TWO EXECUTIONS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 250, 3 August 1937, Page 5

TWO EXECUTIONS

GERMS OF TYPHOID. FATE OF FRENCHMEN. LONDON HEADQUARTERS ALLEGED. (United Press Association —Copyright.) PARIS, August 1. Jean Bougjenec, a free-lance contributor to numerous French newspapers, and Francois Chabrat were sentenced to death in connection with the allegations of being in possession of typhoid germs, and have been shot, according to a Pamplona • broadcast, which declared that they also possessed sleeping sickness germs and were working at the instigation of an organisation with headquarters in London, run by members of different nationalities. The condemned men allegedly had accomplices at Bayonne, where several arrests have been made. General Franco is presenting the League of Nations and various European Foreign Offices with a detailed account of the affair. A cablegram from Paris dated July 29 stated: International repercussions are expected to result from the action of Spanish insurgents in sentencing to death two Frenchmen. According to the newspaper “Le Jour” % these Frenchmen were alleged to liave been found in a frontier , village t carrying tubes of typhoid germs. They are reported to have confessed that each of them received 100,000 francs to scatter germs behiml the. insurgents’ lines: General Franco is -reported- to have delayed the execution pending , the establishment of an international tribunal to consider- the-case; w w- ’ FRENCH REVOLVER CART RIDGES ' r "i"’ 1 i BOXES LABELLED<•-‘■‘CHERRIES;”' ,ii <*YiVi -•••! >:’j» i - v . ~ V- •- r . ,~, -j} -' r*** * ■■■. -o. -- -• ’ J i -»:‘’ 'TARlßv;Angiist 1:' •! A message from Perpignan- states that a fisherman found, near Argeles, fruit boxes .’labelled'’.;' “cherried,”: ..'C<Jn4 tabling 80,000- undamaged revolver cartridges of French manufacture.-.<— LOYALISTS IN RETREAT. ' ; FRANCO’S PINCER MOVEMENT, j LONDON, August 1. A message from Saragossa states that the pincer movement by General Francois troops broke the Loyalist stranglehold on the rebel city of Teruel. Cavalry and a flying column of infantry are'pursuing 4000 retreating Republicans, capturing hundreds. LOYALioT APPEAL TO LEAGUE. \ (Received This Day, 11.55 a.m.) VALENCIA, August 2. The Government intends to demand League sanction against Italy and Germany. The Premier (Senor'Negrin) will personally "'lead the delegation to Geneva. ‘i INCENDIARY BOMBS. GREAT HAVOC CAUSED. NEW TERROR FOR DEFENDERS. LONDON, July 21. Incendiary bombs dropped from rebel aeroplanes with the object of firing the countryside are a new terror for troops engaged in desperate battles west of Madrid. Germans with General Franco’s forces turn searchlight beams on areas they want to bomb. _ _ .... , Aeroplanes carrying thermite homos then slide down the heailis' and let go their loads, which discharge a white liquid fife over the ground where they •strike. . . . > The thermite ' blazes for some’ time, and clearly outlines the targets, which are then attacked' ■'V.-itlv; explosive bombs from other - aircraft. - • v " ■ In this way almost every square of country to be- attacked by --infantry is first set alight as a means-of dislodging its defenders. • ' There have.-been frightful losses oil both sides. In- the .thickest of-what was regarded as the! biggest battle .of the war, the International Brigade stood up to almost continuous... bombing for 12 hours. Afterward, they engaged a mixed force of Moors and Foreign Legionaries hnnd-to-h,and. , . .•.< j. - , Finally, incendiary ..and thermite bombs burst a huge petrol reservoir,and the blazing petrol poured into their trenches, forcing them to give ground. The Government admits a retirement from Villanueva de la Canada, but only to the second-line trenches. Trouble has developed in the Madrid High Command over the tactics to he adopted on this front. Colonel Lister, commander of a .brigade famed for its merciless fighting, and Colonel Gonzales, known as ‘‘The Peasant” because of his dark face and rough voice, have been dismissed from then- commands and given work behind the lines. This action followed an ultimatum from Colonel Vincente Roja, chief of staff to General Miaja, that he would resign unless there was a clean sweep of “amateurs” from the High Command. The dissensions came from General Franco’s attack on the western front. Generals Miaja and Roja favoured a withdrawal from the newly-won ground owing to the terrific rebel pressure. The Defence Minister, Senor Prieto, and others urged that tlie line must be held at all costs.