SPANISH REPUBLICANS

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1944, Page 6

SPANISH REPUBLICANS

BORDER AREA HELD ~I,ONDON, Nov/ 7. "Spanish Republican forces hold the valley of Aran on the French Catalan border,” says the correspondent of the French resistance newspaper, “Combat,” in a dispatch from this area. Snow which is beginning to fall, is expected soon to cut off all communications with the rest, of Spain. The remaining Spanish Government forces in this area will therefore be trapped. “Meanwhile, the Francoist troops who have been captured live in.the same barracks' as their Republican captors, share their food, and go out and drink with them in the local cafes. The Republicans have overturned the frontier sign carrying the portrait of General Franco, and theymount guard on the customs post, from which flies the Republican flag. It is now more than a fortnight since the Republican guerrillas captured the border town of Leis. Descending mountain paths deep in snow, they surrounded the town and disarmed its garrison. The Catholic vicar of Leis has paid a high tribute to the moderation of the guerrillas and has joined the local committee of the Spanish National Union.” (The Aran valley is on the south side of the Pyrenees, about 70 miles south-west of Toulouse)’.