VIBORG STILL HELD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 March 1940, Page 5

VIBORG STILL HELD

SOME GAINS BY FINNS ON OTHER FRONTS SEVERAL ENEMY ATTACKS REPULSED. CAPTURE OF MACHINE-GUN NESTS. Despite continuous heavy fighting around Viborg, the situation remains unchanged, Daventry reports. In Centra] Finland the Finns claim some successes. Several Russian attacks have been repulsed and machine-gun nests captured.

RUSSIAN CLAIMS REPORTS OF CONTINUED ADVANCE. ISLAND IN VIBORG BAY OCCUPIED. LONDON, March 5. A Russian communique states that Soviet troops occupied Uuras Island in Viborg Bay, including its town and a fortress containing three batteries of long-range naval guns, and that they continue to occupy new points west of the Karelian. Isthmus. In Viborg itself the Russian advance is being / contested street by street and house by house. Except at Viborg, the Mannerheim Line remains intact. In the centre of the line and at the east end the Russians have gained no ground. In fact, at Taipale'large Russian concentrations have been dispersed. Reports from the northern fronts reflect a widespread intensification of hostilities, of which an interesting development was a Russian retreat from Nautisi, near the Norwegian border, from where the Finns last week evacuated their positions. Further successes for the Finns are reported north-east of Lake Ladoga with heavy losses, and on the Petsamo front the Russians have fallen back nearly two miles from Nautisi. At Taipale, the Finns say, the Russians have not advanced an inch for weeks. The Finns are finding encouragement in the arrival of the late snows, and if these become deep the Russians will be in difficulties again. MANY CHILDREN DIE. Cape Town reports that the South African Government is giving the League of Nations £50,000 for the purchase of commodities for Finland. The effect of Russian methods of warfare is revealed in a report submitted to the Hoover Fund Committee by two Finnish doctors, a Daventry message slates. It deals with the tragic conditions of children driven from their homes by the Russian advance on the Salla front. Children, many of them without proper clothing, were forced to flee in terrible weather. As a result, one out of every 10 died and half the rest are ill. The death rate among these children was actually higher than that of the soldiers in the region. To alleviate the suffering the Hoover Committee has decided immediately to dispatch six ambulance units and medical supplies. It is announced in Helsinki that 25,000 families in Denmark have signified their readiness to receive into their homes 35,000 evacuated Finnish children. RAID ON HELSINKI RUSSIAN PLANES DRIVEN OFF. ISLAND IN VIBORG BAY ATTACKED. (Received This Day. 9.45 a.m.) , HELSINKI, March 5. A number of Russian bombers attempted to fly over Helsinki, but were driven off by anti-aircraft guns. A Finnish communique states that the enemy made attacks throughout the day on islands in Viborg Bay and the north-western beach. Fighting continued north of the bay, but Russian attacks,at other points were repulsed.