REBEL RAIDS CAUSE HAVOC IN BARCELONA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 25, 31 January 1938, Page 7

REBEL RAIDS CAUSE HAVOC IN BARCELONA.

CHILD HOME BOMBED. Estimated 400 People Dead, 900 Injured. SHAMBLES IN TENEMENTS. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON", January 30. Insurgent air raiders heavily bombed the outskirts of Barcelona early this morning. They returned later and Hew over the heart of the city. It, is semiofficially estimated that 300 were killed and 500 injured, and that 33 buildings were hit, including two four-storey tenement houses in which the victims were entombed. Rescuers were still finding bodie* after the first raid when the second occurred. A bomb partly destroyed a home for child refugees, killing scores of little inmates. Five buildings in one square collapsed, burying the square to a depth of 15 feet. Red Cross workers later reported 400 killed and !>OO injured. The Spanish Ministry of Defence announce that the (iovernment is willing to cease all civilian bombing if the. insurgents will do likewise. A message from Hendaye says a semiofficial broadcast announcement by the insurgents rejects the < Jovernment's offer, declaring that any agreement with the "Marxist horde'' would dishonour true Spain, which is lighting to establish a new order. It asserts that tiie (lovernment made the offer owing to the Nationalists' aerial superiority. I Rebels Surrounded in Teruel Sector. The Barcelona correspondent of the British United Press says the Spanish (iovernment forces claim to have surrounded the main body of General Franco's troops, totalling 40,000, on the Teruel front. This was' the result of a sudden night offensive following upon heavy all-dav fighting in which the Loyalists are said to have seized the main roads between Teruel and Saragossa, tile insurgents' northern base. | (lovernment forces are reported to be advancing from the Guadalajara front on the west and from points eastward of Teruel. A message from Hendaye, France, states that General Franco's push on the Teruel front, which was launched on January 17, has reached a deadlock owing to stiffer resistance from the Loyalists than was expected. A telegram from Salamanca says an anti-aircraft barrage foiled a bombing raid l»y Loyalists. Chasers pursued the bombers compelling them to unload their bombs on open country, where they killed six schoolchildren and demolished 50 houses in the village of Aldea dc Tejada.

STREETS LITTERED. Shocking Toll in Overcrowded Dwellings. 1000LB TORPEDOES DROPPED. (Received 2 p.in.) BARCELONA, January 30. The air raid casualty list is incomplete owing to the difficulty of removing and identifying victims. It is now stated that 3.30 were killed and 700 injured. Bombs split several five-storev apartment houses, crowded with refugees, from top to bottom. A strong wind caused the collapse of other partly shattered buildings, killing and injuring those in the vicinity. The first raid lasted five minutes and the second six minutes. Six bombers took part and dropped aerial torpedoes weighing 10001b apiece in the most crowded areas. Streets were littered with human fragments. Nevertheless, the morale of the people was not destroyed. Normality seemed to return with extraordinary suddenness, trams resuming running and mothers wheeling babies in perambulators as ] ambulances dashed off loaded with dead i and dying. I