EARLIER REPORTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1941, Page 5

EARLIER REPORTS

SOVIET PLANES OVER FINLAND REVOLT IN ESTONIA. INVADERS LONG WAIT IN RUMANIA. LONDON, June 22. Reports reaching Ankara say that the Luftwaffe has attacked the Black Sea oil port of Odessa on the same scale as it bombed Rotterdam and Belgrade. The Germans claim that the Luftwaffe’s initial onslaughts have succeeded in forestalling the enemy. The air force, they say, has destroyed considerable numbers of planes on the ground and also in combat, while bomber formations heavily and successfully attacked air bases, antiaircraft positions, troop concentrations and defence works in Russia and Rus-sian-occupied territory. A Finnish communique says that Soviet planes flew over Finland, raiding several points inland, and also warships off the coast and other Finnish vessels near Turku. They started fires in some places, and two coast defence ships, the Ilmarinen and Vainamoinen, are reported to have been bombed near the island of Korko. Large numbers of Soviet planes bombed the south-eastern frontier of Finland. The first news of naval action is a German news agency claim that tor-pedo-boats sank a 4000-ton Russian vessel and also a fishing-boat in Russian waters.

Reports reaching Stockholm say that a revolt has broken out in Estonia, with rebels seizing armed ships in Tallinn harbour and firing on the city. The Red Army is successfully combating the rebels. In the north, Finnish troops are reported to be in action side by side with the Germans. The Rome radio said that the Rumanian troops invading Bessarabia had been waiting impatiently for weeks for the order to advance. At the southern end of the front very strong resistance by Russian troops is reported by Rome radio, specially in northern Bukovina, the Rumanian province ceded to Russia last year. Tonight the German official news agency says that the Soviet air force has been decisively defeated in two attacks over German territory today. It claims that seven out of nine Soviet bombers which raided East Prussia this morning were shot down, and that in a raid on German-occupied Poland Nazi fighters shot down 33 out of 35 Soviet bombers. In an order of the day, the comman-der-in-chief of the German army has said to his troops: “Full of confidence in the Fuehrer, we will beat the old Bolshevist enemy of National Socialist Germany and thereby secure the final victory over Britain.”

TURKEY NEUTRAL QUESTIONS REGARDING JAPAN. ANTICIPATION OF “INDEPENDENT” POLICY. ‘ LONDON, June 22. An official communique in Ankara states: “In view of the situation that has been created by the war between Germany and Russia, the Government of the Turkish Republic has decided to proclaim the neutrality of Turkey.” Tokio reports that the Japanese Press has refrained from speculating as to whether Japan will observe her treaty obligations. However they expect that Japan will follow the independent policy that is intended to achieve her major- objective, of a “new order” in East Asia. The newspapers maintain an impartial attitude. German sources say that Germany will not ask Japan for anything in connection with the hostilities in Russia. Authoritative Japanese circles expect that the Soviet Union will send a Note to the Foreign Office asking Japan to observe strict neutrality. Speculation regarding the future of Japanese policy is forbidden.