The Evening Star FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1937. THE SPANISH WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 22720, 6 August 1937, Page 8

The Evening Star FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1937. THE SPANISH WAR.

Efforts to repair the system which, ostensibly provided for non-intervention in Spain progress, if they progress at all, with exasperating slowness. The war itself makes as little advance towards any definite conclusion. The situation around Madrid, it was stated yesterday, has been little changed by the latest month’s fighting, in which so many bombs have been dropped as to make it a wonder that Madrid has not been obliterated. Three weeks ago there appeared to be no obstacle to the immediate restoration of control on both the Portuguese and French land frontiers, but each of tho two parties who professed to have suspended it only to offset what was being done by the other still waits on the other for resumption. Both sides should be well stocked with material for continuing the struggle before an effective veto on supplies is enforced, if it ever is. Italy and Germany are understood to accept the general British plan except for its requirement of the substantial withdrawal of foreign volunteers before belligerent rights are accorded, and for this demand Russia has made another obstacle by insisting that Moroccan troops must be regarded as foreigners. Even Franco cannot agree to that, much as she might desire tho removal of the Moors. The impossibility of her doing so must always have been obvious. The Moors were subjects of Spain, forming a recognised part of tho Spanish army. For France to deny that status to General Franco’s coloured troops would be equivalent to describing as aliens her own North African contingents, on whom she relied to assist her strength in the last European war, and would have to roly again. Mr Eden has made a plea for not underrating the desire of other nations to prevent a breakdown of non-interven-tion. The position appears to bo that, while no nation is prepared to kill that policy, a proportion of them are well satisfied to keep it moribund. 1 Meanwhile the war drags on, and at Teruel, on the border of Catalonia, east from Madrid, where there has been recent fighting, the whole countryside, wo are told, is “ a wilderness of deserted camps, with bridges blown up and roads impassable owing to wrecked lorries. Villages are deserted, and tho villagers are hiding in tho pinowoods.” Tho Valencia Government declares that it is lighting not General Franco, but between 80,000 and 100,000 Italians and possibly 10,000 German technicians. The opposition for the loyalists is worse

than that, because this estimate ignores the Moors, as well as Spanish troops on the insurgents’ side, who cannot all be engaged in holding down the territory which General Franco controls and has been adding to. Apparently it has been held down, and good order preserved, without any excessive trouble, but no surety on those points can bo felt because the Franco side, unlike its adversaries, has given tho smallest welcome to correspondents. It has also been much less concerned with propaganda. The loyalists are certain of victory, says their Foreign Minister, and they should have the greater resources to draw upon. But most of tho victories so far, unconnected and piecemeal though they have been, have gone to the insurgents. It is reported that when the League of Nations Assembly meets next month the Valencia Government will demand League sanctions against Italy and Germany. It has been argued that, as soon as foreign volunteers began to take part in the conflict, the whole issue should have been referred to the League instead of being left to the Non-intervention Committee to handle. In view of the League’s failure to help Abyssinia, it must be hard to see how that course could have helped Spain.