FORCES MASSING.

Wairarapa Age, 1 August 1936, Page 5

FORCES MASSING.

CRUCIAL BATTLES EXPECTED IN SPAIN. HEAVY FIGHTING AROUND SARAGOSSA. CONFIDENT CLAIMS MADE ON BOTH SIDES. LONDON, July 30. No vital advantage was gained by either side to-day in the Spanish conflict, but forces are massing at strategic points preparatory to crucial battles. The district around Saragossa is the scene of the heaviest fighting in the civil war. Government aeroplanes are bombing the neighbourhood of the city, where the insurgents have gathered. Government columns are pressing forward, and the battle may prove decisive for a large area of northern Spain. Conflicting assurances of confidence are still being issued from the rival camps. General de Llano, broadcasting from Seville, said: “The enthusiasm of the rebels is indescribable. At the given moment they will launch against Madrid well-equipped motorised regiments in the face of which the Communists must fall.” On the other hand, General Riquihne states from Madrid that he will shortly begin operations on a big scale and easily defeat the rebels.

The rebels have occupied Huelva and Ayamonte. AIR & SEA BATTLE. A dramatic struggle between warships and aeroplanes is proceeding in the Strait of Gibraltar. A Government submarine is reported to have brought down another troop-carrying aeroplane flying to Algeciras from Morocco. Aeroplanes bombed a Government destroyer, and it is believed 20 were killed. The rebel "Government” at Burgos has cabled to all the and Ministers abroad, dismissing them, and appointing those second in command to them as Charges d’Affaires. The Spanish Consul at Cardiff has resigned as a protest against rapine and murder, which is going on in the principal towns in Spain. An Englishwoman, describing her flight from Barcelona, said: "A young Communist official was escorting me and another girl to a destroyer through roads strewn with dead, when Fascists fired on the Communist, who jumped in front to protect m,e. He was killed by a bullet, and died, in my arms.” The Foreign Office has received from General Cabanellas a radio message notifying the establishment of a rival Government at Burgos (in northern Spain), and expressing the hope that cordial relations with Britain will be maintained. The Foreign Office is taking no action. A large section of the British Fleet in the Mediterranean is reported to be moving from Malta to Gibraltar.