Tokyo, June 24.
Soviet losses in the air battle on Thursday afternoon on the western border of Manchoukuo and Outer Mongolia must have exceeded 49, a press message from Changchun stated today.
Forty-nine planes were claimed by the Japanese to have been downed in Manchoukuo territory in fights between 18 Japanese and about 150 Soviet craft.
The Soviet losses must have been greater because the figures do not include planes shot down in Outer Mongolian territory, the message said.—Domei.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.