REBELS BREAK THE STRATS BLOCK

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 186, 7 August 1936, Page 7

REBELS BREAK THE STRATS BLOCK

INVASION BY AIR.

Troops, Guns, Munitions Said to Have Landed.

GOVERNMENT'S AWFUL THREAT United Press Association.—Copyright. {Received 12.30 ji.m.) LONDON, August C. It is reported from Tangier that rebel air bombers sank a Government gunboat and damaged a submarine in a battle yesterday in the Straits. It is reported from Casablanca that three Government warships to-day engaged rebel aircraft convoying troopships across. General Franco decided to bring more troops from Morocco by air, and has 15 large aeroplanes in Tetuan ready for this service. He hopes thus to land 1000 troops in Spain daily. Rebels are said to have succeeded in breaking the sea blockade and to have landed at Algeciras 3000 regulars from the Foreign Legion and Riffs, with machine-guns, 200 field guns and thousands of hand grenades and motor lorries, in five ships camouflaged to evade detection. They wero protected by a strong force of aeroplanes, which heavily bombed Government warships trying to intercept the invasion, and compelled them to retreat. Rebels state that they will bring a further 3000 troops across in the weekend, and will then have 10,000 men in Algeciras ready for an advance on Malaga. A message from Gibraltar says refugees from Ceuta state that nine Italian and three German aeroplanes, piloted by Italians and Germans, have arrived to participate in the rebels' offensive. A further dispatch from Gibraltar i states that General Yagues and 2000 i men have landed at Algeciras from : Ceuta. Merciless Aerial Warfare. If the claims of the leaders of both , sidel are accepted, Spain is threatened with merciless aerial warfare. The j Government expects shortly to have 300 ! machines, and threatens - to devastate ! the peninsula from one end to the other unless the insurgents surrender. J General Franco also claims to have a j strong air force, with which he plans ( to annihilate the Government fleet. j A rebel spokesman at Burgos ex- < pressed the opinion that when the civil < war finishes the total casualties will be t almost equal to those of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. t The Prime Minister, Professor Giral, ( interviewed by the Madrid correspondent of the Paris "L'lntransigeant," j stated that the Government intended to t respect persons and property after its r victory. He added that the Communists c were absolutely on the side of the law, s although anarchists were the source of I trouble.

General Franco is reported to have agreed to become dictator if the rebels are victorious.

GOVERNMENT CLAIMS.

Rebel Deserters Join Forces

With Loyalists.

INSURGENTS COUNTER-CLAIM.

(Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, August 6. The Government claims to have captured Buitrago, the key point of the 'Somo-Sierra front, taking 1500 prisoners, five guns and 30 machine-guns. It also reports the surrender at Sastago of 2000 rebels marching from Pamplona to Saragossa. They were immediately incorporated in the Government army. General Mola claims that the rebels routed Government forces on the SomoSierra front, killing 500. He vlso claims a victory at Avila, where rebels killed 600 Government soldiers and captured two tanks. MALAGA DOOMED? GENERAL'S ANGRY THREAT. (Receivsd 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 6. General Queipo Dellano, a rebel leader •in Seville, is reported to have threatened to wipe Malaga off the face of the earth if his mother and wife, whom he left there, have been murdered by Government troops. Medieval methods have been adopted in Ceuta, where the rebel authorities have insisted that the Jewish community contribute £12,000 to the revolutionary funds. In the meanwhile the rebels are holding prominent Jews as hostages. U.S. HINT TO SPAIN. INDEMNIFICATION EXPECTED. (Received 1.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 6. The State Department to-day informed the Spanish Government that it will expect the latter to provide adequate protection for American property in the revolutionary area and indemnification of damage suffered. The American representation received "sympathetic consideration." GERMAN PROTEST. ' FOUR NATIONALS SHOT. (Received 10 a.m.) BERLIN, August 6. The German Government has vigorously protested to' the Spanish Government against the shooting of four members of the German Labour Front at Barcelona on July 24. They set out on a lorry for the French frontier and were held up, given a brief trial by a socalled Marxist revolutionary tribunal and j shot. All possessed valid German pass-1 ports. *