SHIPS FOR FRANCO

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 28, 3 February 1938, Page 7

SHIPS FOR FRANCO

GIFTS FROM ITALY DESTROYERS RENAMED “ACTS OF PIRACY." (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 1. The Spanish Ambassador in London has sent a Note to the British Foreign Office accusing Italy of extensive naval assistance to General Franco, “in patent violation of international pledges.” He asserts that the Italian Government has given the insurgents the destroyers Aquila and Falco, which are sailing under the Monarchist flag and have been renamed Velasco Ceuta and Velasco Melilla. The rebels are also said to have received the destroyer Alessandro Poerio and Gulielmo Pepe under identical conditions, but it is not known what they have been renamed. The Note adds that two submarines which have been assigned to the rebel base at Soller, Majorca, are carrying rebel flags and that the crews have renamed them Mola and the San Jurjo. The Embassy, in an additional Press statement, refers to newspaper statements that the British steamer Endymion was sunk by a rebel submarine, and states: “The Spanish Government categorically denies thru, the rebels have any submarines ot their own, and it must be clear to the whole world that Italian submarines are committing these acts of piracy.”

SURPRISE ATTACK INSURGENT SOUTHERN ARMY HENDAYE, Feb. 1. After several months calm, the insurgent southern army under General Dellano launched a surprise attack on the Republican positions in the mountains north-west of Cordoba. They moved forward from five points on an eight-mile front and claim that over 300 Republicans were killed and 242 taken prisoner. REPUBLICAN CRAFT ANSWER s.o.s. LONDON, Feb. 1. According to an official Barcelona communique, the Endymion was attacked 16 miles out of Cartagena. The Endymion sent out an S.O.S. which Spanish Republican craft answered, effecting the four rescues.