WAR MATERIAL FOR FRANCO

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22590, 21 December 1938, Page 11

WAR MATERIAL FOR FRANCO

INCREASED GERMAN SUPPLY ALLEGED

FAMINE REPORTED IN SPANISH MOROCCO

(Received December 20, 8.30 p.m.) I i LONDON, December 20. The Tangier correspondent of the "Daily Herald" says that Germany is increasingly dispatching arms and munitions to Spanish Morocco through Larache, where many Germans are installed. The German liner Sevilla discharged by night 1000 tons of war material last week. Germans loaded it into lorries and deposited it in a military camp, concealing the operations from the population. Famine is reported to prevail throughout Spanish Morocco and deserters from the Spanish rebel army are increasing.

REBEL OFFENSIVE POSTPONED

UNOFFICIAL TRUCE IN EXISTENCE

LONDON, December 19

It is revealed that a large-scale rebel offensive on the Catalonian front, which was scheduled for today, has been postponed because floods immobilised eight divisions over a 100-mile front.

The Paris correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" reports that an unofficial truce is at present existing. The soldiers of both sides are fraternising and playing football in "No Man's Land." An official truce for the holidays is not likely. It is reported that thousands were arrested and 200 were shot after the discovery of a rebel conspiracy to stage a revolt of the garrison on the Segre simultaneously with the offensive. There are numerous reports referring to discontent and mutinies throughout Nationalist Spain, as a result of which the Paris correspondent of the "News Chronicle" states that six colonels and other high officials have been arrested in Segovia

Information received from official military observers suggests that the war is at a standstill, states a message from Lisbon. There has been no real offensive for many months. It is stated that as the war is situated at present neither army is capable of staging a decisive action.

The front.line extends for at least 900 miles, which is twice the length of the Western Front in the Great War. It is believed that General Franco's army is not big enough to permit marshalling the troops necessary for the offensive without dangerously weakening his hold on the existing positions. The Republicans' equipment and defences are now stated to be better than General Franco's, but a shortage of food remains their big weakness, hence the importance to General Franco of securing belligerent rights, which would permit a blockade.- -