SIEGE OF SANTANDER

Grey River Argus, 25 August 1937, Page 5

SIEGE OF SANTANDER

70 MILE CIRCLE Of Insurgent Forces [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] BILBAO, August 23. Rebels captured Castrou'rdiales, an important coastal stronghold. The rebel forces are now on the outskirts of Lascorelas, seven and a-half miles from Torrel la Vega. Rebel ’planes dropped tons of bombs on Torrel la Vega, Lardo and Arenar de Laguna. The two last-named were almost wiped out. Santander, however, claims to have repulsed furious rebel attacks from Villacarriedo. General Franco’s troops now occupy a thirty-five mile front, from the coast to Espionosa, the whole length of the rebel pincers, closing round Santander, being 70 miles, including the Asturian front.

BODIES OF MOORS IN LAKE. 3000 REPORTED. MADRID, August 23. Republicans draining the Lake Casa de Camp sector in the city, report that they found in the mud the bodies of 3000 Moors, who apparently perish - ed in the November attack. GERMAN AMBASSADOR RESIGNS. BERLIN. August 23. After holding office for six months, General Pilhemlfaupel, Ambassador to General Franco’s Government, has resigned, on the ground ot ill-health. ATTACKS ON SHIPS. TN THE MEDITERRANEAN. PORT VENDRES, August 23. The British steamer “Noemi Julia,” bound for Barcelona from Susa, Tunis, reported that she was bombed off Ajaccio by two aeroplanes. The captain of the “Noemi Julia” declared that one ’plane with a death’s head on the fuselage, circled ten minutes almost touching the ship, and another, with the .same insignia, trained machine-guns on the ship for .17 minutes. Later, a bomber dropped two bombs in the sea, 30 feet astern. “I protest emphatically that our cargo was harmless. We were Hying the British flag, and there were two Non-Intervention observers aboard,” said the captain. MALTA, August 23. The departure of the Third Destroyer Flotilla for the Far East has been cancelled, thus three destroyer flotillas continue to be stationed in the Mediterranean, based qjn Malta. GENEVA, August 23. , The Spanish Government has telegraphed, protesting against “the attacks on Spanish and foreign merchantmen, including British, by Italian warships in the Mediterranean,” of which it alleged it possesses proof.. It adds that tension in the Mediterranean is aggravated by open assistance afforded to rebels by Italian naval vessels, and says the whole Mediterranean, from Marseilles to Barcelona to the Dardanelles, must be considered a zone, in which a general conflagration may be produced at any moment.