TOWN WIPED OUT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19454, 13 October 1937, Page 5

TOWN WIPED OUT

RAID BY REBELS CONFLICT IN SPAIN MOUNTAIN OF DEBRIS PLANS FOP CONFERENCE POSSIBLE NAZI INCLUSION (Klec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Rec. Oct. 13, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 12. A message from Valencia states that Spanish insurgent aircraft, in a raid described as comparable with those on Guernica, wiped out Cangas De Onis, a town with a population of about 10,000, 30 miles from Oviedo. Incendiary and high explosive bombs reduced the town to a mountain of debris. The death roll is unknown. Twelve insurgent aircraft are reported to have wiped out a military hospital at Granen which was founded in 193 G by the British medical unit in Spain. It is alleged that the hospital was the sole object of the raid. The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, on his return to London to-day saw the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, with whom newspapers assume he discussed the situation arising out of the Italian note with reference to Spain on which he reports to the Cabinet to-morrow. He later received the French Ambassador ; and the latter may be presumed to have communicated the latest views of France. Consultations between the two Governments will continue and meantime forecasts of further developments can only be speculative. France Believed Willing The Daily Mail's correspondent at Paris learns that France has agreed to invite Germany to participate in the round table conference on the Spanish situation. A further message from Paris says it is semi-officially suggested that if Italy continues to refuse to discuss the withdrawal of troops from Spain, Britain and France may, on their own initiative, prevent men and materials reaching Spain. Some Franch authorities consider that this would be less dangerous than opening the frontier, which would cause international complications. A spokesman, in close contact with the French Foreign Office, said that from a humane point of view it would be obviously better to reduce foreign intervention than revive it by sending fresh troops and materials to Valencia and Salamanca.

SPANISH SHIP LOST MEDITERRANEAN BATTLE ATTACK BY INSURGENTS CARGO OP EXPLOSIVES LONDON, Oct. 12. The first encounter between an armed merchantman and destroyers In the Mediterranean is graphically described by the captain of the Cabo Santo Tome. The merchantman was carrying a cargo of explosives from Odessa to Cartagena when Spanish insurgent destroyers appeared without warning and opened fire at long range.

The Cabo Santo Tome replied with her two four-inch guns and several quickflrers and an hour's hot action ensued. The warships closed in and the shells eventually set fire to the merchantman. The flames were beyond control and the crew, numbering 100, one of whom had been killed, took to the boats.

The Cabo Santo Tome blew up and fishing boats picked up the survivors and took them to Lacalle. Six were wounded. A fisherman said that a woman was among those rescued. The Cabo Santo Tome defended so energetically that one of the destroyers was disabled and had to be taken in tow.

The Cabo Santo Tome was a steamer of 12,589 tons, owned by Ybarro and Company, a Spanish firm with headquarters at Seville, tvhicn owns 25 vessels altogether, including two others the same size as the Cabo Santo Tome.

SUBMARINES FOR ITALY RAPID CONSTRUCTION SPEEDY MOTOR BOATS LONDON, Oct. 12. "Italy has laid down no fewer than 20 new submarines since December," says the Daily Telegraph's naval correspondent. These submarines are being con structed with great rapidity. Italy already possesses 85 completed submarines, compared with Britain's 72, France's 88, the United States' 97, and Japan's 02. Italian submarine production has averaged a boat every month—a figure no other country has approached. Twenty-eight destroyers have been begun during the present year, also a group of motor torpedo boats with speeds of between 45 and 50 knots.

RETIREMENT ANNOUNCED CATALAN PRESIDENT WILL NOT STAND AGAIN BARCELONA, Oct. 12. Senor Companys announced to-day that he was retiring from the Presidency of Catalonia in November. "The statutes provide that the President shall resign upon the convocation of the new Parliament. Although Parliament recently decided to postpone the elections in view of the military situation," Senor Companys stated, "it decided nothing about the President's position. I consider that my mandate expires in November, and I shall not stand for re-election. I would noV accept if offered the Presidency, but I shall remain a faithful adherent to the Republic."