REBEL ADVANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23002, 1 April 1938, Page 9

REBEL ADVANCE

CHECK AT LERIDA DRIVE IN NORTH SPAIN DEFENDERS' HEAVY FIRE By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Recoivod March 31, 7.40 p.m.) LONDON, March 31 General Franco's Moroccan troops have fought their way to within two miles of Lerida, where heavy ma-chine-gun and rifle fire from the outskirts of the town have checked their advance, says the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in a message from Fraga. There has been a noticeable stiffening of the Republican resistance, says the Times correspondent at Hendaye. Aeroplanes aro more active in supporting th« infantry. *

The insurgents are pushing their advance in other sectors. The Navarre brigade has captured tho villages of Maella and Fabara, thirteen miles east of Caspe, and later entered the Catalan province at Tarragona, three miles east of Maella.

Tho Government forces are reported to be retreating from Gandesa. Tho Republicans claim that their offensives in tho souths of Guadalquivir, in which a cavalry charge followed an extensive bombardment and aerial bombing, drove tho insurgents from important positions on the border of tho provinces of Cordoba and Jaen.

FRENCH OPEN FIRE INSURGENT AEROPLANES SPANISH PORT DAMAGED RETURN ALONG RAILWAY PARIS, March 30 French anti-aircraft guns fired on insurgent aeroplanes which were returning along the French frontier after bombing Portbou, the most northerly port on the north-cast coast of Spain, just south of the French border, says a message from Perpignan, a few miles to the north on the French coast.

The machines flew along the railway linking Portbou and Perpignan and the French guns opened fire as they passed over Collioure station.

Heavj' damage was done at Portbou, where trains were waiting to take provisions and supplies south.

A message from Barcelona states that the Popular Front, women's antiFascist committees, trades unions and Senor del Vayo have all appealed for another 200,000 workers not afraid to die for their country.

Senor del Vayo has been appointed Spanish Ambassador to Moscow.

BOMBED STEAMER BRITISH CLAIM ON REBELS "A DELIBERATE ATTACK" British Wireless RUGBY, March 30 The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. R. A. Butler, informed the House of Commons to-day that the Government had completed inquiries into the bombing of the British steamer Stanwell on March 25, and, after careful consideration of all the evidence, had come to the conclusion that the vessel was the object of a deliberate attack.

The British agent at Burgos accordingly had been instructed to inform the rebel authorities to this effect, and to enter a strong protest against the attack, which the British Government must regard as entirely unjustifiable, and for which it must hold those authorities responsible.

The British agent further had been instructed to demand an immediate investigation into the inoident, and to reserve the right of the British Government to claim, in due course, full compensation for damage to persons Unci property resulting from the attack.