Badajoz Runs Blood

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 194, 18 August 1936, Page 7

Badajoz Runs Blood

Ghastly Rebel Excesses

Thousands Shot Down by Black Mercenaries

Government’s Surprise Attack on

Majorca

Madrid Feels Pinch of War

United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Tuesday, 2 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 17. Journalists who visited the ruined city of Badajoz report that the Moorish troops are continuing to massacre Government supporters. An officer of Colonel Yague’s staff confirmed that 2000 had already been executed and the corpses burnt in huge fires to avoid waste of time.

Hundreds are still being brought before the military tribunal and if the right shoulder shows a bruise supposedly caused by firing a rifle they are ordered to be shot out of hand. The Times’ special correspondent states that in the older parts of the town the prisoners were placed against a wall and shot in batches. The pavement near the rebel headquarters ran blood in ghastly pools wherein lay caps, torn papers and the small belongings of the massacred.

Hundreds of terrified citizens took refuge in the cathedral. Two militamen were found there and shot dead on the steps of the altar.

Houses were allowed to burn unheeded and the streets are full of dead bodies.

“It is a splendid victory,” said Colonel Yague. A Burgos message states that the insurgents are speeding up the transport of Moorish troops. It is estimated they are flying 500 to 600 daily in Italian and German machines. The military junta at Burgos over which General Cabanellas presides is attempting to carry out all the administrative functions of the Government. It has created committees for the control of banking and commercial and industrial companies. The rebel battleship Espana and the cruiser Velasco are shelling forts within a mile of Hendaye wherein thousands of pounds of dynamite are stored. Meanwhile the troops are closing in on San Sebastian and I run.

The Madrid Government considers its own successes outweigh those of the rebels. It landed three columns on the island of Majorca, taking the insurgents by surprise. Palma is expected to fall at any moment. 1

The Government also claims that it is consolidating the control of the northern coast along the Bay of Biscay and is continuing to advance in the Granada and Cordova sectors. The rebel position at Segovia is reported to be desperate. The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence on the rebel leaders, General Fanjul and Colonel Quintana. Madrid is feeling the pinch of war. Though life is normal food is scarce and prices are rising. It is almost impossible to buy vegetables and fresh fruit. Cigarettes are also unobtainable as the chief factories in Seville are in rebel hands.

Loyalists Capture Important Port

REBELLION BEHIND REBEL LINES

Received Monday, 8.10 p.m. MADRID, Aug. 17. Mr. Ogilvie Forbes, tho newly- appointed Councillor to the British Embassy, has urged a hundred remaining British residents to evacuate the city. Madrid had its first bullfight since tho outbreak of hostilities. It was a gala affair with uinc contests instead of the customary six. The prosecutor at, a court martial demanded that the death seuteuco be passed on General Banjul and Colonel Quintauo. The defence admitted their guilt but pleaded lor life imprisonmeut. The Government .announces that n has captured Uijon, a port m the Bay of Biscay. A Badajoz message stales that in order to clear the Merida-Cacres road a column of Legionaries and Moors made a forced march to Merida where they are reported to have overcome a column of loyalists about to march to Badajoz to avenge their comrades’ deaths. , A Burgos message states that General Franco, the rebel leader, dramatically arrived from Seville and received and enthusiastically embraced Generals Mola and Cab&nellas. General Franco congratulated the citizens on their bravery and assured them of victory. A Gibraltar message states that four British mining officials from Rio Tiuto who arrived by motor from Huelva testify lo the uniform kindness of the loyalists. They departed with special safe conducts after cordial farewells. They were courteously greeted ou reachmg the rcbol outposts. Seven officials decided to remain at Rio Tinto. Their health is excellent. The mine, though idle for, three weeks, is undamaged. A Paris message states that the Government seized a motor-lorry proceeding to Madrid across French territory from Hendaye containing 40 cases of cartridges. They arrested the three men iu charge. The Daily Herald’s Gibraltar correspondent says Franco’s forces are now facing a rebellion behind their lines. Tho loyalists revolted at Castella against the militarists and seized the town for tho Government. A similar situation has arisen at Eonda. The Daily Mail’s Paris correspondent says M. Boleugro, Minister of the Interior, speaking at Lille, hoped the Spanish loyalists would win. He added: “I am measuring my words. I wish the legal Government Of a sister nation to triumph as speedily as possible. The day will come when our Red brothers in. Germany and Austria will regain their liberty.” Assault on Iran SCENE LIKE ASCOT LONDON, Aug. 16. Three converging insurgent columns, supported by the warships Es-

