VIBORG BAY BATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 March 1940, Page 7

VIBORG BAY BATTLE

FINNS CHECK RUSSIAN ADVANCE SUCCESS ON CENTRAL PART OF ISTHMUS. SOME CLAIMS BY SOVIET. LONDON, March 11. The Finns have checked the Russian advance over the ice in Viborg Bay and prevented them from extending their restricted foothold, states a message from Helsinki. A Finnish communique says that the Russian troops are in a critical position because reinforcements can be brought only across the ice. Fresh waves of troops trying to advance in column formation with sledges, tanks and munition lorries were decimated by the Finnish air force. Tanks disappeared through great holos in the ice and drowned soldiers can be counted by hundreds. The offensive'is continuing. The Finnish artillery forced the Russians to retreat in the centre of the isthmus. The ice of the Vuoksen water system has covered hundreds of Russian dead. All attacks on the eastern front were repulsed, with the Soviet losses particularly heavy at Kollankoki. A Leningrad communique states that the Russians occupied the island of Varjesaari in Viborg Bay and the town of Nisalahti on-the west coast of the bay, and also the island of Vupratsu in Lake Ladoga. EVEN PUPPETS REBEL. CRITICISM OF RUSSIAN PEACE TERMS. STOCKHOLM. March 10. The newspaper “Aftonbladet” reports that Kusinen and other members of the Finnish puppet Government have been arrested by the Russians for criticising the Soviet's peace advances.