SPANISH RISING

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 256, 25 July 1936, Page 9

SPANISH RISING

Fateful Battles Still

Awaited MARCH ON MADRID Statements Issued By Rebel Leaders By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received July 24, 9.40 p.m.) London, July 23. Though the balance is swaying slightly in favour of the Government, Spain still awaits the outcome of battles which will decide its destiny. The Government has entrusted the conduct of its campaign to Senor Pozas, Minister of the Interior, who reports relief of the pressure from the northward upon Madrid owing to the loyal forces dispersing the vanguards of the rebel columns advancing on the capital from Avila, Segovia and the Sonus sierra Pass, on the Sierra de Guadarrama, adjacent to the Buitrago Heights. This, however, may be an indecisive skirmish. The main columns under General Mola, the report of whose death was incorrect, are on the road to Madrid from Segovia, Burgos, and Saragossa, in the north, supported by detachments under Antonio de Rivera, son of the former Dictator. Victorious loyalist troops are pushing forward to Avila, north-west of Madrid, and also to Segovia, in order to intercept one of General Mola’s columns marching on the capital. Rebels’ Objectives. The "Daily Mail’s" San Sebastian correspondent says that General Mola issued a statement: "Tell everyone, especially the British people, that the movement which General X’ ranco and myself are directing is not selfish nor in support of our prestige. It is a national movement directed by army generals with the direct support of authentic Spaniards in order to extirpate forever everything representing Marxism and establish peace on a purely Spanish basis." The “Dailv Mail’s" Gibraltar correspondent says that General Franco issued a manifesto stating that the uprising was a national non-party movement to restore order and expel Communism. He promised leniency to those who surrendered who had not transgressed the law. The national movement would protect workers and clear out agitators and parasites who battened on their wages.

Government’s Mass Levy.

The Government has proclaimed a levy en mass, recalling the French ■ Revolution, and tens of thousands of volunteers are pouring out of Madrid to give battle to the rebels. The correspondent of “L’lntransigeant,” after a flight over Madrid, described the city, which is deserted with four churches and a convent on fire. Meanwhile the rebel leader. General Franco, who apparently landed in Southern Spain, is about to lead 10,000 troops northward on Madrid, where numbers of rebel officers and men have been executed by machine-gun fire and buried in a common grave. A Catalonian force consisting ol regulars, Civil Guards, workers and militia, all adequately armed, left Barcelona for Saragossa aboard lorries and armoured cars with an escort of aircraft. Meanwhile the rebel defenders at Saragossa are replying to bombing aeroplanes with anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire. Mr. Rowland Winn, of the ‘Daily Telegraph’s’’ staff, son of Lord St. Oswald, who was imprisoned in Madrid, has been released. The northern districts in Spain arc still aflame, and fighting continues at San Sebastian. j Loyalists consider that any form of reprisals is justified by the revolt!-I tionaries’ employment of Moorish , troops in the southern invasion. ■ In the southern arena, which is still i of great strategic importance, the Government forces entered Cordoba and quelled the revolt. It is now ascertained that Seville Cathedral, which was reported to have been destroyed by bombs, is unharmed. Destroyers Return Fire, \ rebel aeroplane aimed two bombs at the Bland Line steamer Gibel Dersa at the entrance to Tangier Harbour, and the British destroyer Whitehall responded with three warning shots. A number of bombs dropped from Spanish aeroplanes when flying off Tarifa exploded near the British destroyer Wild Swan, which returned the fire and returned to Gibraltar. It appears that the Wild Swan fired at the aeroplanes because they were endangering the I*, and 0. liner Chitral. Britain has made a protest against indiscriminate bombing, and threatens retaliatory action if it is continued. Britain and France have jointly drawn the attention of Spain to possible difficulties if Tangier is used as a base fol action by the Spanish fleet. General Kinderline, chief of the rebel air force, went to Gibraltar from Ceuta and apologised on behalf of General Franco to the British authorities Withe bombing incidents involving Gibraltar and British merchant ships. The rebels maintain complete control of Spanish Morocco, while in the west they still bold Salamanca and have captured Badajoz, the scene of one of the Duke of Wellington’s famous victories in the Peninsular War. Rebels Imprisoned. Captured rebel leaders at Barcelona have been imprisoned aboard the steamer Uruguay, which lias been requisitioned by the Government for that purpose. Tales of atrocities in Barcelona which are told by refugees reaching Marseilles bear every sign of panic | stricken exaggeration. It is established, however, that most of the churches are charred ruins. Clubs and monarchist bouses were sacked. Four priests were killed, one who was caught with a rifle being burnt alive in bis own church. Women and girls stood outside another church and laughed while men demolished the statues of saints with a mallet. The casualties are estimated at 700 killed and 3000 wounded. . The confidence of the insurgents is illustrated by their request to Portugal for the body of General Sanjurjo, a Monarchist who was killed in an air crash in order to embalm it and place it in a casket to be carried at the head of General Mola's victorious troops when they enter Madrid, upon which the rebels, who anticipate a five-day siege, are slowly closing. The People’s Olympic Games, organised as a reJoinder to the German

Olympic Games, have been abandoned, but 4000 foreign athletes, despite recent escapes, remain stranded. AMERICAN WOMAN INJURED (Received July 24, 7.45 p.m.) Washington, July 23. The necessity of evacuating Americans from several points in Spain is indicated in consular messages to the State Department. One unidentified American woman is reported to have been injured near .Madrid, but otherwise there are no casualties. z\ later message states that latest State Department advices from Madrid declare that practically all American nationals in the city, numbering over 100. have taken refuge at the Embassy, and that the situation in the capital is becoming "very serious.”

On Thursday it was announced by the chief postmaster. Wellington (Mr. J. Madden) that telegraph messages for Spain, Spanish Morocco and the Canary Islands could be accepted only at the sender's risk. Yesterday it was decided by the postal authorities that, until further notice, telegrams in code cannot be accepted for Spain.