FINNS ROUT RUSSIAN 44th DIVISION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 January 1940, Page 5

FINNS ROUT RUSSIAN 44th DIVISION

Thousand Prisoners and Much Material Taken MORE ATTACKS ON MANNERHEIM LINE REPELLED \ INTENSE COLD IN FIGHTING AREAS (By Telegraph.—Press Association. —Copyright.) The Finns claim another smashing' victory in which the entire 44th Russian Division of over 15,000 men has been put out of action, Daventry reports. This is the third Soviet division which the Finns claim to have routed. The Finns state that over 1,000 prisoners have been captured, together with a large amount of booty, including - 102 guns, 43 tanks, hundreds of armoured cars, lorries and field kitchens and 1000 horses. The collection of spoil continues. In some areas the temperature is 33 degrees Fahrenheit below zero and Russian troops have been captured who were found to have been rendered unconscious by the cold. On the Mannerheim Line, the Finns have driven off Russian attacks, which were preceded by heavy artillery fire. DIVISION WIPED OUT Thousands of Russians Killed SOME DETAILS OF FINNISH ACHIEVEMENT (Received This Day, 9.45 a.in.) HELSINKI, January S. A special communique states that the Finnish army wiped out the Forty-fourth Division of the Red Army near Suomus- ! salmi. Thousands were killed and over a thousand prisoners taken. The booty includes 1,180 horses, 102 guns and 43 tanks.