KRONSTADT’S FALL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 150, 21 March 1921, Page 5

KRONSTADT’S FALL

ATTACKED BY STRONG RED FORCES

GARRISON FIGHTS TILL EXHAUSTED

FUGITIVES ESCAPING TO FINLAND

Ry Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright.

Copenhagen, March 18.

The Bolsheviks sent swarms of Chinese and others from the Carelian Headland to attack Kronstadt on Thursday. The situation became critical in tho afternoon, and batteries Four, Five, and Six, situated on the extreme outskirts, surrendered. The Communists within Kronstadt united with the (attackers, and a decisive fight ensued. The garrison, numbering fifteen thousand, was exhausted after several days' incessant fighting, and crowds of refugees escaped across the ice to Finland.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

London, March 18

The Stockholm correspondent of the "Times” confirms the report of the fall of Kronstadt. Trotsky personally led the attack, and sixty thousand Reds combined for the final attack. They captured the outer forts and turned the guns against the garrison over the heads of the attacking troops. Thousands of excited spectators lined the Finnish shore and watched the progress of the advance. There was p. des’perate resistance and a tremendous cannonading. Dawn saw the Reds, wearing white overcoats, vainly make repeated attempts to storm the forts, which held out till 9 p.m. When tho first deserters crossed to Finland they stated that the garrison was exhausted. The men had served the guns for three days without relief. A later message states that all the Readers, with 800 of their followers, reached tho Finnish coast,and announced tho capitulation of the remainder of the garrison, of whom fifteen thousand had remained behind. The leader of tho insurrection, Koslovski, is among the refugees in Finland. —"The Times. BATTERIES ENDEAVOUR TO COVER RETREAT. (Rec. Mfirch 19, 5.5 p.m.) Helsingfors, March 18. Seine batteries in Kronstadt are still in notion, trying to cover the retreat and save fugitives from the Chinese. The defenders ’blew up the battleships Sebastopol and Petropavlovsk before they left the harbour. Five thousand refugees have already arrived in Finland. Fifteen thousand more are exppeted. Many collapsed on the journey. Finnish troops are assisting in the rescue work.—AusN.Z. Cable Assn. OVERTHROW OF BOLSHEVIKS IN SPRING PREDICTED (Rec. March 20, 5.5 p.m.) London, March 19. Helsingfors telegrams report that the final conquest of Kronstadt occurred at 2 o’clock on. Friday, after the distribution of the last rations and munitions. Though nearing exhaustion, the sailors fought on until their ammunition gave out. The American Red Cross has taken over the charge of 12.509 refugees, housing them in- a former German concentration camp. The majority, despite Kronstadt’s fall, prediet the overthrow of the Bolsheviks in the spring, the sailors declaring that their motto is still "Victory or death.” Koslovski escaped. He confirms the destruction of the fortress’s guns end tho blowing up of the battleships Petropavlovsk and Sebastopol prior to Kron--stfidt’s fall. A Moscow wireless message reasserts with details that ex-Tsarist White Guard officers, disguised as sailors and Red troops, directed tho rising.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. LENIN MISTAKEN IN BOLSHEVIST POLICY HOPE OF WORLD REVOLUTION ABANDONED. (Ree. March 20. 11.5 p.m.) Paris, March. 20. A message via K-eval states that Lenin, speaking nt the Communist Congress at Moscow, admitted that he was mistaken in the Bolshevist policy. He had abandoned hope of a world revolution, therefore Russia must enter into agreements with tho bourgeois Governments, and also encourage capitalists and private enterprise, otherwise Russia could not progress. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.