Many Prefer Death To Retreat

Northern Advocate, 5 April 1938, Page 7

Many Prefer Death To Retreat

CIVIL WAR

(Received 3 p.mj SARAGOSSA, April 4. Rebels are rooting out, in a house-to-house search, the few remaining Loyalist, snipers who prefer death to retreat from Lerida. The main Rebel body in the campaign is on the outskirts, while tanks, which had been active all night, patrolled the city, protecting shock troops and civil guards and doing police duty. The Loyalists’ last stand was desperate. Eighty-five bodies were found strewn in a single trench. Entering Lerida, the Catalonian city, Moorish troops stormed the trenches on the Saragossa side of Lerida, but until 4 p.m. the Loyalists rpaintained a terrific resistance, rallying for a last counter-attack at 6.30, which the Rebels met by charging with fixed bayonets behind tanks. The Loyalists were and they abandoned the struggle and fled across the River Segre, while the Rebels entered Lerida. 18 Miles From Seaboard. Rebel divisions captured Batea and vanquished four international brigades, killing 500 and taking 2500 prisoners, says the Saragossa correspondent of “The Times.” General Franco’s advance column is now 18 miles from' the seaboard. The Loyalists’ communications between Valencia and Barcelona are now confined to a bottleneck, the closing of which will cut off the last life-line between Barcelona and Madrid. The Rebels have captured Mora de Ebro and also Cherta and Pinell.