THUNDERSTORM OF DEATH.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 March 1938, Page 3

THUNDERSTORM OF DEATH.

Aerial Bombs Rained on Barcelona.

People Raised to Deadly Hatred of Franco.

.The first phase of General Franco’s offensive closed with the capture of Caspe, which concluded two days of desperate fighting, first in the adjacent olive groves, and theu in the town itself, until the, bridge over the Ebro was the only means of retreat open to the defenders, many of whom were takeii prisoners before the withdrawal began. In an.'air raid on Barcelona six giant bombers, flying in groups of three, launcheda thunderstorm of death, crossing the entire city from different directions and .covering a wider area than ever before. A bomb demolished a wall of the British United Press office, and a direct hit on a suburban omnibus annihilated 37 passengers, while across the road residential flats spouted flame. Rescue parties could only reach the fourth floor, and for this reason were compelled to abandon those injured on the top floor. An entire building on the neighbouring corner was blown to fragments. Whole blocks of apartment buildings were turned into shambles, and trams and buses hurled about like chaff. The bombers crashed 200-pound bombs on the exact intersection of roads on which were two trams, a motorbus and hundreds of pedestrians. Two hundred casualties were loaded into ambulances and ttucks, 100 of whom were dead and the remainder dying. The remains of two trams, each crowded with 80 people, defied description. Franco has never made a greater mistake than believing the raid would strike terror into the civilians, as it has aroused hatred more deadly than any emotion generated in Catalonia during the war. • The raids since the morning of last Wednesday have reached the nadir of ' diabolism, wrecking a spacious avenue overlooked by blocks of flats, cafes and the city's largest cinema. These are now heaps of ruins. The university classrooms were demolished by bomb after bomb. The work of extricating The dead is expected to take four days, until which time the full death roll cannot be known. All the hospitals are overflowing, and the death list is easily 700,. Before the last raid began, the subway stations and tunnels were crowded with refugees, and a bomb crashing near an underground station killed 100 and wounded another 100. ANOTHER AIR RAID Received Saturday, 12.15 a.m. BARCELONA, March 18. Another air raid occurred late last

(By Telegraph—Press Association). Received Friday, 7 p.m. BARCELONA, March 18. After a Cabinet meeting it was announced that the Ministers had agreed to continue the war at all costs. An official communique added that'■''a most important military and political decision was reached, but gave no furtherparticulars beyond stating that Cabinet was taking full measures to forestall a repetition of the air raid terrors. Nevertheless, the air battles on the Aragon front, apart from the unprecedented raids on Barcelona, have increased in size and intensity. At least 500 machines are in action on the north flank in the Aragon arena.

night, lasting half-an-hour. The casualties are not known. UNITED STATES APPROACHED RIGHT TO PURCHASE ARMS. Received Friday, 8 p.m. WASHINGTON, March 17. The Spanish Ambassador, Senor Delosrios, has announced he had asked the United States to relax the restrictions of the Neutrality Act to permit Spanish loyalists to purchase arms and munitions to • meet ‘ ‘ the aggressor nations on an equal plane.” He insisted that Spain does not seek and does not need aid but asks simply that “the rights essential to every recognised sovereign people shall not be denied her in this critical moment.” PRETENCE DROPPED ABOUT ITALIANS IN SPAIN ROME, March 17. The newspapers have dropped all pretence of non-intervention and openly state that Italian troops occupied Aleoriza on the Aragon front. They also announce that Italian 'planes bombed Government troops. A message from Burgos states that the insurgents claim to have completely occupied Caspe, on the right bank of the Ebro. They also declare that they are within three miles of the Mediterranean. “HUMANISING” WAR THE ITALIANS CONCEPT. LONDON, March 17. The Rome correspondent of The Times gives an illuminating passage in the speech of General Valle, Italian Under-Secretary for Air, in the Chamber of Deputies, justifying Signor Mussolini’s concept of mass attacks by aeroplanes dealing hammer blows at sectors where they , could do most damage. Ordinary frontal attacks led only to stagnation and the prolongation of the conflict. The most logical way of humanising warfare consists of making an effort to shorten the struggle, even at very high cost. Therefore, Italy is forming homogenous air units and is developing air divisions, each consisting of 100 machines, each of which will carry a ton of bombs, will have a range of 1250 miles and a speed of 250 miles per hour.