STRICKEN CITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 67, 21 March 1938, Page 7

STRICKEN CITY.

BARCELONA'S PLIGHT. Rebel Air Attacks Cease On Saturday. TRAGEDY OF REFUGEES. United Press Association. —Copyright. (Received 12.30 p.m.) BARCELONA, March 20. The city was free from air raids yesterday. It is believed this was because the Government had assembled 60 fighters and a few bombers to repel possible attacks. Government fighters to-day brought down one and drove off two rebel seaplanes. No bombs were dropped. In the course of one of the earlier raids the Brazilian Ambassador and his woman secretary were injured. The British Consulate ha* advised British subjects that a ship is available to-day to take off those wishing to depart from the city. Half a million people have already quitted the central districts of Barcelona, either sleeping on the floors of friends' houses in the outer suburbs or camping out in the mountains outside the city, says the British United Press ■representative. , Every bus, tram and train from Barcelona is crammed with men. women and children, loaded with household possessions, fleeing from the terror which is turning Spain's richest city into a shambles. It is stated officially that 640 bodies have been brought to the morgue as the result of air raids between 10 p.m. on j Wednesday and 3 p.m. on Friday, and it t is believed 200 are still buried in the ruins. Over 1000 wounded were treated in hospitals and 154 were privately treated. Two raids on Tarragona killed 18 people and wounded 50. The American Embassy staff has moved to the hills outside the town. The French Government has lodged a sharp protest at Salamanca against the Barcelona air raids,'and has also communicated to Britain a list of 4221 Italian and German aeroplanes employed in General Franco's forces. France has asked Britain to associate herself with the Xote to General Franco. NEW GERMAN BOMB. TESTING ON BARCELONA. (Received 2 p.m.) LONDON, March 20. The "Daily Telegraph"' Barcelona correspondent says technicians identified Thursday's bombs as of a new and powerful German type. The German General Staff, it is believed, opposed their use, preferring to reserve them for a European conflict, but FieldMarshal Goering insisted on testing their efficiency.

REBEL SUCCESSES. HOSPITAL BOMBED FROM AIR. (Received 1 p.m.) BARCELONA, March 20. The insurgents launched a strong attack on the Alcaniz sector, forcing the Loyalists to evacuate the town of Lacondonera. The Ministry of Defence announced that in repeated air raids in the province of C'astellon the hospital at Vinaroz was hit, there being many victims. A message from Salamanca states that the insurgents cTeim to have occupied important positions in the Caspe sector of the Aragon front. Later dispatches state that Loyalist troops, heavily reinforced, have apparently formed a line of resistance from east of Caspe to east of Alcaniz. where tile main rebel column is concentrated. Another is o|ieratiiig in the Codonera district, and another round Caspe. The total strength is 150,000. Two shiploads of German war material leave Italian ports daily for the rebels. PROMISE BY FRANCO. NO TERRITORY TO BE CEDED. PARIS, March 20. "Xot an inch of territory will be detached from Spain for the benefit of a foreign Power after our complete victory," General Franco told the Havas Xews Agency. He declared there were fewer foreign combatants to-day in Nationalist Spain than there were a vear ago. EMBARGO TO REMAIN. NO U.S. ARMS FOR LOYALISTS. WASHINGTON", March 20. The Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, announced that America would continue the embargo upon arms shipments to the Spanish Loyalists, in spite of the appeal made on Thursday by the Spanish Ambassador.