FIERCE FIGHTING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19886, 13 March 1939, Page 5

FIERCE FIGHTING

MADRID STRUGGLE CHECKING COMMUNISTS BIG TASK FOR COUNCIL USE OF ARTILLERY STAR VINO CT VILIANS (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) i Reed. March 13, 11.30 a.in.) LONDON. March 12. Messages from Madrid state that, despite the Republican claim that the Communists have surrendered, violent fighting continues. • Bitter fighting raged in the fashionable north-eastern quarter of Madrid. The entrances to the underground railway were scenes of savage conflicts. The Communists are machinegunning the streets where the mass movement of troops is impossible. The Republicans attacked the office of the newspaper A.B.C. in the hope of dislodging the Communists who captured the secret police headquarters and repeatedly assailed the Princesa Hospital. Efforts to Escape Civilians are starving. shot on the outskirts attempting to escape. Republican artillery bombarded the Communist headquarters which vainly called for tanks by telephone. The defenders yielded after an hour’s fighting. The Republicans then recaptured the Salamanca quarter and recovered a trench in the scarred north-eastern district. Fierce fighting continued yesterday in the central provincial. Committees of Communists surrendered unconditionally to the Defence Council. At Alicante Communist members of the Town Council were dismissed. 'At Valencia the dreaded Communist secret police were dissolved and the leaders arrested.