SPAIN ALARMED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 28, 3 February 1944, Page 3

SPAIN ALARMED

SUSPENSION OF U.S. OIL SHIPMENTS GERMANY OFFERS RELIEF. Recd. 6 p.m. London, Feb. 1. Following the United States Government's decision to suspend oil shipment's to Spain, the Spanish radio has announced that the consumption of liquid fuel throughout Spain will be restricted "in face of unforeseen circumstances." American oil experts calculate that Spain has stocks, including military reserves, to last barely two months. America’s decision to suspend the oil shipments has caused consternation in Madrid. A neutral diplomat who reached Tangier yesterday told a Daily Express correspondent that the Foreign Ministry in Madrid is in a state of confusion. He added that most of the neutral diplomats believe that Franco intends sharply to revise his relationship with the Axis, now that he knows the Allies mean business. This diplomat disclosed that Spain has already agreed to Britain's request to remove all Germans from Algeciras, which overlooks Gibraltar, and that Spain will break with the Axis this week. He added that the move was being forced by increasing pressure from Britain and the United States, and ho knew Spain would yield to the Allied irisistence. Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent, however, says that reports that Spain is about to break with the Axis gain no credence in Londoi,. There is no evidence available here pointing to any readiness on the part of Spain to take such a step in the near future, he says. According to Tokio radio, Hans von Moltke, the German Ambassador to Spain, assured the Spanish Foreign Minister last Saturday that Germany will supply Spain with the materials needed it Britain and America impose an embargo. The American Office of War Information points out that von Moitke, who was appointed Ambassador to Spain in January of last year, died two months later.