THE SPANISH WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23442, 5 March 1938, Page 13

THE SPANISH WAR

ACTION BY LOYALISTS RESHUFFLE OF THE CABINET" GETTING RID OF EXTREMISTS (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) PARIS, Mar. 3. Le Journal's Perpignan correspondent predicts that the Loyalist Cabinet will be reshuffled. Since Mr Eden's resignation and the fall of Teruel it is feared that Britain and France are less interested in the civil war. The Government also desires to be rid of extreme elements. It is predicted that this may have a decisive effect on the outcome of the war. JOURNALISTS HONOURED MEDALS FROM REBELS BURGOS, Mar. 3. General Franco received the correspondent of The Times (Mr H. A. R. Philby) and awarded him the Red Cross military medal. He also handed over posthumous decorations for the British journalist, Mr E. R. Sheepshanks, and the Americans, Mr Bradish Johnson and Mr E. J. Neil, who were killed on the Teruel front in December. REBELS FORBID DIVORCE BURGOS, Mar. 3. The Nationalists have forbidden divorce in General Franco's Spain. NON-INTERVENTION EFFORTS NO BASIS FOR COMPROMISE , LONDON, Mar. 3. Lord Plymouth's attempts to reassemble the Non-intervention Committee failed. No basis for compromise, it appears, can be reached. It is gathered that the .position i s so setious that Cabinet will take up the matter next week. Mr Chamberlain's problem is that he has pledged himself to liquidate the Spanish question before implimenting the Rome discussions. Accordingly, if an English-Italian agreement is achieved but volunteers remain in Spain he "is threatened with failure of the issue on which Mr Eden resigned. "THE WAR ALREADY WON"; REBEL LEADER'S OPTIMISM LONDON, Mar. 4. (Received Mar. 5, at 1 a.m.) "The war is already won. The nationalists' only problem, lies in reaping the fruits of victory," General Franco told the special correspondent of The Times at Burgos. He emphasised that the nationalists now controlled the most important industrial regions in Spain. He quoted Senor Don Prieto, a Republican Minister, as saying: ' If we have lost Bilbao we have lost the war." These words, said General Franco, corresponded exactly with the present situation. The continuation of the war was due only to the crazy ambition of a few republican leaders who were sacrificing innocent men. The economic normality reigning in nationalist territory, contrasting with the scarcity and hunger in the enemy zone was the best guarantee of an ultimate triumph for the nationalist arms.