DEFENCE OF VIBORG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 March 1940, Page 5

DEFENCE OF VIBORG

RUSSIANS NOW FOUR MILES FROM TOWN

Thousands of Fresh Troops Thrown In FINNS RESISTING WITH UTMOST TENACITY ARRIVAL OF MORE FOREIGN PLANES Soviet forces are now only about four miles from Viborg, a Daventry report states. Intensive fighting is going on in the depths of the Mannerheim Line in front of the city. The Russians are pressing the attack with thousands of fresh troops and much new material. The Finns are resisting with the utmost tenacity and the invaders must expect very heavy losses before reaching Viborg. The area over which the Russians had to advance was heavily fortified. More foreign planes have arrived and these are being used in intensive bombings of the Russian lines. Attacks on troops crossing ice have caused large numbers of men, tanks and guns to crash into the water. . Three air raid alarms were given yesterday i!n Helsinki but no bombs were dropped. The Finns claim to have repulsed four attacks in the Lake Ladoga area. The Russian advance has been slow since the fall of the fortress of Bjorko, owing to the rugged nature of the country which is heavily fortified. A rise in the temperature has raised the hopes of the Finns that bad weather and fog may come to their aid. Artillery fire continues on a, large scale and is considered to be the heaviest, since the war began. One report says that two fresh Russian divisions have been thrown into the drive in an attempt to reach Viborg, but. the Finns claim that they are strongly entrenched in the positions they took up a week ago. They thenjselves have brought up fresh reinforcements, some of them foreign volunteers, and the Russian claims to have captured positions are denied.

FURTHER PROGRESS

CLAIMED BY RUSSIANS. CAPTURE OF VILLAGES AND FORTIFICATIONS. (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, February 29. A Russian communique states that

the Soviet has captured six villages, including Alasomme, less than four miles from Viborg. It is estimated that the Russian forces confronting Viborg number 175,000. The communique adds that the Soviet forces have repulsed counter-attacks and captured 42 fortifications.