CABLEGRAMS.

Western Star, 25 February 1938, Page 3

CABLEGRAMS.

TERUEL LEFT IN FLAMES REBELS ENTER AFTER EVACUATION. SCENE OF FANTASTIC DESOLATION. BARCELONA, February 23. It i s officially announced that the Republican garrison hag, evacuated Teruel, breaking the tebel ring and joining the main forces outside the city. Before leaving Teruel the Republicans get fire to th e city, which is a mass of flames. The Spanish Government is not greatfy perturbed at the loss of Teruel, which is not regarded as strategically important. The insurgents pushed on three miles south of threatening the main road to Valencia. The Government admits the loss of Castralbo, a village on the Valencia road, and continues to cover up- the ■ magnitude of the retreat, asserting that vit wa s orderly. • '■ Teruel presents a scene of fantastic desolation. It is completely uninhabitable. Hundreds of houses have collapsed and are blocking the streets. The famous seminary is' a chaotic pile 01 masonry. A 'message from Saragossa says it is estimated' that there have been 60,000 Republican casualties in lower Aragon and Teruel' an two months. More than 3500 loyalists were killed in the final assault on Terutl. The Republicans retreating from Teruel fought every foot of . the way. The insurgents employed cavalry. A message from Saragossa states that 1500 prisoners and large quantities of material were captured. Barcelona wa s ‘-‘blacked out” at 1.40 a.m. because of the appearance of bombers from Majorca for the first time since January 31. Aided by searchlights, batteries engaged the raiders for 45 minutes. No bombs were dropped in the middle of the city but the damage elsewhere was considerable. A later message states that Barcelona was raided from the air for the second 4rime and extensive damage wa s done. I AEROPLANE ATTACKS FRENCH SHIP. ONE MAN WOUNDED BY MACHINE-GUNS. MARSEILLES, February 23. Aii 'aeroplane machine-gunned the French steamer Prado 15 miles ( from Valencia. One man was wounded. A destroyer is .proceeding at full speed from Toulon. MR ROOSEVELT’S REACTION. ALLEGED IRRITATION AT WASHINGTON. RESPONSE .TO ‘‘SAD NEWS FROM i LONDON.” : -NEW YORK, February 23. In an editorial headed “Some Faces are Red” The New York Herald-Tribune says: “In quoted comment and even more , eloquent silences one seems to detect a certain undercurrent of irritation behind Washington’s response to the sad news from London. As a matter of fact the discomfiture ig basically Mr Roosevelt’s own fault. It is the fault of a policy constructed upon the optimistic agsump . tion that it is possible to save the world ' for nothing. “It is. easy for the American President to summon nations to great deeds, as geography makes it plain that the Americans will be the last people to get hurt. > “Mr Roosevelt' may be trying to ajxmse the American people to a more bellicose attitude in th© defence of democracy abroad, but if so he has not dared frankly to explain this to them.. Instead he is devoted to self-encour-aging ideas of bellicose blockade and embargo policies. He is always reiterating that he ha s no idea of leading them to war.

“This may make popular such moral crusades at home, but it is unlikely to make them, attractive to those foreign Powers who 'will find theniselve g sitting in the front-line trenches.”

