LERIDA AND AFTER

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 80, 5 April 1938, Page 10

LERIDA AND AFTER

When Lerida,* the chief . inland town of Catalonia, was seriously threatened by the advance of General Franco's troops in the last days of March, -the loyalist Minister ofi Defence, Senor Prieto, issued an "ominous warning," according to a cable message, that the fall of Lerida would "cut off Barcelona's electricity and paralyse Catalonian industry." The fall of Lerida, after a gallant struggle by its defenders against overwhelming odds in numbers and armament, was announced last night. At the same time it was re-; ported that General Franco's advance column was now only 18 miles from the' seaboard of the Mediterranean, along which run the railway and road connecting Barcelona and Valencia, with Madrid, the mam centres of loyalist resistance. It will thus be seen that the position of the. loyalists has become desperate, and, in default of outside assistance with men and munitions, of which there is no prospect, on the face of it, irretrievable. Whatever opinions may be held as to the rights and wrongs of the Spanish conflict, the heroic fight of the losing, side for nearly two years will command sym-' pathy and. admiration. With the Fascist Powers heavily reinforcing the rebels with whole armies and the latest weapons oi war, ruthlessly employed, it has been an unequal fight, which, short of a miracle,

could in the, long run end only one way, despite the indomitable spirit of the survivors of the rebel attack who crossed the Pyrenees to France and are endeavouring to return to Spain to fight again. It is this spirit and the presence of foreign armies in Spain that will present new problems for General Franco in the hour of victory. It is not' easy to see a settlement in Spain satisfactory to all concerned, including the outside Powers interested. "