REBEL AIR RAID

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23080, 5 January 1937, Page 7

REBEL AIR RAID

BOMBS DROPPED ON MADRID WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED AT LEAST FOURTEEN VICTIMS ' (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) MALAGA, Jan. 3. Nine three-engined rebel bombing ■planes swooped down on the city at 1.30 p.m., dropped bombs in a crowded district, and killed many women and children. Fourteen corpses and many injured were removed from the shattered and burning buildings Hundreds of men are conducting rescue work and fighting fires. No bomb touched any military objective. The Gibraltar correspondent ot Tne Times says that a rebel trawler stopped and escorted into Ceuta a large westward-bound tanker, believed to be Russian. The Valencia Socialist Youth Federation headed with £1667 a subscription to replace the Komsomol, a Russian steamer believed to have been sunk by a rebel warship, with a vessel built at Valence as a sign of gratitude to Russia. FOREIGN INFLUENCE LONDON, Jan. 3. The special correspondent of The Times on the Spanish frontier sayi it is entirely wrong to suppose that the defenders of Madrid are all Communists and their opponents all Fascists, though the influence of these groups on each side is largely increased by foreign intervention. General Franco is not a Fascist, but represents Spaniards fighting for Spain. The Government represents Spaniards who desire to modernise Spain at the cost of all its traditions. Whichever wins Spain will not long remain Fascist or Com munist, but will return to the old ways immediately foreign influence is .withdrawn. The ne\v Spain will be Spain for the Spanish. Interven tion is most marked around Madrid, where an air battle occurs almost every day between German Junkers and Russian bombers and fighting planes. Electrically controlled German anti-aircraft guns are used with terrible effect on the Russian bombers. The Russians are pouring arms through Barcelona and Valencia, and have been directing the defence of Madrid for the past few weeks. The war would long ago have ended had Spain been left to herself. The foreign Powers have turned the civil war into one between Fascism and Communism. The casualties among the Moorish troops are overwhelming, 90 per cent, of the original force being killed. The rebels have not lost a battle, except at Gijon, but General Franco's position is not sure. The loyalists are active at Gijon, Santander and Bilbao, while only a detachment of Germans prevents the loyalists from capturing North Victoria. Government troops completely surround the rebel position at Teruel, which the Germans are defending. ITALIANS LANDED AT CADIZ LONDON, Jan. 3. The Gibraltar correspondent of the British United Press says a usually well-informed source reports the landing at Cadiz from Italian warships of 6000 fully-equipped troops who have left for Seville. - Speculation has been aroused by the invasion here of prominent Spaniards from Seville, where, it is rumoured, trouble is brewing. SUFFERINGS IN MADRID (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, Jan. 2. In his New Year diocesan message the Archbishop of Canterbury refers to the situation in Spain as follows: —"Although there has been a temporary slackening in the strife, there seems little prospect of its cessation. No one can read the accounts of the sufferings in Madrid without a sickening of the heart. We must all ean estly hope and pray that foreign intervention.may not endanger the already sorely-tried hopes of European peace." CLAIMS BY INSURGENTS LONDON, Jan. 3 The insurgents have issued a statement from Seville on the progress of the war to the end of 1936 They claim possession of 32 out of 50 provinces They give the rival forces at the beginning of the war as follows:—-Themselves: Forty battalions. 22 aeroplanes, one battleship and one cruiser. The Government Fifty-two battalions 130 aeroplanes, one battleship, three cruisers 13 destroyers, and 12 submarines while the Government was in possession of nearly all ammunition depots and factories In the course of the righting the insurgents lost a number of aeroplanes and destroyed 130. They lost 10 guns and captured 40. as well as thousand- of rifles, mil lions of cartridges many Russian tanks, and other material The Government, lost one destroyei. three submarines, and one gunboat, while the insurgents' shins are intact. The insurgents captured 10 Government cargo vessels, four of which were carrying war material. DEATH SENTENCES COMMUTED AVILA, Jan. 3 General Franco has commuted 70 death sentences to long terms of imprisonment. EXECUTION OF A GERMAN BERLIN, Jan. 3 " Cowardly murder afte- a mock trial " is how the official news agency describes the execution of a German named Lothar Guedde by Reds a 1 Bilbao because he was a member of Hip Spanish Fascist organisation The agency adds: "Guedde was shot in November Relinblp information is only now available Before his death he gave the Nad salute and shouted Hail Hitler.'" FIGHTING FOR THE REBELS LONDON, Jan. 3 A Bayonne message regarding Guedde says the Basque Government states that he was captured on the battlefront on October 5. He admitted volunteering for the rebel

