SPANISH WAR

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 263, 3 August 1936, Page 9

SPANISH WAR

Army Faces Tremendous Task PREMATURE RISING Rebels Organising Air Armada in Morocco FIGHTING NEAR MADRID By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received August 2, 7.30 p.m.) Madrid, August 1. There is little change in the situation to-day. The rebels hold the mountain pass of Some, the "gateway to Madrid.” There is now no doubt that the army’s plans were upset by the premature rising following the murder of Senor Sotelo. Had it been able to wait the Government would have been compelled to ask the army to take control. Civil Guards, though sympathising with the Right, preserved their traditions of standing by the legal Government and powerful Labour organisations have not spared themselves. Fighting against such a powerful if incongruous combination, the army is faced with a tremendous task.

It is reported at Tetuan that General Franco is organising a flying armada for an invasion of Spain for which he is mobilising foreign legionaries who will be flown to Algeciras in 18 Italian aircraft and several b‘g seaplanes carrying 20 fully-equipped men for the purpose of smashing the Government resistance at Cordoba and cutting off Madrid’s communications with the coast. Then, it is contended, with rebel armies in the north and along the Portuguese frontier, the capital can be isolated and starved to surrender. Tlireat to Madrid The insurgents are claiming victories tn the passes through the Guadarrama Range by which they assert they are closing in on the capital, the situation of which is still doubtful, as the rebels declare that they have occupied Elpa rdo, 11 miles north of Madrid, and Elmolar and Navassenada, about 20 miles north-east. The Government reports the beginning of a heavy bombardment of rebel positions in the Guadarrama Range as a preliminary to an offensive to remove the threat on Madrid, in which the capture of Castillo and Alienza and the killing of 86 insurgents is a step. Correspondents with the rebels describe captured Government encampments as like picnic grounds, littered with empty beer-bottles, and contend that in the last few days the roads have been littered with abandoned cars, mostly turned in the direction of Madrid. Villages suffered severely from sabotage. The Government, however, does not entertain fears for the capital, indicating that the rebel hopes are perhaps pitched., too high. Rebel artillery is placed in position to shell Bilbao, from which the population is fleeing, as the rebels are giving no quarter. The implacable character of the civil war is further indicated by reports from Barcelona, where the population is out of hand. The Government is faced with the problem of getting thousands of armed persons who are often intoxicated off the streets and is sending extremists against the rebels at Saragossa. Here the trained soldiers have little difficulty in mowing down the youths against them. Only 32 survive from one contingent of 300. Government Claims Success. The Government claims the defeat of 700 rebels at the village of Sletamo by troops advancing on Saragossa who forced the rebels to flee, abandoning improvised armoured cars. Other troops captured Almudevar, Sastiago and Quinto. General Mandaga, who is leading t.he Government troops in the north-western region, was victorious at Navalperal, where the Carlist leader, Count Vallelano, was killed. Government troops, using a naval Gin. gun and other heavy artillery, reduced to a heap of ruins the picturesque village of Ovarzun, an important strategic position on the IrunSa n Se,bastion road. The Government says that the rebels at San Roque and Algeciras are being hemmed in, A powerful column is advancing from Malaga to attack the rebels at Granada. The fleet bombarded Huelva. Captain Dayo, commander of the Barcelona air base, warned civilians of Majorca to evacuate all towns as they would be bombarded with 2201 b. bomns. The rebels declare that they routed a force of 2000 miners and railwaymen attacking Zamora, of whom 300 were killed. A Socialist Deputy, Senor Fernandez, reports that while the rebel lender Colonel Aranda, occupies Oviedo with machine-guns at all strategic points, the rebels are practically prisoners as they lack water and provisions. and dare not go on the streets, yet they refused to surrender, necessitating the Government destroying the city. Stories of Horror.

