THE CHINA MAIL, DECEMBER 28, 1939
Red Army Still Hammering At Mannerheim Line
FROZEN LAKES PROVE A DEATHTRAP FOR TANKS AND INFANTRY: VIBORG SHELLED
Helsinki, To-day. ATTACK ON
WHILE THE RUSSIANS continue to hammer at the
left wing of the Mannerheim Line they are using SMUGGLING heavy artillery all along the Karelian front, and
are sending shells over the Finnish fortifications BY JAPANESE
to objectives behind the lines.
Viborg particularly is suffering from the bombard-
CHUNGKING, TO-DAY. IN AN ATTEMPT TO HALT THE SMUGGLING OF GOODS INTO FROM THE OC- CHINESE CUPIED AREAS, THE GOVERNMENT HAS DECIDED TO
STONE AGE MAN FOUND IN DUMBARTON
Edinburgh, To-day. An archaeological discovery of importance was made by Scottish workmen excavating In Dumbar. tonshire yesterday.
They unearthed a stone coffin containing the skeleton of a man. An examination of the akull and bones shows the man to have been a Stone Age man, and he must be at least 4,000 years old.— Reuter.
MORE AID FOR FINLAND
ment of these heavy guns, which it is estimated "FREE CHINA” are operating some 25 miles away. The Soviets launched wave after wave of violent at-ESTABLISH SPECIAL INSPECTION
tacks against the Mannerheim Line, hitherto CHECK ON ALL GOODS ENTERING being sent. with little, if any, success.
The intense cold enables the Soviet | only about 20 miles behind the Man- Viborg has not only tanks and artillery to cross the frozen nerheim Line.
been bombed from the air, but Soviet Inkes.
is still shelling the town artillery
25 miles. from a range Reuter.
Such operations, however, must be effected swiftly, owing to the vulner- ability of the troops on the ice.
Finnlah planes are constantly on patrols and mobile the look-out, are always in readiness to be rush- ed to menaced spots.
60-MILE RETREAT
A few well-directed bombs on the ice have discouraged more than one Soviet attempt to cross.
Latest reports from the Salla the Russians have front declare
50 miles advanced point
retreated altogether from their most
of 10 days ago, when they were nearly half way across the "wasp waist,"
A Finnish communique states that attempt to cross a further Russian
battle
Lake Suvanto was foiled but a new attempt was continues.
and the begun
it is claimed that eight tanks were destroyed in the Karelian Isthmus and eight captured in other parts of the front.
caused
Russian air attacks have wholly insignificant damage to mili- tary objectives, but several civilians were killed and wounded.
Reuter.
WHITE BLANKETS AS CAMOUFLAGE
Helsinki, To-day.
New air-raid precautions are an- nounced in Helsinki.
All motor-cars must now be paint- ed white, so as to make them difficult to see from the air against the snowy background, and for the same reason foot during raids pedestrians out on must carry white sheets which can be spread over themselves when Soviet machines come down to machine-gun civilians.
Reuter.
HELSINKI
AGAIN
RAIDED
Helsinki, To-day. Helsinki was raided again yester- day, the alarm lasting for two hours. Once again, no bombs were dropped within the city itself, although one fire was reported on the outskirts.
of over
DISASTER ON ICE
London, To-day. The Russians employed new tactics in an attempt to get across one large lake. Taking advantage of the fact that it was frozen over, they sent large bodies of troops across the ice. The advance was mowed down by had a the Finnish artillery, which clear field of fire. Many of the troops torn in perished in the huge holes the ice by the falling shells. Reuter.
HAZARDS OF
R.A.F. ROUTINE
THE
LONDON, TO-DAY.
OF HAZARDS
ROUTINE RECONNAISSANCE WHICH FALLS TO THE LOT OF THE R.A.F. ARE ILLUSTRATED IN THE STORY OF HOW AN AIRCRAFT DAMAGED RECENTLY FAR FROM ITS BASE NEVERTHE- BY ENEMY ATTACK LESS REACHED HOME AND MADE A SAFE LANDING,
Its undercarriage and wing flaps enemy were put out of action by anti-aircraft fire during a reconnais- sance flight over the coast of north- west Germany.
