KEY POINT TAKEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18087, 7 August 1936, Page 5

KEY POINT TAKEN

LOYALIST TROOPS

CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN

COUNTER REBEL CLAIMS

FURTHER SEA FIGHTING

PLANES ATTACK WARSHIPS

(Elce. Tel Copyright—United Press Assn.)

(Reed. Aug. 7, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 6

Reports of the civil war in Spain state that the Government claims to have captured Buitrago,. the keypoint on the Somosierra front and to have taken 1500 prisoners and captured five pieces • of artillery and 30 machine-guns. The Government also reports the surrender at Sastago of 2000 rebels who were marching from Pamplona to Saragossa. They immediately were incorporated with the Government army.

General Mola claims that the rebels .routed Government forces in the. Somosierra area, killing oCO. He also claims a victory at Avila, where he alleged the rebels killed 600 of the Government forces and captured two tanks. General Dellano, the rebel leader at Seville, is reported to have threatened to wipe Malaga off the face- of the earth if his mother and wife, whom he left there, are murdered by the Government forces.

It is reported from Tangier that rebel air bombers sank a Government gunboat and damaged a submarine in yesterday’s battle in the Straits of Gibraltar. PLANS OF FRANCO

It is reported from Casablanca that three Government warships to-day engaged rebel aircraft convoying troopships across the straits.

General Franco decided to bring more troops from Morocco by air and has 15 large aeroplanes at Tctuan ready for this service. He hopes thus to land IGCQ troops in Spain daily. The Casablanca correspondent of The Times says that General Franco intends to attempt to break through the Government patrols in the Straits of Gibraltar with a large force of native troops and foreign legionaries. Ceuta is reported to be crammed with soldiers, three steamers are ready for their embarkation and, aeroplanes are ready to take off and bomb any Government warships opposing the passage. A Gibraltar message says that refugees from Ceuta state that nine Italian and three German planes piloted by Italians and Germans, have arrived to participate in the rebels’ offensive. LEVY ON JEWS

Mediaeval methods have been adopted at Ceuta, where the rebel authorities insisted that the Jewish community should contribute to the revolutionary fund, the rebels meanwhile holding prominent Jews as hostages. The rebels succeeded in breaking the sea blockade and landed at Algeciras 3000 regulars, foreign legionaries, Riffs, machine guns, 200 field guns, thousands of hand grenades, and motor lorries in five ships camouflaged to evade detection and protected by a strong force of aeroplanes, which heavily bombed Government warships trying to intercept it, and compelled them to retreat. The rebels state they will bring a further 3000 across at the week-end and ■will then have 10,000 at Algeciras to advance on Malaga. The Gibraltar correspondent of The Times says.that a refugee from Tarragona states that the city is in the hands of the Communists. All chureh'es, convents, and the chief public buildings have been burned and at least 30 priests were murdered. Boys and girls wearing red shirts, and carrying arms, and bands of Reds, are murdering and looting. HELP FOR LOYALISTS EFFORTS IN FRANCE MONEY AND VALUABLES

LONDON, August 6.

The Daily Mail’s Paris correspondent says M. Leon Blum’s paper Le Populaire announces the constitution of a body' to raise money and food to mobilise volunteers t.o help the Spanish Government forces. It is expected to raise £15,000 by August 15. An Oran message states that General Denain and other French investigators unanimously decided that the two Italian planes forced down in French Morocco while flying to the rebels were Italian Air Force machines. The pilots admitted that they, were officers of the Italian Air Force;- but did not disclose whether they were on active service or the reserve list. They started from Bologna and landed at Sardinia, where they were retarded by high winds, and were forced down bv bad weather.

The Soviet has intimated to France that she shares the principle of noninterference in internal affairs in Spain, and is ready to participate in the proposed agreement, that she desires Portugal to join in and “that assistance rendered by certain States to the rebels must be immediately discontinued.”