long for an hour, at the rate of 200 a minute. Then about 900 men rushed forward, but broke under the Finnish fire, leaving 300 dead.”

RUSSIANS REPULSED SUCCESS OF THE FINNS STRONG COUNTER-ATTACKS (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright * LONDON, Dec. 24 The Finns are continuing their counter-attacks, and are repulsing the Russians on all four fronts, says a message from Helsinki. Claiming that the Russians have lost 7000 dead in two battles, a Finnish war communique details a victory at Aglajarvi, and says the whole of this area is now in Finnish hands. The advance is being continued. The Finnish infantry is reported to have advanced behind tanks recently captured from the Russians. It is recalled that the Finns fought the War of Independence in 1918 largely with arms and ammunition captured from the Reds. Most of their army lifies and many of Uieir field guns today use ammunition of the same calibre as the Russians.

A Finnish communique dealing with the Russian retreat in the Salla sector, just north of the Arctic Circle, estimates that the enemy lost 5000 dead, and says the route of the Finnish advance is marked by a long trail ot corpses and wrecked tanks. “All Is Not Well” The colourless Moscow communiques and the absence of claims of victory strengthen the suspicions that all is not well at the front, says the Moscow correspondent ox the New York Times. What is behind the silence? It is not possible to doubt that the Red Army is encountering tremendous difficulties and its progress is disappointingly slow. It is likely that in the absence of normal supply facilities columns carrying supplies for a limited period are under orders to reach the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia at a fixed date in order to seize the railway and theii security is dependent upon close adherence to time-table, and any deviation would leave the armies in a deplorable position, unable to replenish their foodstuffs and munitions. Only supreme organising genius could avert disaster in such circumstances. The Soviet has not proved that Bolshevism has enabled the Russians to overcome their historic weakness in organising. HUMAN SEARCHLIGHTS

BEAMS DAZZLE ENEMY United Press Assn HELSINKI, Dec. 24 A feature of the present campaign is the employment of so-called “human searchlights.” Carrying electric projectors, the Finns switch them on when they reach their objective, where, after synchronising them, they throw dazzling beams toward the Russians while riflemen and machine-gunners open fire, speedily terminating the action. Military theorists foresee similar tactics on the Western Front.