HEAVY FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 December 1939, Page 7

HEAVY FIGHTING

AT POINTS ON FINNISH FRONT VIOLENT SOVIET ASSAULTS REPULSED. SERIOUS LOSSES REPORTED. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. LONDON. December 11. Heavy fighting occurred at widely separated points on the 800 miles Finnish front from the Arctic Ocean to Lake Ladoga. The Finns are sturdily holding most of their positions, despite a Russian claim of further advances. Tonight’s Finnish communique states that for the fifth successive day the Finns repulsed violent assaults in the vicinity of Lake Ladoga, destroyed seven tanks and annihilated three Soviet companies. They abandoned Salla after bitter fighting. The communique adds that the Finnish batteries at Bjorko (a port on the Karelian Isthmus) carried on a duel with the Red fleet for two hours. No details are given of the fightingin the extreme north, but apparently the Russians have been attacking with some force on the eastern frontier at about the narrowest part of the country. The Russians appear to have fortified the island of Hogland. They are also reported to have launched an attack on Hanko. but the Finns say it was unsuccessful. A Finnish report states that the air force bombed enemy detachments and co-operated with artillery in the destruction of an enemy column of armoured cars and motor-cars. An unconfirmed report says that the railway line leading from Murmansk to the Finnish frontier was bombed.—By radio. The recapture by the Finns of Suomussalmi, about 10 miles from the eastern border, where the Red Army was endeavouring to cut across central Finland, was announced in a Daventry broadcast late last night.

RUSSIAN CLAIM ADVANCE ON ALL FRONTS. (Received This Day, 10 a.m.) MOSCOW. December 12. A Red Army communique claims a continued advance on all fronts in Finland. There is no aviation activity owing to a low ceiling. NO CONFIRMATION ITALIAN AND GERMAN ARMS FOR FINLAND. (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) LONDON, December 12. In the House of Commons, Mr Neville Chamberlain replying to a question, said: “I have not any official confirmation of reports that Italy and Germany are transporting and sellingmilitary equipment to Finland.