SHIP BOMBED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 153, 31 May 1937, Page 7

SHIP BOMBED

BELIEVED TO BE GERMAN. FOUR DIRECT HITS. INCIDENT AT BALEARICS. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received May 31, 10.5 a.m. VALENCIA, May 30.

While two Government aeroplanes were making a reconnaissance flight over the Balearic Islands a warship, reported to be the German battleship Admiral Scheer, stationed at Ibiza Harbour, opened fire without provocation, whereon the planes dropped 12 bombs, four scoring •hits. • It is pointed out that if the warship was really the Admiral Scheer her presence there was in contravention of V e control scheme, under which control ships must remain ten miles from the coast.

The German Admiral von Feschel, commanding in the Mediterranean, wirelessed the Spanish Government asking tlie cessation of aeroplanes flying as if they intended to attack German warships which ive acting in compliance of their non-intervention control duties, and issuing a warning that, in the event of a recurrence, corresponding counter-measures shall be taken. ®

Senor Prieto (Minister of Defence) ■replied denying that planes had made aggressive Rights and adding that warships occupied in control duties were perfectly safe if at the distance fixed by the Non-intervention Committee, but' this guarantee could not be offered if the ships anchored imprudently or without justification in zones or ports which were notorious centres of rebel activity against which the Spanish Government would not restrain action. NO CONFIRMATION. Received May 31, 10.5 a.m. BERLIN, May 30. Official circles give no confirmation of bombing of the Admiral Sclieer. An official statement warns Spanish Government ’planes not to attack in tlie vicinity of German ships, and adds that only the restraint of German commanders will prevent guns from going off. . “NEARLY STARVED.” REBEL PRISONERS’ STORY. TEN COMRADES DEAD. Received May 31, 9.55 a.m. HENDAYE, May 30.

The released British prisoners have arrived in France. . A Canadian, Mr Bert Levy, questioned about the insurgent statement that they were well treated, said: “I would like to push that lie down the throat of whoever said it. We were practically starved and were covered with vermin, There was no water with which to clean ourselves and we were forced to sleep on the ground. Ten of our comrades died from lung trouble.” Mr John Montgomery, of Glasgow, confirmed Mr Levy’s statement. REFUGEES FOE RUSSIA. ' 1000 CHILDEEN MAY GO. BILBAO, May 30. Preparations have begun to send 1000 children, aged from 5 to 12 years, to Russia. The Soviet is paying the cost of the voyage and the maintenance of the children. Preference is being given to those who have lost their fathers fighting for the Government. LEAGUE'S REGRET. TERRITORIAL RIGHTS IGNORED. GENEVA, May 29. The League Council adopted a resolution regretting that certain States had not heeded the resolution of December 12 urging the respect of the territorial integrity and independence of Spain, but expressing satisfaction at the progress of non-intervention and urging the withdrawal of non-Spanish combatants. The motion also condemned the bombardment of open towns.

RAID ON BARCELONA

PLANES KILL 71 PEOPLE

■ BARCELONA, May 30. Seventy-one - people were killed and 10Q injured in an insurgent air raid on Barcelona in which six ’planes participated. The raid lasted an hour. The insurgent ’planes circled at a great height. Of the killed 30 were in two houses. Many buildings were shattered. The ’planes later extensively bombed Santa Barbara syul Badlona, killing GO and wounding 50. They later returned to Barcelona and attacked the working-class district.

WAR PRISONERS

ITALIANS IN SPAIN. TRICKED INTO SERVICE. Viscountess Hastings, who is, the daughter of a former member of the Household of the King of Italy, has completed her talks- at Valencia with the Italian prisoners of war, according to the Manchester Guardian. She says she gathered that many of the private soldiers were surprised and angry when, they arrived at Cadiz and found that they were expected to fight Spaniards. They had been allowed only to guess their destination. “The authorities allowed me to soend two days as freely as I liked with tfie prisoners',’’ Viscountess Hastings told the Press Association. “I found them installed in a spacious building which bad once been a convent. As my talks went on various groups were exercising on the pleasant open courts of the place. The food rations seemed good. Each prisoner also has a morning allowance of coffee, which is all that is allowed in my hotel in Valencia. v TRAILING FOR ABYSSINIA.

• “These countrymen of mine seemed on the best of terms with the captors,” she went on. “The commanding officer, a major in the Italian Regular Army, said that he had never had more courteous treatment than froni Spaniards—adding hastily, lest his loyalty were misunderstood, that this was true on both sides of the line. “I found a great difference between the accounts given me by the fourofficers and many private soldiers with whom I talked. This was particularly

true mw uiiuuiu'SLamjea in which they came to Spain. I discovered that, although all had been captured in the Guadalajara retreat during the second and third weeks of March, they had arrived in Spain at various times between the end of November and March 8."

“A month before in Italy they had volunteered for a two-year service in labour battalions for Abyssinia, and had been sent to training camps. All had been unemployed or did not earn enough to support their families. The attraction of the Abyssinian service has been a promise of 500 lire bonus to be paid to their families during their absence. This training, however, was interrupted by a call for volunteers for ‘an unknown destination.’

“I gathered that many of the private soldiers were surprised and angry when they arrived at Cadiz and found that they were expected to fight Spaniards. They had been allowed only to guess their destination.

“Were you not sure when you came past Gibraltar?” 1 asked. “ ‘Yes. Then we realised what we were in for,’ the Italian replied. ‘Before that we had only the words “unknown destination” to go by, and you know that all seas look the same.’

“Some,” Lady Hastings continued, ‘ asserted that they, had suspected their destination, and I asked a group of artisans wlv't they expected to find in Spain. I had grouped! men of the same trade together, believing that they would have interests in common, although they came from different parts of Italy. . \ “They said that they had heard at home that the Bolsheviks —bv whom they'seem to . mean the Russians- —had torn down the cities in Spain, and that skilled Italian workers would be needed to rebuild them. Some police work had to be done first, after which Italian artisanship would be needed. One or, two said that they were surprised on their arrival to find any Spanish cities-standing, especially on the Government side. “They again emphasised the fact that enough different trades were represented among them to reconstruct big towns. It was clear that their present feeling, in view of the disaster at Guadalajara, was relief .at escape from a warlike • reality very different from what they had expected.”