Escaped nuns nt Barcelona are going from house to house asking to be taken in as maids. The morbid taste of the extremists was gratified by the exhibition of a dozen corpses of nuns exposed in coffins, one of which was dated 1624, and rapidly decomposing in the hot sunshine. Fascists shot 500 Communist prisoners in revenge for an attack on one of their leaders near Valladolid. According to a message from Lisbon 1500 Spanish exiles who took refuge in Portugal after the flight of King Alfonso are forming a “Duke’s Battalion" which will Include some of the best-known names of the Spanish nobility and monarchist army officers. It is reported that they mobilised at Salamanca and are marching to join the forces attacking Madrid. A Gibraltar message states that British refugees arriving from Malaga and other southern Spanish towns allege that the Communists, who are short of ammunition, decided not to waste bullets on'executions and are accordingly beheading captured Fascists and casting their bodies into the sea. At Madrid the police have issued strict orders that no houses may be searched without instructions from the authorities. Every effort is being made to bring back the mobs under control. A battalion of 1000 women, armed with rifles, with women officers, has been formed In Madrid to relieve militia sent to the northern front. Newly-formed death companies of the sth Regiment to which the women's battalion is attached include several girls. The death companies arc armed with dynamite grenades. The insurgent Colonel Ortiz Zarate

has disposed 12,000 men for a fresh attack on San Sebastian, and rebel artillery is now bombarding the city. Prince Carlos has arrived at Pamplona from Cannes. It is supposed that he intends to discuss a Carlist succession with Monarchist supporters in Navarre.

The Catalan Government at Barcelona, which is independent of the Spanish Government, has formed a new Ministry for the defeat of Fascism under Senor Cassanova, and has declared a state of crisis owing to the possibility of a clash with Left Wing extremists. Senor Luis Companys, in handing over his office, appeals for the support of all parties for Senor Casanova.

“The Times” correspondent on the French frontier states that Barcelona and Catalonia are scenes of a reign of terror. “Purification squads” are searching houses, seizing suspects, and assassinating them in lonely spots. The Anti-Fascist Military Committee has announced its determination to stop this, but the situation is out of hand. A dozen bodies of people who were taken from their homes and shot by the search committees have been found at Mt. Tibidaba, near Barcelona. Among them were four murdered and two wounded Dominican nuns. A squad three times searched a factory owner’s house at Tarrasa and took away his family of eight and shot them. A message from Majorca states that 11.M.5. Repulse departed with 500 refugees of seventeen nationalities for Marseilles. The rebels are again bombing Palma, and have destroyed the Hotel Formentor, where the Prince of Wales stayed in 1934.

SEIZURES LEGALISED

“Abandoned” Industries

(Received August 3, 1.30 a.m.)

Madrid, August 2.

Cabinet, at its first formal meeting since it was formed a fortnight ago, decided to take over all industries which owners have ‘'abandoned,” thus legalising 200 seizures made by workers’ militia since the outbreak of the rebellion, but the nationalisation of industries is provisional, their ultimate fate depending on the Cortes after the signature of peace, although the owners can prevent farther Government action by resuming control within 48 hours. The industries include water, gas, electric supplies, war munitions and motor factories among which are the Hispanosuiza plant. A Lisbon message reports the defeat of the' “dukes’ battalion” by loyalists after the departure from Salamanca of their leader, Colonel Garardo Doval, who declared his intention of being the first to enter Madrid, followed' by Spain’s “jeunesse doree.” They attempted a dash to the capital, assisted by 20 lorries. At Barcelona three hydroplanes, each carrying bombs, dropped their loads on Palma, Majorca, destroying gasometers. Militia seized Cabreta Island after a bombardment,

REBELS’ MESSAGE TO BRITAIN

(British Official Wireless.) Rugby, July 31. The British Government has decided to take no action in regard to a wireless telegram dispatched to it by General Cabenelles, President of the Junta de Defensa National, set up by the Spanish insurgents, containing a notification of the assumption of power by the new Government over the Spanish State under the name of “The Committee of National Defence.”