The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1936. FOREIGN TROOPS IN SPAIN ?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 286, 2 December 1936, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1936. FOREIGN TROOPS IN SPAIN ?

For the cause that lacks-assistance, For the xorong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the gocd that we can do.

While the agony of Madrid continues, and seems likely to be prolonged because of the apparent inability of General Franco s forces to deliver the final blow, the danger, foreseen months ago, of other Powers being dragged into the struggle grows no less. Presumably because they believed that General Franco would soon be in command of the capital, Germany and Italy officially recognised Ins Government, and the opinion was then expressed that it would be strange if official recognition were not followed by matei'ial aid in some form. To-day there is a report, immediately denied in Berlin, that a body of Germans —two thousand, according to one account, six thousand according to another has landed at Cadiz to aid the rebels. Another report has it that hundreds of men, of seven different nationalities, have landed at Barcelona to help the Government-.

If these reports have any truth in them, it can be accepted as certain that the Governments of the nationals concerned will disclaim responsibility, just as they • have denied accusations of supplying, or of permitting the supply, of munitions. Nevertheless, the reports of munitions reaching Spain are too circumstantial to be disregarded, and some credence must be given the latest allegations, which apparently are not discounted in London, although officials there demur to the description "troops." If some thousands of Germans have landed, their presence on the Madrid front may turn the scale in favour of the rebels. At the least, the report, if confirmed, will incite the nations supporting the Government, France and Russia, to permit forces of volunteers to go to Spain. There are already hundreds of foreigners fighting in Spain, but the participation of large numbers would put a different complexion on the situation.

The non-intervention agreement of the Powers seems to be wearing thin. It is applicable to supplies of munitions, but not of men, and it has been severely strained by Germany's and Italy's recognition of General Franco. According to one interpretation of the complex situation, Germany and Italy are now legally free from the restrictions of the non-intervention agreement, but if they assist one side to the detriment of the other they are guilty of an act of war. Fortunately it is improbable that in the existing state of European tension any Power would take such a risk, but the fact remains that Germany, Italy and Russia have become more closely involved in Spain than they were two months ago, and as the conflict there becomes more

desperate there will be a greater risk of one or more of them being officially identified with acts of intervention.