THE CHINA MAIL, JANUARY 5, 1940
Fierce Battle Raging On The Salla Front
SOVIET BOMBERS NOW ATTACKING FINLAND'S
RAILWAY COMMUNICATIONS
London, To-day.
REPORTS FROM BOTH Copenhagen and Stock-
U.S. AID
holm state that the Soviets staged one of their TO
most ambitious air raids on Wednesday on the
town of Tornea, at the head of the Gulf of FINLAND
Bothnia.
(SPECIAL TO "CHINA MAIL") Washington, To-day.
Twenty aeroplanes are said to have bombed the out-
skirts of the town; two were shot down. The Senator Key Pittman, railway bridge a few miles east of Tornea is said chairman of
to be damaged. If this is so, the Finns will be deprived of valuable means of supply from
Sweden.
Attacks are made in considerable
the foreign
SWEDEN'S
MILITARY AID TO FINLAND
(SPECIAL TO "CHINA MAIL")
Stockholm, To-day.
The Swedish soldier, General Ernst Linder, is going to Finland this week to take up command of the sector occupied by Swedish volunteers.
Lt. Col. Ehrenswaerd la companying him as Chief of his General Staff.—Havas.
affairs committee of the Sen- FIGHTING ate, yesterday expressed the opinion that the question of QUALITIES
American assistance to Fin-
land will be discussed by the OF THE FINNS
This rald raises the question of where the Soviet 'planes came from. strength after heavy preliminary bom-committee on January 10.
Soviet town is bardment. At The nearest large
no point have they Several Senators suggest that the the Murmansk and the outward and home succeeded in penetrating the Finnish United States cancel altogether
Where ground has been remaining part of the Finnish War Journey from Murmansk is 680 miles. I defences.
London, To-day. .Praise for the magnificent
From Leningrad, the round-trip given, it has been restored by swift Debt, and in addition extend a fresh fighting qualities displayed
would be one of nearly 1,000 miles. counter-attack.-Reuter.
the
It is possible, however, that Soviets have established temporary air bases on frozen lakes near their lines on the Central Front.
The Soviets have also bombed Oulu (Uleaborg), an Important railway town on the Gulf of Bothnia, some 60 to 70 miles south of Tornea.
is also a railway centre.
NEW PROGRAMME
It
These raids are believed to be part of a new Soviet plan to attack rail- ways and harbours in order to hinder foreign assistance to Finland.
TANKS NOW PILLBOXES
More details of how the Finns routed the Soviets at Suomossalmi a few days ago became available yes- terday.
The Finns had no artillery available and so operated in small groups. They first destroyed the field kitchens, then the supplies and then the convoys, eventually attacking the almost starving Bo- viet troops.
The Finns have now turned a large number of the captured Soviet tanks to good use. The tanks are half- sunk into the ground and make ex- cellent pill-boxes.-Reuter.
LEAFLET RAIDS ON
LENINGRAD
credit to Finland.-Havas.
RUSSIANS THROWN BACK ACROSS THE FRONTIER
Stockholm, To-day.
REPORTS FROM ROVANIEMI, headquarters of the Fin- nish northern army, say that the second battle to be fought on the Salla front within a week is now raging fiercely.
by the Finnish soldiers was given in a leading article in "The Times" yesterday.
There were a number of contribut- Ing factors on the Soviet side which materially assisted the Finns the paper goes on.
Stalin, in the first place, was, mili- tarily incompetent and miscalculated. Russians living close to Finland would obviously be more able to endure the weather conditions prevailing there than those from other parts of Soviet Russia.
But they suffered from the usual difficulty, that Russlan soldiers do not like to attack their neighbours; hence, troops. from other parts of the country had to be used.
Then again, Stalin, for political
The battle is taking place to the north of Salaea, on Fin-reasons, has destroyed a large num-
land's eastern frontier.
It is rumoured that the Russians are having a bad time, and have already been thrust back across the frontier.