pana and Almirante Corvera, have resumed the suspended assault on Irun as a preliminary to tho advanco on San Sebastian. In the meantime the warships blew up the oil depot at Bilbas, thought tho loyalists sent a wireless message to tho Almirante Cervera on August J 3 that they had placed fiOO rebel hostages in the immediate vicinity in order to ensure the safety of the tanks. Tho hostages arc believed to have perished in the explosion. The rebels prefer to isolate >Sau Sebastian and starve it out rather than carry it with a direct assault. Sightseers on the safe side of the Frauco-Spauish frontier watched the Government defenders of irun climbing the Pyrenees foothills bvcrlooking the Bidassoa river. The rebels sniped them from scrub, the loyalists responding with machine-gun fire. Thousands of tourists occupying vantage points on the bank of the river sat at tables, sipped drinks, and trained field-glasses on the Spaniards killing one another. So great was the press of motor-cars on tho froutier roads that the scene resembled Ascot. A Surprise Attack. Before the arrival of the spectators a loyalist armoured train, rushing over an adjacent bridge at ‘dawn, scattered rebels in a surprise attack, recovered several positions, and drove back rebels beyond Behobic, on the road to Eudarlaza, which they still retain, together with commanding positions on the Tolosa-San Sebastian road. Three Government columns have reached within fi’O miles of Saragossa. The defenders’ supplies of munitions are low and their air force small. The loyalist capture of Pozoblaneo, 60 miles north of Corboda, opened the way for an advance ou the town, and the rebels surrendered almost without a shot. This is almost unprecedented. The Government, iu preparation for capturing Majorca, has begun to disembark troops at Porto Pi, a suburb of Palma, supported, by others from Barcelona. Mi Leon Jouhaux, the French trade union official, has arrived in Madrid to study means of aiding the Spanish people consequent upon a recent Paris demonstration. Tho News-Chronicle, in a leader, points out that two of tho three “patriot” armies which stormed Badajoz consisted of Moors, and the third of foreign soldiers of fortune, all of whom were supposed to be fighting in the interests.of Christianity and European civilisation.

French Proposals ACCEPTED BY BRITAIN. PARIS, August 14. A- clerk banded M. Delbos Britain’s acceptance of the French proposals. The “Le Journal’s” Berlin correspondent says Germany’s reply is ready in the affirmative.

Two "Polish” Planes Crash

EN ROUTE TO SEAT OF WAR. POLISH COUNT KILLED. Received Monday, 10.10 p.m. PARIS, Aug. 16. The authorities at Biarritz ’ are inquiring into the fatal crash into a marsh in which Olio fuselage is embedded of the three-engined Fokkcr plane marked “Gadzi,” bearing a British registration number. The pilot was the Polish Count Cusimir Lasocki, who stayed in Londou for four days last week. The machine was ono of four sent back to England from Bordeaux on August 2, after having left Gatwick with four British pilots on July 27. Their destination was Lisbon. All four again departed from Gatwick on August 15 with four Polish pilots, Lasocki, Czarnikow, Zirnbinski and Czarsk. The British authorities believed they were bound for Poland but tiho Biarritz police say their real destination was Braga, Portugal, and eventually Spain. Each piano could carry twenty passengers. Count Lasocki finding the Parme aerodrome too small tried to regain height and fell in an adjacent garden. Czarnikow-'s machine ran out of petrol and tried threo times to land at La Rochelle where the arcodrome was also too small. Ho flew to Lagord, overshot tihe local aerodrome, crashed and wrecked the machine. He escaped unhurt. He told the police he knew nothing about Lasocki’s plane. The third piano headed over the Spanish frontier but the whereabouts of the fourth is unknown. British Airways state that the planes were sold to a Poli ’ firm for commercial use, the Customs clearing them for Poland. The chairman, Mr. W. D. L. Roberts, describes the affair as astounding. The News-Chronicle states that three British D.H. Dragon planes have left Croydon for Barcelona. Help for Loyalists LONDON LABOUR PLEDGE LONDON, Aug. 16. Fifteen thousand . Labour sympathisers demonstrating in Trafalgar Square against the means test pledged themselves to assist tho Spanish loyalists. Loyalists Commandeer French Plane

Received Monday, 9.20 p.m. ALGIERS, Aug. 16. Spanish Government militia at Alicante commandeered, an Air France aoroplauo on tho Casablanca service, dragged out the pilot and passengers, flew twice to Orau and returned to Alicante. Government Search Houses INSURGENT LEADERS ON TRIAL. LONDON, August 16. Tho Spanish Government lias arrested one hundred persons at Valencia. A search of houses revealed Monarchist banners and compromising documents, including a manifesto stating that exKing Alfonso was returning to Spain. The trial has commenced in the Madrid Supreme Court of the insurgent leaders C. ...i Fanjul aud Colonel Quintana on a charge of ineitiug soldiers to rebel on July 19th. General Fanjul admitted complicity- in the uplising as being morally opposed to the Government.