FALL OF SEBASTIAN

Wairarapa Daily Times, 14 September 1936, Page 5

FALL OF SEBASTIAN

CITY ENTERED UNOPPOSED SCORES OF FIRES. Press Association Electric Telearach —Copyright (Received Monday, 9.10 a.m.) LONDON, Sunday. General Mola’s three main columns entered San Sebastian unopposed, except for sporadic sniping by anarchists, who set fire to the paper mills and the Casino and threw incendiary bombs into houses. Scores of fires are burning. Before retreating the Government forces cut the electric line connecting- Bilbao and took all available rolling stock. Colonel Ortega (Governor of San Sebastian) is establishing his headquarters at the coastal town of Zumzya. NO HELP FROM MADRID. LONDON, Saturday. A message to Madrid from San Sebas : tian imploring help received a reply .from the capital that it is unable to assist, and suggesting a surrender on ’terms. This was followed by a report from Ilendaye that the loyalists are evacuating the town following the defeat of Government militia in the Hernani and Oyarzun sectors, after which the foreign legion (Terzio) troops occupied Fort Santa Barbara preparatory to endeavouring to enter the town on Sunday. REBELS’ ULTIMATUM. LONDON, Saturday. A 48 hours’ ultimatum to San Sebastian to surrender expires on Sunday morning. The flight of panic-stricken civilians continues. When rebel ’planes dropped ultimatum pamphlets the militia endeavoured to seize them all in the streets to prevent the population readiug them. The rebels are shelling Hernani, five miles from San Sebastian. Women and children have been evacuated from Hernani. The rebels claim further successes in the Talavera region.

Planes are dropping pamphlets in Madrid, calling on the troops to surrender, otherwise an attack will not be long delayed. "BATTLE” FOR MADRID. MERELY OUTPOST SKIRMISH. LONDON, Saturday. A North American Newspaper Alliance copyright message from Toulon says General Franco’s reported important. battle for Madrid, on the Talavera front, is merely an outpost skirmish at his junction rvith General -Mola’s troops at Sierra Degredos. He is only meeting mountain patrols. The rebels have on paper a quartercircle against Madrid from the north to the west, but dispose only 20,000 men on a 100-mile front in hostile territory against vastly superior numbers. Time works for the loyalists, who daily are adding a knowledge of warfare tactics to a fierce enthusiasm. A siege of Madrid from a military point of view seems impossible. TYPHOID AT OVIEDO. LONDON, Saturday. Typhoid is reported to be serious in the besieged town of Oviedo. Refugees state that 72 died in one day. ' • The shelling and bombing by the Government forces continue.