PETSAMO RAIDED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 December 1939, Page 7

PETSAMO RAIDED

APPARENTLY STILL HELD BY FINNS RATHER CONFLICTING REPORTS INVADERS USING SEARCHLIGHTS. LONDON, December 11. The latest Russian army communique claims that advances have been made in all directions from three to four miles, including the occupation of Kuolojarvi (in north-east Finland). On the other hand, correspondents with the Finnish troops on the Lake Ladoga sector state that a big attack by Russians was repulsed. Fighting in the north of Finland is being carried on with searchlights, a Copenhagen message states. Because of the Arctic twilight Russian troops are flooding the battlefields with searchlights in an attempt to drive through the Finnish lines. Petsamo, which was recaptured last week by the Finns, has been subjected to two raids by Soviet planes. Thirty miles south heavy fighting is reported. It is believed that the Red Army hopes to cut across Finland at its narrowest point. The Finns say that they have brought down three Soviet planes, and Finnish aircraft are reported to have bombed Soviet troops. Finnish machines also bombed the Russian naval base at Kronstadt. Soviet attempts to land troops on the south coast of Finland failed, according to a Copenhagen newspaper. Finland’s internal efforts include the extension of military law to civilians in the northern and eastern provinces, and the authorisation of a loan of £8.500.000. VIOLENT FIGHTING REPORTED IN KARELIA. (Received This Day. 9.20 a.m.) HELSINKI, December 11. A Finnish communique reports violent fighting in Karelia by the light of powerful searchlights, owing to the Arctic darkness.