4 March 1940 - DAY 96 of Winter War
Ladoga Karelia: The 69th Infantry Regiment is holding its ground in the face of the massive Red Army offensive in Kollaa.
Artillery shelling and patrol activities nevertheless continue.
On the Isthmus, a Soviet assault launched at 6 o'clock in the morning leads by nightfall to the capture of a bridgehead near Äyräpää church.
Around noon Russian troops supported by tanks once again come ashore at Vilajoki and Häränpäänniemi on Viipurinlahti bay.
What little air power Finland has is concentrated to resist the enemy offensive across Viipurinlahti bay.
Detachment Alfthan unsuccessfully attempts to take Lavajärvi village.
The enemy threatens Kotka and Virolahti.
A new combat detachment, Detachment Aarnio, is being formed to fight along the section of the front between Mustalampi and Lavajärvi with the task of cutting the enemy's supply lines.
President Kyösti Kallio congratulates Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim on the destruction of a Russian tank brigade.
Soviet military command in Leningrad denies bombing Finnish towns and villages and accuses the Finns of provocation.
A crash between a goods train carrying children and an express train at Iittala, near Hämeenlinna, claims 31 lives; 11 of the dead are children.
Abroad: today is Finnish day at the Holmenkollen games in Oslo.
In a speech at Holmenkollen, the Finnish speedskater Clas Thunberg says: "My people hope that here in Norway you will realise that Finland's cause is also your cause. The Finns dying at the front are giving their lives to protect all of us in the Nordic countries."
Thunberg's speech is followed by a rendering of the Finnish national anthem.
(Click for larger photo)
Finnish artillery in Linnasaari, Viipuri.
Daily Finnish losses: 399