AIR OF MYSTERY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 100, 29 April 1937, Page 9

AIR OF MYSTERY

BOMBING OF GUERNICA

DENIALS BY-INSURGENTS

(Received April 29, 1 p.m.) LONDON, April 28. Mystery in connection with the destruction of Guernica is deepened by official denials that insurgent aeroplanes participated In the raid. A communique invites journalists to verify their claim by inspecting the records. The Basques are puzzled to explain the attack owing to the strategic unimportance of Guernica, but they believe that the insurgents hoped to shake the defenders' morale by

destroying the "holy city."

President Aguirre, in a proclamation from Bilbao, makes "a passionate and • burning protest" against suggestions that Guernica . and Eibar were destroyed by the Republicans. "German aeroplanes bombarded the defenceless civil population with unexampled savagery," he -states. "I ask the civilised, world can it countenance ■the extermination of people who have always regarded the defence of liberty and democracy as a most precious principle." The repercussions of the raid have roused indignation throughout Europe. English and French opinion and official quarters are deeply concerned. Germany angrily denies reports that German bombers were responsible.