LOYALISTS PREPARE TO QUIT BARCELONA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 20, 25 January 1939, Page 11

LOYALISTS PREPARE TO QUIT BARCELONA.

QUICK REBEL PUSH. Tens of Thousands Flee To the North. ARMY'S VALIANT STAND. ITnlted Ptms Amodatlan.—Copyright. (Received 12.30 p.m.) LOXDOX, January 24. Amid the crashing of bombs, the roar of anti-aircraft guns and the boom of General Franco's big guns Barcelona to-day began feverishly to pack up. The Government and* th« Army are determined to hold on to the last, but tens of thousands are fleeing. Machinery has been stripped from factories, and the whole apparatus of the central and Catalan administration has been carted off. The road to Orona is jammed with vehicles of all descriptions. Gerona, which normally has 2f>,000 inhabitants received 20,000 refugees last week, and yet new crowds ar* pouring in. Officials are vainly searching for quarters in which to install the Government Departments, which are being driven farther north to Figuera. Some Departments came originally from Madrid to Valencia, and thence to Barcelona, and are now on the toad •gain after travelling 000 miles in two yearn.

The people of Barcelona find it incredible that the battlefront thnt was 100 miles away last month is now visible from the city. Madrid could be defended because there was at least one gun to five insurgent guns, but in Barcelona there is probably not one to 20, while it is obvious that shallow trenches, hastily dug. are no use against massed batteries of artillery and fleets of bombers. ' , last Defence* Falls. j It is officially elated in Burgos that the rebels have captured the entire Llobregat line—Barcelona'* last defence. Moors are ten miles from the city gate* and a terrific aerial bombardment is heralding the impending fall of the capital. The rebels have been sighted f/om Barcelona advancing *wiftlv on ■11 sectors, and the city is tinder direct artillery Are. * j General Franco's forces have crossed j the Llobregat aerodrome and reached a point one mile from Barcelona's suburb*. The advance waa made by the Moroccan forces which have been moving along I the coast road. Rebel batteries to-night j were pounding Barcelona port. Over | 2000 prisoners were taken by mid-day. | Simultaneously with the advance of the Moroccan*, the fotu-tli division of the Navarrese crossed the Llobregat line near Martorell, south of Manresa. The advance continued practically unopposed , on all sectors. I Manresa has been occupied and Cava Is completely surrounded by troops. Only three mile* from the aerodrome over 100 Loyalists were killed in air raids. The destroyer Greyhound has taken off the women members of the British staffs, while the cruiser Devonshire is still standing by to pick up members of the Consulate. The French Embassy is moving out. France is reinforcing her frontier guards in expectation of a stampede of refuges* from Barcelona, which was discussed by the French and Spanish Loyalist Foreign Ministers. M. Bonnet and Senor del Vayo, says a Paris message. An exodus of between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 is expected after the fall of Barcelona. There are elements in Barcelona whose entry France regards as undesirable, but she doea not want to be inhospitable to persecuted people, and consequently it is not expected the frontier will be entirely sealed. Alternatives envisaged are the creation of concentration camps or the reception of a number of refugees on shipboard, after which they would be conveyed to African territory pending settlement. The French authorities are investigating a train derailment near Cerbere, a Catalonlan frontier station, where the line was torn up shortly before a consignment of flour was due to pass from France to Loyalist Spain. Reports persist that the Loyalist Government has left Barcelona. Its destination is unknown, but it is understood to be Miaja, which is on the way to Barcelona from Madrid.