Butchered From The Air

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 39, 16 February 1937, Page 7

Butchered From The Air

’Planes Machine-gun Refugees HUNDREDS ARE KILLED. United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Monday, 7 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 14. The Times’ Valencia correspondent states that during the retreat from Malaga to Almeria. rebel aeroplanes swooped down upon 40.000 heavily laden men. women and children fleeing from the Fascist terror and machinegunned them, killing hundreds. The slaughter was intensified by the fire of rebel warships sailing parallel with the coast. Delvayo obtained these facts from three ministers returned from Almeria.

NO-MAN S-LAND DOTTED WITH CORPSES.

Received Monday, 9 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 14.

West Pax-k, where normally nursemaids and children played and couples courted, is a maze of trenches with the trees torn by grenades and riflefire. 'l’ho Government’s fortifications were so complete when the rebels burst into University City, that they did not know the whereabouts of the enemy’s positions concealed in a labyrinth of tunnel? which were lit by electricity. The rebels still occupy the collars and the first floor of a battered eight-storey shell of one of the most modern hospitals of Europe, which they stormed weeks ago. They do not venture into the upper storeys before nightfall. Adjacent, Canvcr Institute is a mass of ruins. No-man’s-land, beyond the barrier of sandbags, is dotted with rebel corpses, the victims of the last attack. BOMBARDED PROM SEA. UNKNOWN VESSEL BOMBARDS VALENCIA. Received Monday, 7 p.m. VALENCIA, Feb. 15. An unknown vessel bombarded Valencia at 10 p.m. on Sunday. Approximately 30 shells passed over the centre of the city, falling in the outlying parts. The Government gunboat Laya replied, driving off the attacker. It is reported that 14 were killed and 30 injured. GERMANY SWAPS KUDOS WITH ITALY Received Monday, 7 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 14. The Daily Telegraph’s Paris corro3 poudent says diplomatic writers support statements that Mussolini and Goering agreed that Germany should reduce asistance to the Spanish rebols allowing Italy to secure them victory in recognition of Italy giving Germany a free hand in Ozcoho-Slovakia and a predominance in the Danube valley, in response to which Germany will grant Italy priority in Spain and the western Mediterranean. MALAGA PRACTICALLY DESTROYED I GIBRALTAR, Feb. 14. j Granted permission by the military 'authorities, a correspondent visited j Malaga, where he found the city practically destroyed. The total damage is estimated at £20,000,000. There are no hotels, restaurants, cinemas, shops, 'churches or convents left. Only the walls remain of the famous cathedral, and the altar images have gone. Inhabitants in the precints said that over a thousand people had been living in the cathedral for six months with donkeys, goats and dogs. Dozens of cases of smallpox are reported, and deaths occur daily. English residents said that Malaga had suffered 44 air raids. The biggest was on January 2, when 10 aeroplanes dropped. 40 bombs in the heart of the city, setting fire to many buildings. The worst shelling was on January 11 by the cruiser C'anarias, when ICO shells exploded, wrecking buildings. General del V’ayo, broadcasting throughout Spain, said that Italy and Germany had been sabotaging tho work of tho Non-Intervention Committee. He described Malaga as a Mediterranean port being placed in tho service of the Duce by subalterns under orders from Berlin and Romo. MASS TRIALS FOR PRISONERS MADRID, Feb. 14. Air battles are numerous. Sovon rebel planes havo been shot down in ’two days. The scene of to-day’s fiercest fighting was in tho vicinity of Arganda, 10 miles south-east, of Madrid, whero loyalists successfully bombed and bombarded the advancing rebel tanks an'* retained their position. Giving evidence at a mass trial at Madrid of 84 prisoners charged with rebellion Cerro Rojo rovealed that two battalions of the Foreign Legion, consisting entirely of Irishmen, were at Pinto, south of the Jarama battlefield. Miaja, while complimenting them for their courage, ordered the retirement of all women combatants from the Madrid front lines. Tho rebel authorities nt Malaga sentenced to death 38 so-called Communist bandits, and sentenced live to life imprisonment, and two to twenty years’ imprisonment.