HOSPITALS OVERCROWDED

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20990, 18 December 1939, Page 8

HOSPITALS OVERCROWDED

PUBLIC NOT INFORMED CLAIMS BY THE FINNS (United rrcss Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Dec. 17 The hospitals in Leningrad are overflowing and schools are rapidly filling with casualties from the Finnish war, says a report from Moscow. At the outset of the war, when the Soviet operations were envisaged as a glorious walkover, the Russian newspapers were filled with ardent despatches. Now they merely publish three or four-line communiques. The bare fact of the Soviet’s expulsion from the League of Nations is published in Moscow without comment. The latest Soviet war communique claims the capture of Salmijarvi, an advance of 79 miles in the central zone and a ‘‘successful advance” on the Karelian Isthmus. It is stated in Helsinki that the Russian losses throughout the war have been 50 aeroplanes and over 100 tanks and armoured cars. It is estimated that 100 Russian lives are lost for every Finnish life. The Finns claim to have recaptured Kuolajarvi, thus halting the twoprong offensive toward the Gulf of Bothnia. The Finnish armies launched a series of blows on the flanks of the Russian forces and a number of valuable successes have been achieved, according to reports from Helsinki.