Red Army Losing Heavily

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 301, 21 December 1939, Page 7

Red Army Losing Heavily

REPORTED SINKING OF SOVIET BATTLESHIP Received Wednesday, 9.20 p.m. HELSINKI, Dec. 20. In the main Russian attack between Kuclajarvi and Kaukjarvi the enemy are losing heavily. Russian i attacks on the east front have been repulsed. Twenty Soviet planes flew over Hanko, Wiipuri and other points in South Finland and dropped bombs around Helsinki. The Finnish coastal batteries at Koivisto were engaged in a lively action with the Russian air and naval forces, shooting down four or more planes. The Finns deny the Russian investiture of Kermi jarvi, east of Rovaniemi, and declare it will defend it to the death, but Russia’s huge reserves are beginning to tell, while the Finns can have few reserves. Women volunteers are operating in the base lines to release men for tho front. A Soviet communique reports that Russian planes downed 12 Finnish. One Russian has not returned. The military operations are mainly skirmishing and artillery duels. The Bjorko coastal batteries are reported to have sunk the Russian battleship Oktiabrakaya Revolutia. The story is that the Russians knew the batteries’ extreme range to be three miles so they kept just outside it. The Finns brought up more powerful artillery and discharged a salvo when the battleship was just under four miles from the shore and sank her.