REVOLT IN SPAIN?

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 May 1943, Page 5

REVOLT IN SPAIN?

NAVAL BASE ABLAZE

ARSENAL AND SHIPS LOST i (Recd. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, May 20. ’ A huge fire for the past two days f has been sweeping Ferrol, Spams .-'largest naval base. It has already destroyed the arsenal and a large part of the Spanish fleet, according to. a report broadcast by the Berlin, radio. This is the only report of the fire ,! from the Continent, but the British I United Press says reliable reports ’reaching London state that two of Spain’s seven cruisers and at least ■four destroyers are aflame. The Spanish police are reported to have'made many arrests at Ferrol and in neighbouring parts of the Corunna Province. The outbreak is attributed to antiNationalist elements who are believed to have set -fire'tq large coal stocks in the dockyards, where the damage is already estimated at millions of pounds sterling. Ferrol is capable of accommodating the largest ships and was recently modernised at great cost. The British United Press adds: Reports that dissidents caused the fire coincide with the rumours that several high Spanish officers have broken .with General Franco and escaped to Lisbon,by air.