SLACKENED BY COLD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20133, 30 December 1939, Page 7

SLACKENED BY COLD

FIERCE FIGHTING FOR FINLAND Y uY'LV * ' : ■ ■ SOVIET RESUMPTION EXPECTED ASSEMBLY OF CRACK OGPU TROOPS ‘PUPPET’ GOVERNMENT RECRUITS CORPS MOSCOW BOAST OF FIVE THOUSAND (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Dec. 29, 3 p.m.) LONDON, Dee. 28. Messages from Helsinki state that the cold has slackened activities on the majority of the fronts, but a resumption ol the Russian push is expected ,with better weather. A Finnish communique dealing with the eastern frontier records patrol activity north-cast of Lake Ladoga. It adds that: fighting is proceeding on Russian soil east of Piclesjarvi, where the Russians were pushed back nearly to Tuuli and Lake Lavaare. The Finnish objective is Repola, an important Soviet base 30 miles north-east of the frontier. Russian bombing raids were not fatal, but wounded some civilians. A hundred thousand crack Ogpu troops have arrived in the Karelian Isthmus to stiffen the assault. Hand-to-Hand Fight For Ford

Hand-to-hand fighting marked the first Russian attempt to cross the Silvan to River, an important flank defence ot 11k 1 Mannerheim Line in the Karelia Isthmus. Two Russian companies were wiped out.

A Swedish survey of the situation shows that the Russians have nowhere penetrated Finland more than 30 miles. l hey are making a determined stand south of Salmijarvi, where lhey dug in after 9. hasty retreat from advanced positions. The Finns failed to dislodge them and withdrew several miles. Some success attended earlier attempts to dynamite ill-guarded stretches of the vital Murmansk railway, the main avenue of supplies for the northern Russian forces. A Moscow message states that the Terjoki puppet Government has formed a corps of 5575 men to fight for Russia. The Finnish Minister in London will attend a service of intercession for Finland, to be held in Westminster Central Hall lyjxt Sunday. The service will be conducted by the Moderator of the Federal Council of Free Churches and the prayers will be read by the president of the National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches.