SPANISH TURMOIL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 186, 7 August 1936, Page 7

SPANISH TURMOIL

IMPORTANT PASS REPORTED CAPTURE GOVERNMENT CLAIM DAY OF FIERCE FIGHTING [By Telegraph—Press Association—CopyrightJ Received Aug. 6, 5.5 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 5. The latest claims by tne Spanish Government are that it has captured tne important pass oi San Rafael, in the Guadarrama Mountains, where its forces bombed and destroyed 40 lorries* and that aeroplanes destroyed an insurgent battery at Palma. Reports from Madrid state that Government troops forced tne reoels from the San Raiael Pass alter a day of tierce lighting. The famous sanatorium was blown to pieces and the town littered with corpses. r The victory at San Rafael has given the loyalists possession of a highway running parallel to the Guadarrama Range, connecting Segovia and Valladon with Madrid, and enabling them to cut off the rebel retreat from the norther, i slopes of Navacerrada and Somo Sierra passes, from which they were recently dislodged. No Quarter Given. The bitter coniiict lasted for four hours, and no quarter was given or taken. The loyalists, consisting largely of youths, delivered a surprise attack, supported by aeroplanes, and outflanked and repulsed the insurgents. These rallied and counter-at-tacked, but were again defeated owing to their employment of cavalry from Salamanca against machine-guns on completely unfavourable ground. The Government troops in the south seem to be holding their own, but the rebels are preparing a further advance to offset the loyalist successes in Granada and Cadiz provinces. The rebel city of Oviedo, in northern Asturias, is in flames. Members of the Popular Front have handed the authorities £75,000 found at Carabella Convent and the Bishop's Palace at Alicante. Rebel Drive From Moscow. The Times’ Casablanca correspondent says that General Franco intends imminently to attempt to break through tne 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 of the Straits. A Gibraltar message says that repiloted b Italians and Germans, fugees from Ceuta state that nine Italian and three German planes, piloted by Italians and Germans, have arrived to participate in the rebels’ offensive. It was earlier reported that after a night-long bombardment of Ceuta by the Lepanto, Jaime Primeiro, Libertad, Churruca and Lepanto, the latter temporarily has taken refuge off the north mole, with a seaman killed and a number wounded. Five aeroplanes had swept from CeuU at dawn and had begun bombarding the fleet, but the anti-aircraft guns of all ot the vessels except the Lepanto kept the attackers at a safe distance. The Lepanto’s only anti-aircraft gun was disabled, wherefore she was compelled to retreat with the 'planes buzzing in pursuit and bombing wildly. One bomb struck the stern, damaged a gun, killing a master-gunner and wounded five. Murdering and Looting. The Times’ Gibraltar correspondent says that a refugee from Tarragona states that the city is in the hands of the Communists. All the churches, convents and chief publicbuildings have been burned and at least 30 priests murdered. Boys and girls wearing red shirts and carrying arms, and bands of Reds are murdering and looting. A Government broadcast claims that the surrender of Oviedo and Cordoba is imminent. BRUTAL MURDERERS ENGLISHWOMAN’S STORY LONDON, Aug. 6. Mrs. Diana Avail, daughter of Rear-Admiral Claude Cumberlege, whose husband was shot in disturbances near Toledo, has reached London with other refugees. “When the troubles started we left my husbands farm and stayed with friends at Talavera. A week later a gang hammered at the door at 3 a.m. and asked out our host, his son, and my husband into the garden. We waited in agony, and heard three shots three minutes later. Then I knew that my husband was dead. Two poachers, whom my husband once caught stealing, told the mob that we were Fascist. That was his death warrant. Next morning armed youths threatened us from behind the garden trees. The maidservant went to the Town Hall clandestinely and impressed our papers with Government stamps, enabling us to go to Valencia, where we boarded the Devonshire. Everything we had is destroyed or stolen. My father reached his yacht in time to escape the rabble, or he would also have been shot.” ARCHDUCHESS ESCAPES ATTACK ON CONVENT. LONDON, Aug. 5. The 34-year-old Austrian Archduchess Assunta escaped from Barcelona in a man’s clothes. She was a cloistered nun in the convent of Sainte Therese. When the red militia threatened to burn the building she and others managed to escape. They got out of the country after great trials and reached Vienna.