COMING OF WINTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22847, 30 September 1937, Page 11

COMING OF WINTER

NORTHERN SPAIN BASQUES MAY BENEFIT v MADRID, Sept. 22 The next few weeks in the Spanish conflict will be vital because the early advent of severe winter weather possibly will enable the Basques to reap, tj the reward of their heroic defence. It may immobilise General Franco's mechanised columns and reduce ,the striking power of his superior air force. Hidden among the rocks near Zuera, in the centre of the main Spanish eastern front, Government snipers waited their chance to bring down an enemy-" 1 aeroplane. One of them, with a single shot, killed the pilot of a raider which crashed. -

By blowing; up a reservoir held by the rebels. and flooding the trenches adjacent to it, Government troops made a 50yds. advance outside Carabanchel, a suburb in south-west Madrid.

So close is the .fighting in this sector that even so small a gain as this was important. It provoked heavy shelling of the town's defences by the rebels. The rebel commanders on the Basque front,, angered at the reverses suffered by Italian troops, are applying terrific pressure in the vicinity the key to any further advance on Gijon and Oviedo, the last important port and city left to the Basques. They are gaining ground slowly, and have taken positions near Cabrales. RUSSIAN CHILDREN HUNDREDS FOR LENINGRAD (Received September 29, 5.5 LONDON, Sept. Two Russian steamers carrying hundreds of children whose Russian parents are living in Spain left the Thames today for Leningrad.