An Oslo message says Finland has ordered 300 ski sledges in the Nor- wegian capital to transport wounded. Norway is presenting Finland with
a further 200 ski sledges.
Thirty doctors and numerous nurses have answered the Finnish appeal for medical assistance.-Reuter,
London. To-day. POLISH
a
There was aerial activity by both the Finns and the Soviets yesterday. The Helsinki correspondent of Swedish paper reports that Finnish aeroplanes flew over Leningrad on Wednesday, dropping leaflets contain- Ing the speech of the Finnish For-
ber of his best professional officers. And finally, Russian soldiers who have been raised in a belief in God and their country have now been shor of those ideals. Reuter.
13
CUTTING OF SOVIET RAILWAY CONFIRMED
Helsinki, To-day.
THE CUTTING OF THE Leningrad/Murmansk railway line
is officially confirmed in Finnish military despatches.
ARMY TO BE The railway line, according to the despatches, was badly
READY IN
eign Minister addressed to M. Molo- THE SPRING
tov, the Soviet Foreign Commissar.
Other leaflet 'planes flew over the Soviet lines in the Karellan Isthmus and dropped pamphlets telling of the good treatment the Finns gave their prisoners.
The leaflets include photographs showing the prisoners wearing warm clothes and also showed Russian aeroplanes which had been shot down and captured Russian tanks and other war material. Reuter.
EXTREME COLD IN PETSAMO AREA
Helsinki, To-day. Extreme cold has put a stop to all activity in the Petsamo region, but the battle at Salla continues to rage.
In the south, the Rad Army continues to batter at the Man- nerheim Line, adopting tactics suggesting that they are, pursuing, 'a campaign of attrition,
damaged and virtually put out of action by daring Fin- nish ski troops, aided by the revivified Finnish Air Force.
ABANDONMENT EXPECTED
London, To-day. Semi-official circles in London, com-
Finnish aeroplanes also bombed ["line" consists of trenches, barbed wire, Soviet air bases on the Esthonian Is- | tank traps and camouflaged' gun and land of Dago and Oesel, recently machine-gun nests.-Reuter. "leased" to the Soviets under the terms LONDON, TO-DAY..
of the Soviet-Esthonian pact. Much SUBSTANTIAL FOLISH FORCES damage was done, and it is understood WILL BE READY TO FIGHT BE-
that among the 'planes taking part in BE-raid were some of the 50 Spitfires and SIDE THE ALLIES AT THE GINNING OF SPRING, M. RACZYN- 20 Savola bombers which recently ar-menting on the cutting of the Lenin- SKI, POLISH AMBASSADOR TO rived from Britain and Italy.
Brad Murmansk rallway line, say that It is probable that the Soviets will now LONDON, SAID AT A LUNCHEON It is not known YESTERDAY.
'planes were also used in the attacks abandon the railway as a means of He protested against German alle-on the Leningrad-Murmansk railway, conveying provisions to the Russian gations of Polish atrocities and sald the cuttting of which is termed a troops on the Polar Front and will that the Nazis, not content with des "crushing blow" to Soviet Russia in concentrate on using motor lorries troying the Poles at home, were now Helsinki.
along the small highways to the Far North.-Reuter. trying to destroy their good name abroad.
whether these
EMERGENCY U.S. MEASURES
MANNERHEIM DEFENCE Meanwhile, the Soviet artillery and The Nazis were making every ef-Infantry are continuing to hammer at fort to kill the spirit of the Poles, par- the Mannerheim Line. The Finns dis- ticularly by means of concentration pose of one attack on another, but the
Washington, To-day. camps. The whole of the population Soviets have plenty more to continue
The Foreign Affairs Committee of of Western Poland was being driven the hammering. from home, and to-day there is not a Military experts, however, belleve | the Senate is to be asked to consider single Pole in the once thriving Polish | that the Finns can hold out in the emergency measures of ald to Fin- *port of Gdynia. Reuter.
Mannerheim Line indefinitely. The land-Reuter-