THE SITUATION IN SPAIN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21279, 24 February 1939, Page 4

THE SITUATION IN SPAIN

To the Editor ot 'The Timaru Herald' Sir, —Having just returned from i Spain after a stay there of some, months, I was astounded at the tone of a letter in your issuse this morning. This remarkable epistle represents General Franco and the Nationalist | forces as the enemies of the true Spain. Nothing could be more unfair and misleading, and believe me I am in a position to speak on this subject. In London, I received credential letters from the British Foreign Office and in National Spain, I received a Salvo Conducto which enabled me to go wherever I wished, inspect anything, speak to anyone. I took advantage of this to speak to men, women and children, to privates, H.C.O's, officers, nurses and Red prisoners, as well as to the civilian "victims” of Franco’s oppression. I was in the firing line at San Sebastian, visited Lerida, Teruel, and Guernica. My companion and I took literally hundreds of photos, which hundreds in England and New Zealand have inspected. In many of them I appear myself to guarantee that I was there to see for myself. I need not indulge in vague statements; I will tell you what I saw and heard. And now your correspondent has my solemn word that all the evidence to be seen in the areas liberated from the Leftist Army, proves beyond all doubt that the Red forces engaged in an organised attack on the traditions and religion of Spain. The Spaniards of either side admit that the fight was for the control of a Spain which was no longer under the effective control of any Government. In San Sebastian. Teruel, Lerida, Guernica (I speak of what I saw), destruction was confined almost entirely to the centre of each town, to the churches and religious buildings and a few public buildings. Tljis destruction was quite clearly done not by bombs from the air but by dynamite and petrol. I saw bombholes and shellholes at times and the two forms of destruction are easily distinguished. I know from my own observation that the damage was done ( from within and therefore before the ; towns were captured. I saw dynamited churches, convents, seminaries, hospitals. I saw the walls of churches and national monuments and shrines plastered witji Communist slogans, as well as blasphemies and obscenities. I saw statues and sacred images , obscenelydisfigured. I spoke with the relations of people who had been imprisoned, mutilated, tortured to death. I spoke with a -man who had been led out five times -to be shot, to be taken back each time to endure the agony of suspense agaijp I cemeteries which had been deliberately desecrated. I saw (and smelt) evidence in plenty of the massacre not of the great and the wealthy but of the common people whose crime was that they would not side with Rod anarchy. _ I was told byactual witnesses of cruelties and abominations too awful for print. Practically all such were directed against religion and for Communism or anarchy.

And now, sir, although I admit I am an enthusiast, for Franco, it is not enthusiasm. but the force of evidence gleaned from contact with all classes in Spain which makes me write as I do now. I found in Nationalist Spain, in the territory liberated but a few wreks from Red anarchy, an atmosphere of peace, of relief, of gratitude, and even of prosperity. I asked officials for more information, but they told me: ‘Don't ask us. Go and see for yourself; meet the people; live with them. Visit the Army, especially the ‘Boys’.” I did. I talked to the soldiers;, also to the famous Moors and found them to be civilised gentlemen, as truly Spanish citizens as the Maoris are.citizens of New Zealand. I asked one of them what he was fighting for. “Por Dios,” he said, “For God and for Franco, the friend of Moor and Spaniard." Even former Red militiamen are fighting in hundreds for the Nationalist cause. I got this story from a prison guard behind the San Sebastian line: A batch of Red prisoners was engaged in reconstruction work when firing was heard nearby. The curious prisoners were told that their comrades were on the attack. “Well, we don't want them here,’’ they said, “lend us some rifles.” They helped to beat off the attack, handed in their rifles and returned to work. The prisoners weren't fools. They get a fair wage, minus their “boarding-expenses,” and each has a bank account where his wages accumulate. In Franco's hospitals I visited sick and wounded of both sides. Young> men and women have formed a corps of blood donors for every hospital and give their blood to friend and foe alike, even to those who not long before were the enemies of all that they themselves hold dear.

I also noticed that none of the towns had military garrisons or more than a moderate police force. Franco has done everything that a man can do to prove himself the friend of Spain. When I was in the trenches (the firing line in fact) at San Sebastian, I saw a Red soldier stroll out of his trench in full view, at 220 yards range, and reenter it a few minutes later. I asked the men why they didn't shoot. The reply I got surprised me. "We are ordered never to shoot except in actual battle. He knows we wouldn't shoot, otherwise he would keep cover.” And another added seriously: “If we shot him now he might, be damned. If he lives he may yet become a good Spaniard.” Does your correspondent know that the Reds always leave their wounded behind, knowing that they will get better care that way? Little wonder that Franco is regarded as a hero, even by his prisoners. Vast numbers of his former opponents (I met plenty) are now all for him. Words fail me, sir. to describe the spirit of optimism, of faith, of forgiveness, of religious fervour which inspires the millions who hail Franco as El Liberador! There are other facts of which in the nature of things I could only be a partial witness. Do your readers

know that Franco's army has never actually entered a captured town of any size? His forces close in on a town, leaving one way out. When the town is deserted, except by his own supporters, he then sends a detachment in to take possession and to escort the hundreds of lorries of food and clothing, while the main army moves on. This means the saving Of hundreds of lives. If there is any doubt about this, go back over the reports of the Barcelona campaign appearing in any daily paper and you will see what I mean. But do your readers know that when the advancing army approaches a town, as many' inhabitants as dare to do so. risk their lives to escape into the countryside, rather than be herded along by the retreating Red forces and thus be kept in the areas of desolation and fear? I hope your readers will forgive my enthusiasm. I am not indulging in argument, I am giving you the raw material for argument, namely facts which speak louder than words. These facts speak for themselves. If your readers, and your correspondent L.A.A., had seen what I saw, if they had seen lands of ruin and desolation, rape and sacrilege, reconverted into the Spain of prayer, of song, of happiness, they would not need to forgive my enthusiasm. they would share it. They would share my admiration of the true Spain, the Spain that has risen from her agony to a new greatness, the Spain of chivalry, of romance, of faith and charity. They would pray every day as I do for the liberation of the rest of Spain from the forces of evil that have for years been sapping her national life and the spirit of many of her people, innocent victims in most cases of a propaganda that must surely emanate from anti-Christ-—I am. etc, C. E. ARDAGH. Queenstown, Timaru. February 20. Use the Classified Advertisement Columns of “The Timaru Herald.”