FIGUERAS FALLS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 33, 9 February 1939, Page 13

FIGUERAS FALLS

DR. NEGRIN IN FRANCE

CITADEL BLOWN UP

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION

(By Telegraph —Press Association —Copyright.) (Received February 9, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 8.

A Perpignan message states that as a result of the occupation of Figueras by the rebels, Dr. ; Negrin and the entire general staff have gone to France. The blowing up of a powder magazine in the Figueras Citadel broke up a conference which Dr. Negrin had had with the general staff in a bomb-proof dungeon throughout the day. The explosion wrecked nearby houses and was heard fifteen miles away.

Dr. Negrin and his colleagues were welcomed at the frontier by French military officials and accorded a guard of honour. Dr. Negrin looked back as he crossed the border and gave the clenched-fist salute. It is believed that if Dr. Negrin is unable to go to Valencia the initiative for the peace negotiations will pass to General Miaja. The rebels are expected to enter Puig Cerda on February 9. The garrison and the civil authorities have gone to ' France. Twelve thousand republicans are concentrated in the meadows at Bourg Madame under a strong French guard. Thousands at Bourg Madame watched rebel aviators machine-gunning remnants of the retreating divisions who were struggling to the frontier. French batteries fired a warning when the planes came near the border. It is reported from Salamanca that the nationalists, in a final effort to overwhelm Catalonia, captured forty villages and advanced eighteen miles. APPEAL TO BASQUES. A Burgos message states that General Franco appealed to all Basques in France to return to Spain. He promised them freedom of religion and language, and economic and social benefits. It is reported from Toulouse that 2000 Catalan soldiers have gone to Hendaye to join the nationalists. A Paris message states that it is wrong to suppose that loyalists are fleeing pell mell from the enemy inasmuch as tank troops and gunners remaining with the loyalists are the cream of the republican armies and will cover the retreat as lorig as their weapons and munitions hold out. The number of fugitives who have crossed the frontier is now 130,000, while 130,000 more are toiling towards France over mountain passes protected by six loyalist divisions who are under orders to hold out for two days, after which they may seek refuge across the border. The last loyalist artillery from the Sco de Urgel sector, with 1000 men, have entered France, where they have been interned. j It is reported from. Lisbon that General Franco plans to rest his armies for at least a month after completing the Catalonian conquest and before starting an offensive in the central zone, where General Miaja, with 500,000 troops, better equipped than the Catalonians, and with plentiful ammunition, is preparing a determined defence, though the food shortage is likely to be acute. ■