GIANT AIRCRAFT FOE TASMAN. NEARLY TWICE THE SIZE OF CENTAURUS. MELBOURNE, February 23. The Minister of Defence (Mr He V. Thorby) announced that giant flyingboats 1 nearly twice the size of Imperial Airways’s Centaurus were being designed in Britain for the trans-Tasman air service. .. . Mr Thorby pointed out that although the recent Tasman crossing by the Centaurus wag highly successful it would bo impossible to make a commercial success of a service with aircraft of such a smalli payload a>s the Centaurus. ■ • k CHINESE WALLED CITY FALLS. JAPANESE APPROACH YELLOW RIVER. i TOKYO. February 22. The Japanese have captured the walled city of Hwaiking, 10 miles north of the Yellow River. The late of .the defender, General Sung Cheh-yuan, is not yet known. 'Tire Japanese bombed Hengchow, 300 mftes north of Canton, from the air. General Iwane Matsui, the Japanese Commander-in-Chief has departed for Tokyo by air. Hi s successor is General Shunrutu Hata. witii Major-General Kuwaha as ebief-of-staff. PASSENGERS SLEEP THROUGH FIRE. SLIGHT- DAMAGE TO COASTAL STEAMER. SYDNEY, February 23 The passengeis in tlie steamer Hunt ', plying between Newcastle and Sydney, slept through an exciting experience during the night while on the wav to Sydney whi n a fire vva-g discovered in tlio fore hold. Tlie::' <•i - - 7;'; na-scngii > aboard, all of whom ■.'.••■! r totally ignorant of the fin i'll 1: i : !••• ll'a’ i d■. i>jii ;.i;. j;yr jjt hydii.-e i»-i 1 1 ■< >u. . .M.y lids morning and ti hr' '-oat winch was summoned by wireless c tne along vdo. It s (; °n riihdned the on'l — r 1: v:\ : -'i originated among stacks and bags of sheep .kins, bales of wool jjri.i -7ovid" I'“c damage ws- only slight.

CZECH MILITAHY PREPAREDNESS. “WILL NOT BE TAKEN BY SURPRISE.” HUGE FORTIFICATIONS ON FRONTIERS. DANGER OF WAR WITHOUT WARNING. PRAGUE, February 24. An official statement issued by the Chief of the General Staff of Czechoslovakia (General Kresci) states:

"The General Staff is aware of the possibility of war against the Republic without a formal declaration of war. It is well prepared and will not he taken by surprise. The standard of the army, the defence works and the armament industry is highly perfected. “Any enemy will do well to think twice whether a surprise attack has any prospects of quick success. A hug© barrier of permanent fortifications is being constructed along the frontiers. Eight aircraft factories are working at full speed and a detailed scheme for a food supply has been worked out.” SECRET COMMITTEE MEETS IN PARIS. FRENCH SENATE DEFENCE ORGANIZATION. PARIS, February 23. The Senate Secret Defence Committee, • presided over by M. Joseph Calliaux, met for the first time since the Great War. It comprises air, .navy and army committees. GERMANY REARMING AT HIGH SPEED. BERLIN, February 23. The Minister of War (General Walther von Brauchitsch) told foreign military attaches who were visiting the War Office that Germany wa s rearming at high speed and would continue to rearm until she was in a position to defend fully her entire territory. LOYAL AUSTRIAN DECLARATION. NAZI IDEA OF UNION REJECTED. VIENNA, February 24. The Mayor of Vienna, (Hen* Richard Schmidt), who is a strong Catholic, made a surprising speech against the Nazis before a large audience. “We will fight for Austria’s independence to our last drop of blood,” he said. “We reject Utopians who believe it possible to combine 90,000,000 Germans in one State. A regime which i s hostile to tlie' Church will not last.” BRITAIN NOT YET SURE OF SITUATION. DEVELOPMENTS BEING WATCHED CLOSELY. RUGBY, February 24. This. Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain) in the House of Commons stated that it was still not possible to estimate the exact effects of the AustroGerman agreement. The British Government was following the developments with close attention. BRITAIN’S EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLIES. NAVAL PLANS REPORTED TO BE COMPLETED. LONDON, February 24. The naval correspondent of The Daily Telegraph (Mr Hector By water) Says , that the Navy lias completed plans for j the maintenance of essential food supplies in war time adequate for "every contingency. NAZI TRIAL' OF PASTOR NEAR END LIGHT SENTENCE EXPECTED BY ' ' CHURCH. BERLIN, February 22.. The trial of Dr Martin Niemoller, leader of the organized campaign ■■ against “Nazification” of the churches, i s expected to finish at the week-end, when the Press and the public will be admitted to hear the sentence. Church circles expect that Dr Niemoller will be sentenced to not more than seven months —probably meaning his immediate release, a s he had been held in custody for that period awaiting trial —but that he will not be allowed to resume preaching.