Evening star., 1940-02-08

Repe||ed 9TH
Day, SayFinns
. Chute Troops in
Finnish Disguise
Reported Taken
THIRD CANADIAN UNIT landed
in England under navy guard; new
contingent arrives unheralded;
troops go to training camps.
Page Az
MORE BRITISH AID on way to
Firms, Chamberlain reveals; salts
fed with results of Balkan parley,
he tells Commons. Page Az
NEW METHODS AND WEAPONS
slow to make appearance in pres
of much technical development.
Page AS
CANADIAN WAR UNITY "rea"
election issue, Mackenzie King
says in election keynote speech on
radio. Page IA
BALKAN COUNTRIES to have
armies on war footing next month;
six nations repeating 1889 military
concentrations. Page A
CHINESE PLANNING air raids on
Japan, Toxic navy spokesman
says; defense preparations taken
throughout Western Nippon.
Page AS
By the Associated Press.
HELSINKI, Feb. ga quarter of
a million fighters of the Red Army
have thrown themselves against the
ice-bound fronts of Finland in a
critical February offensive and for
the seventh successive day have
fallen back, Finnish advices from
the front indicated today
Some thousands" of Russians
the Karelian Isthmus, the high
command reported in COM
munique.
Fighting. continued today but
Finnish military advices said the
offensive had fallen short though
the invaders were using every pos
sible weapon, including dropping of
natrolS nv parach1Ita
Chute Troops Captured.
The communique said several
Russian patrols dropped by para
chute behind the lines had been cap
tured and that four more Soviet war
planes had been downed in aerial
fighting. The Russians were dis
guised in Finnish army uniforms for
operations behind the battle lines,
the announcement said.
Minor criticism Of the Finnish ad-
ministration meanwhile appeared
for the first time since the outbreak
. of the conflict.
The conservative newspaper Aam-
ulehtl complained editorially that
there were some men at the front
who have not received warm arti-
cles of clothing relatives sent them
long ago. Faults are becoming so
glaring that in one way or the other
they must be corrected"
The communique described fresh
Finnish successes against the in
vaders on the Karelian Isthmus,
northeast of Lake Ladoga and
further north along the Russian
frontier.
The Finnish command today re-
ported weakening of Russian at
tacks in the Summa sector on the
Karelian Isthmus. and declared that
two assaults had been thrown back,
with the destruction of four enemy
tanks
The communique declared that
several Red Army divisions sup
ported by abundant artillery took
part in the assaults of Tuesday and
yesterday.
The pressure continued yester-
day, the communique said, but with
less power than on the previous day."
$50 Killed in Repulse.
A Russian attempt to cross the
frontier south of Raate was re-
pulsed in the Suomussalmi sector in
which "the enemy's losses were $50
killed and large quantities of mil
itary equipment captured.
Aircraft played part in the
operations, the communique said,
reporting that Russian planes had
been repelled and enemy columns
bombed at several points where
"automobiles and other vehicles were
packed in traffic jams"
Soviet planes appeared chiefly in
small fighter patrols, the Firms said,
and machine-gunned Finnish land
forces. Raids on the town of
Kajaani and rural communities were
reported.
According to reports received SO
far, two civilians were killed." the
communique said.
Reds Retreat Around Salla.
The Films reported that Soviet
Russian forces on the Arctic Salla
front we're in retreat.
In Russian air raids on cities OF
the Finnish territory prison full
of captive Russian troops was bonn
barded.
The prisoners all were herded
safely to shelters yesterday during
the four hour raid by 10 Russian
planes on the north central town OF
Kajaani. Two Firms we're killed
and many others injured.
British Volunteers
To Leave This Week
LONDON, Feb. 8 (P.-The first
contingent of British volunteers may
be off to Finland next week. Unofi-