Fascists, in which he was made a corporal. He was sentenced to death on November 9. Ten others, including the German, De Eupel, were sentenced to life imprisonment for military rebellion. MEXICO'S VOLUNTARY ACTION MEXICO CITY, Jan. 4. (Received Jan. 4, at 11 p.m.) As a means of co-operating with President Roosevelt in a goodneighbour policy, President Cardenas ordered Customs officials to bar a shipment of United States war materia] through Mexican ports to Spain. Meanwhile, at Washington, the Acting Secretary of State. Mr Moore, said that the Mexican action was purely voluntary, and not the result of any protest from the United States. He praised President Cardenas's action, and observers termed the incident a concrete proof of the value of the recent Buenos Aires Conference. ITALIAN ASSURANCES <British Official Wireless) RUGBY, Jan. 3. The Notes exchanged in Rome on December 31 between Sir Eric Drummond and Count Ciano on the integrity of the present territories of Spain are now made public The British Ambassador, in his Note, begins by recalling the House of Commons .question and answer of December 16 on the guarantee given to the British Government by the Government of Italy concerning the Balearic Islands, and cites Mr Eden's account of the assurances then given. Count Ciano's Note, after recapitulating the verbal assurances, reads: "I have consequently no difficulty on behalf of the Royal Italian Government in confirming the accuracy of his Majesty s Government's assumption—namely, that as far as Italy is concerned the integrity of the present territories in Spain shall in all circumstances remain intact and unmodified THE NEW SHIPPING WAR GERMAN REPRISALS LONDON, Jan. 3. The position as regards the new shipping war is as follows:—The ships concerned are the German steamer Palos, the Spanish steamers Soton and Aragon, and the British steamers Etrib and Blackhill. The war began on Christmas Eve with the seizure of the Palos by the Basque Government at Bilbao, after which the German cruiser Konigsberg, as a reprisal, stopped the Spanish steamer Soton, which grounded, but has been refloated. She was escorted yesterday into Santona Harbour by two submarines, two torpedo boats and tne entire auxiliary fleet of the Basque Government, as well as aeroplanes. The Soton's crew, contrary to earlier reports, was not taken prisoner by the Konigsberg. ■ The Spanish Ambassador in London states that both the Konigsberg and the Koln arrived at Santona. The British United Press correspondent says the Konigsberg was outside the harbour when the Soton was taken in. German reprisal No. 2 is tne seizure by the German battleship Graf Spee of the Aragon from Almera on January 1, with a cargo ot foodstuffs from Malaga. A Valencia communique says tnat the Aragon was about four miles south of Faro de Sabmal when the Graf Spee captured her ■ • The communique adds, the Ara gon has undoubtedly been arrested by the warship, being conducted to some rebel port. The Blackhill is a vessel of 2492 tons. It is reported that, though she was flying the Union Jack, four armed insurgent trawlers pursued her for seven miles and fired 16 shots. The Blackhill did not stop, and the trawlers, realising that they were in Basque territorial waters, withdrew. This is an account from the Basque Governm The British United Press correspondent at Santander says the Blackhill reported that, besides the attack by trawlers the Konigsberg stopped and searched her. However, there is no confirmation of this The'Official Spokesman at Berlin has indicated that the reprisals will continue until the Palos, her cargo and passenger are released. ANOTHER SPANISH SHIP SEIZED LONDON, Jan. 3. j (Received Jan. 4, at 10 p.m.) / The British United Press correspondent at Santander says the Konigsbers seized off Santona the Spanish merchantman Marta Junquera, which was on her way to Santander from Bilbao with foodstuffs. She refused to release her despite the presence of loyalist submarines. The Governor wirelessed to the Konigsberg's commander demanding the vessel's release in the name of the legitimate Government, otherwise aggression may provoke serious measures. SOVIET VESSEL STOPPED MOSCOW, Jan. 3 (Received Jan. 4, at 11 p.m.) It is reported that an insurgent warship stopped the Soviet steamer Krasny Profintern near Gibraltar on January 1. The vessel, which was laden with coal from Hamburg to Naples, was escorted to Ceuta and released an hour later. BRITISH VESSEL FIRED ON LONDON. Jan. 3 The British Admiralty confirms the report that a Spanish insurgent trawler fired on tha Blackhill, which was not hit There is no confirmation of a search by the Konigsberg. The British Ambassador in Spain t,as been instructed to call the attention of the Burgos authorities to the Blackhill incident. Mr Ogilvie Forbes travelled today from Madrid to Valencia SOVIET VESSEL DETAINED MOSCOW, Jan. 3 The Soviet steamer Postischev, on her way to Ghent with a cargo of pig iron, was detained by insurgents near Gibraltar, but was later released OUTBREAK OF TYrHOID LONDON, Jan. 3 (Received Jan. 4, at 5.5 p.m.) The Daily Mail's Perpignan correspondent indicates that the longfeared typhoid epidemic due to the siege conditions broke out in Madrid on December 25 It is confined mostly to the civil population The Government has despatched two medical delegations from Valencia to seek help from Paris and from the League. The former will bring back vaccine from the Pasteur Institute. —————=== kv special arrangement Keuter s Woria service in addition to other special sources of information, is used, in the compilation ot the overseas intelligence oublished in this issue, and all rights therein in Australia and New Zealand are reserved.