SPANISH RESERVISTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25862, 5 June 1945, Page 6

SPANISH RESERVISTS

LARGE NUMBERS CALLED UP DRAFTED TO FRENCH BORDER (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, June 4. Large numbers of Span.sh reservists are being drafted to posts on the French-Spanish border, says the Evening Standard’s Madrid correspondent. The force is estimated at nearly 500,000 men who are armed with the latest type of weapons. Each spring reservists are called up to do refresher courses in training, but this year’s mobilisation hag assumed large proportions. This, says the correspondent, may be one result of the French Parliamentary Committee’s action in requesting General Franco to relinquish power and have a general election. It is estimated that there are 200,000 Spaniards in France, many of whom fought in the French Maquis, but General de Gaulle, it is stated, has taken no steps to disperse them as a military force.