“BOUND TO FAIL”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23514, 31 May 1938, Page 9

“BOUND TO FAIL”

FASCISM IN SPAIN TERRORISM STRENGTHENS MORALE EXPERIENCES OF NEW ZEALAND NURSES (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 30 “ We feel that with the holding up of the Fascist offensive the turning point of the war has come,” said Sister Shadbolt, of Auckland, and Nurse Dodds, of Levin, when passing through Barcelona for England, according to a cablegram received from Barcelona by Mr G. E. Jackson, of Otahuhu, secretary of the New Zealand Spanish Medical Aid Committee. “That is why we are at last able to take a month’s leave in England with a clear conscience."

Both girls looked tired but very cheerful, the cablegram continues. Since last July they have been working at high pressure in the hospitals, first in Central Spain and recently in Catalonia. “We are coming back to nurse the Spanish soldiers until their final victory over the invaders has been achieved,” the nurses continued. “If only the people of New Zealand could see how much medical equipment is needed to relieve the suffering soldiers and civilians, they would come in a body to the aid of the Spanish people. Aeroplanes yesterday bombed Alicante and killed 250 civilians, the majority being women and children. It was wholesale murder."

Relating her own experiences, Sister Shadbolt said: “We narrowly escaped with our lives on several occasions. Barcelona was severely bombed the night after we left. Had we gone by rail we would have been bombed on our arrival at Valencia station, but we changed our plans at the last moment and travelled by road. In Tarragona a few weeks ago the cafe in which we were staying was bombed 10 minutes after we left. Dodging bombs is part of a nurse’s job in this war, but the terrorist methods only strengthen the morale of the Spanish people, and the invaders are bound to fail.”