Russians Forced Back

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 303, 23 December 1939, Page 7

Russians Forced Back

Finns Capture Much Material SOVIET ADVANCE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT Received Friday, 8.40 p.m. HELSINKI, December 21. It is officially stated that Russian air raiders killed 23 civilians, including women and children. The places raided included Kontiamaki and Sortavala. Air attacks on the battlefield were without result. The enemy were dispersed by fighters. The Finns attacked the enemy’s rear. Finns also made reconnaissance flights over Leningrad, but dropped no bombs. A passenger on a machine-gunned train said: “Five planes attacked us in ten minutes from a height of 150 feet. We were an easy target, but ran into woods. Immediately the train pulled up. A second train which was machine-gunned was full of refugees.” A Stockholm message says a successful conclusion to a two-day counter-attack at Kuolajarvi forced back the Russians 20 miles and averted immediate danger to Kemittrask, which is connected by rail with Rovanicmi and Sweden. Finns captured scores of machine-guns, 30 armoured cars and 200 horses. Russian dead on this front are-reported to be 20,000. Italian and Spanish airmen participated in several bombings of the Leningrad-Murmansk railway. Russians on the Pctsamo front were driven back many miles north of Nautii, which is the southernmost tip of the. Norwegian frontier, north of which the bare terrain favoured an advance, but the Finns have now received modem anti-tank guns. Moreover, east of Kyro a sixty-mile belt of forest hills renders the Russians’ advance much more difficult.