RUSSIAN LOSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 January 1940, Page 5

RUSSIAN LOSSES

FIFTY THOUSAND KILLED SINCE NOVEMBER 30 LARGE ADDITIONAL NUMBERS WOUNDED. TWO HUNDRED ENEMY PLANES BROUGHT DOWN. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, January 8. According to a Finnish communique 300 Russians were killed and 14 machine-guns captured on the Salla front as a result of an attempt to outflank the Finns. Three additional Russian planes were shot down. The Finns beat off night attacks and dispersed an infantry column and a supply column near Summa, where the Russians are digging in. The Finns improved their positions at Lake Ladoga and also threw back a Russian attack at Petsamo. Russian air raids along the Gulf of Finland killed one person and wounded two. Bombers twice raider Turku. A Moscow war communique states that the Russians routed a Finnish detachment north-east of Lake Ladoga. A Copenhagen message states that the Russians are experimenting with gas in skirmishes round Soumussalmi. The Helsinki correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph’’ says it can be stated conservatively that over 50,000 Russians have been killed since November 30, while wound and exposure casualties are much higher. The only appreciable Russian advance during the war was 50 miles down the Petsamo-Rovaniemi road, the correspondent adds. Russia employed over 300,000 men, one of every five of whom became a casualty. The Russians have managed to hold their gains on the shores of Lake Ladoga, but the constant futile hammering against the Mannerheim Line is piling up more and more losses. Bitterly cold weather is still restricting activities in Finland, stated a Daventry broadcast last night. The temperature on the Karelian Isthmus is 30 degrees below zero. A Helsinki message states that icy cold checked all Russian attacks on Sunday morning, but Soviet artillery set up a heavy bombardment of the Mannerheim Line in the afternoon. Russians who started digging themselves in on Saturday were so affected by the cold that many were almost unconscious. and the Finns took many prisoners. Military circles in Helsinki claim that 200 Soviet planes have been brought down since the beginning of the war—about 10 times greater than the Finnish losses. Agency messages now states that as many as 16 Russian planes were shot down during the course of the fighting on Saturday. Eight of these were claimed in the Finnish communique. It seems that Finnish chaser planes operating over the battle areas have been responsible for these successes. Saturday night’s Russian communique mentioned patrol activity on some fronts and claims successful air raids on Finnish reserves.