RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 May 1919, Page 5

RUSSIA.

1 'fc^^— PETROGRAD IN STATE -OBHSIEGE. ■..„ JiNNs-wrrmN 22 miles. ■«•' Received May 7, 1 a.m. _ London, May 5. The Russian Bolshevik Government has proclaimed a state of siege in Petrograd, relying for defence mainly on the Finnish Red Guards. The Bolsheviks have appealed to the proletariat to assist them in repelling General Mannerheim's Finnish White Guards. The principal motive of General Mannerheim's advance is to force a favorable solution of the Finnish question, hoping to compel the Bolsheviks to concede demands before a Bolshevik debacle complicates the problem. Paris, May 5. The Finnish troops and Judenich's Russian volunteers are within twentytwo miles of Petrograd.—Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc. ' THE, VAGA (BATTLE, , EFFECTIVE ARTILLERY "WORK. Received May 6, 9 pjn< London, May 5. General Ironside reports that the Bolshevik bombardment at Vaga lasted for several hours. The dugouts withstood the shelling and protected the infantry well. The enemy assembled under cover of the woods, but were speedily dispersed When they advanced in the open. One party of Bolsheviks attempted to get round the British flank, but the Russian infantry counter-attacked and defeated the enemy. General Ironside pays a tribute to the Canadian artillery, also the Russian artillerymen manning the 60-pounders, Which were a deciding factor in the battle.—Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. AMERICANS SURPRISED, A GUARD BEHEADED. Received May 6, 6 pjn. London, May 5. A Helsingfors telegram to the Daily Express, says that Bolshevist spies learned the details of the defences of Shenkursk, on the Vaga river, 275 miles south-eastward of Archangel, and organised a detachment of axemen, who attacked the American guard during the night, and beheaded sixty out of eighty pickets, and gained entrance to the fort. —Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. A COMMISSARY MURDERED. Received May 7, 1 a.m. London, May 6. A Russian official message states that the Bolshevik Commissary Gregorieff was murdered in Petrograd.—AKß.-H.Z. Cable Assn.