None of the crew was wounded, was able to return and the aircraft safely over the North Sea.
Landing, however, presented great to the danger it difficulty owing involved both to the crew and pos- sibly also to civilian lives and pro- perty.
The Pilot Officer blem successfully.
solved the pro-
He ordered the rest of the crew to decend by parachute and, after assur. ing himself of their safety, succeeded
Later, some "bombphlets" were pick-in landing the ed up. These called on the Finns to further damage. join their "Russian friends."
A
correspondent reports that 42 civilian centres were bombed by the An off- Soviets during Christmas.
that in cial Finnish statement says
aeroplanes flew low many cases the enough to machine-gun civilians. The Soviets lost 23 machines.
aircraft without any
British Wireless.
LORD MAYOR'S RED CROSS FUND ·
London, To-day. During the Christmas holidays the Lord Mayor's Red Cross Fund increas- One of the other main targets for ed by: £3,000, to £899,000-British the Soviet airmen is Viborg, which is Wireless.
ANATOLE ZAITZEFF & CO. FURRIERS:
EXPERT TAILORING
INSPECTION INVITED at Asia Life Building
OFFICES TO
KEEP A
CAREFUL More help for
London, To-day.
Finland is
now
of 130 A Danish ambulance unit THE WAR AREA.
During the past year large amounts beds arrived on the central Finnish while the Swiss of Japanese goods are said to have front yesterday,
has sent 100,000 Free into
China, Federal Council been smuggled
Hankow via Swiss francs. through particularly Ichang.
The wife of the Finnish Minister to Britain announces that an appeal for
It is alleged that the Japanese au- thorities are giving facilities to smug-comforts for Finnish soldiers has met glers for the transit of goods up river with a wonderful response, from Hankow for trans-shipment into Szechuen province.
Large-scale smuggling is said to be depriving the Chinese Government of considerable revenue, and is enablin the Japanese to push the sale of their goods in China.
Reuter.
Reuter.
Rev. Brother Grimshaw, of the St. Louis' Industrial School, West Point, tered and money and property to the has reported that the school was en- value of $124 stolen during Tuesday night.
MASTERLY TACTICS BY FIELD-MARSHAL MANNERHEIM
London, To-day.
THE PLUCKY AND determined resistance which the Finns are making to the invasion by the numerically superior forces of Soviet Russia, and the success which appears to have attended their counter-attack against such odds, have evoked enthusiastic admiration among the British public.
Commenting on the laconic but significant claim in the Fin- nish official communique regarding operations in the Lieksa sector, that "operations have moved to the other side of the frontier," the "Evening Standard” says Fin- land "has taught the invader that behind forest and ice stand freemen ready to defend their independence." Military correspondents in the news- ing to a set plan. papers pay a tribute to the skilful tac- tics of the Finnish High Command, Courage and the difficulties of ground, it is said, cannot alone plain the Finnish resistance.
·
the
ex-
thrust has
been along
The Russians have not taken them by surprise at any point.
Each Russlan anticipated and countered the whole 700-mile front. While military critics here stress the The tactics during the past ten days
re-importance of the successes achieved with their carefully planned treats on the Petsamo and Sallo fronts by the Finnish arms in adverse cir- redeemed by sudden cumstances and against almost over- followed and
Finnish counter-attacks on the Soviet flanks-whelming odds, it is not overlooked
chief problem the are considered by experts as bearing that the the unmistakable imprint in concep- Government has to solve if the Fin- tion and execution of Field-Marshal nish generals are to maintain resis- al commentators remark, it is a pro- Mannerheim, who is once again prov- tance is one of supply, and as sever- ing himself an outstanding general.
blem it is not in the power of the COHERENT WHOLE It is observed that the Finnish forces Finnish Government to solve unaided. are acting as a coherent whole operat--British Wireless.
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