Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-01-26

Your correspondent talked vi
prison camp. guarded by machine ,
Sitting on straw bed, I joined then
bread, butter, meat and cheese
Next to me sat Soviet aviator,
Capt. Aleksei Klimstov, who was at
tached to the LIST Battalion, 18th
Regiment, 9th Red Army Corps.
Il am Communist party men,
ber," said Capt. Klimstov, but
for the moment I am puzzled and
admit it. I was not surprised
when we were called to occupy
Finland. We had been told that
the people of Finland, like those
in Poland, needed us to help them.
believed it, and think our
leaders believed it, but we found
different story. We found every
Finn was against us, and we were
outmaneuvered and outfought.
And then I began to wonder"
Thus far the Soviet officers story
was like that Of many other pris-
oners But he had more to say:
Il wondered about the army we
were using for the occupation. We
were all of the third class, 80 to 40
years old. We were called up quickly,
without any preliminary training,
when we started to enter Finland.
I myself was living in Samara, in
Central Russia, and was given 4o
hours to join my squadron. Then we
rushed to PetroSkoi (Petrozavodsk) :,
where thousands of troops were
gathered, all of our age.
TN my squadron were seven old
Rs type of biplanes, with one ma
| chinegun forward and one behind.
This was no plane for a real war.
The army appeared well equipped,
but these men were unframed and
all were thinking we would get this
occupation job over and then return
home. All this makes me think our
leaders genuinely believed the Fin
nish people would not resist us, but
would help us. But after making
my first flight over the Soviet-Fin
nish border and hearing reports
from the men coming back about
comrades being moved down, I felt
that something was wrong.
Then one day I was ordered to
take plane and fly over Loimola
on reconnaissance. knew this was
impossible in my small, slow RS
biplane, with only 200 kilometers
range, but went with lieutenant
as observer in back of the cockpit.
When we were almost over Loimola
it was too dark to see. 1t was cold
and showing and the Firms were
firing. had to fly low, at about $50
meters. Suddenly the motor clog
ged and we lost height 1 told the
lieutenant to drop The bombs lmme-
diately as we were making a forced
landing with timber below us. The
lieutenant let the bombs drop and
the machine crashed. The lieuten-
ant was killed and I got this wound
in the knee. Then a Finnish patrol
took me.
Now that we are here we can see
that something is wrong somewhere.
We can see that Soviet Russia is in
difficult position. Either she must
now withdraw the third-grade I'M
trained troops from Finland and
show the world the real Red Army
for what is IN Finland is no part
Of the real Red Arn,y-or say that
we were badly informed and with
draw her troops altogether. But the
latter step is almost impossible, for
thu world wouldn't believe us and
would mock Is and we would lose
in morale. But as things stand, this
is doing world Communism harm,
for the situation is hard t. explain"
Doesn't Like War.
A comrade, a 37-year-old doctor,
Capt Demetrei Semitoff, was not
so communicative. He was q work.
er who showed promise in night
school, SO he was given university
course in medicine. He received
mis- degree in 1888 and had since
been attached to the 54th Recon-
Nuisance Battalion, 18th Division,
9th Red Army Corps.
For the first six months he was
an ordinary soldier for experience
and was then attached to the Ambu-
lance Corps. He said there were 800
men in his battalion, with one doc
tor, three male nurses, one sanitary
wagon, one medicine wagon, one
car with bath and one ambulance.
His pay was 900 rubles a month,
the same as Capt. Klimstov's. He
also came from Petroskoi and was
captured November 80 about 80 kilo-
meters from the border, near Pit
karanta
1--WE were just marching along the
road, not expecting anything" he
said, "since we were told to join
unit few kilometers away. Sud-
denly the Firms came. They killed
most of our men, but some escaped,
suppose. I tried to help the
wounded, but it was too difficult
under fire I was captured and
that's all there is. I don't like war
and I don't like fighting"
The other three officers were lieu
tenants. 1t. Mihail Kostjup had
been a "Comsomor' (Young Com
munist organization, but was now
80 years old. He was attached to
the 657th Infantry Regiment, 9Th
Army Corps.
II don't know anything about