A FLYING ARMADA

Evening Post, Issue 29, 3 August 1936, Page 9

A FLYING ARMADA

INVASION OF SPAIN

REBEL LEADER'S PLAN

CUTTING OFF MADRID

FORCE FROM MOROCCO

United Tress Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. MADRID, August 1. There is little. change in the situation today. The rebels hold the mountain pass of Somo, the "gateway to Madrid." It is reported at Tetuan that General Franco is organising a flying armada for an invasion of Spain. He is mobilising Foreign Legionaries who will be flown to Algecir.as in 18 Italian aircraft and several' big seaplanes' carrying 20 fully-equipped men for the purpose of smashing the Government resistance at - Cordoba and cutting off Madrid's communications with the coast. Then, it is contended, with rebel armies in the north and along the Portuguese frontier, the capital can be. isolated arid starved to surrender. ARMY PLANS UPSET. There is now no doubt that the army's plans were upset by the premature rising following the murder of Senor Sotelo. Had it been able to wait, the Government would' have been compelled to ask the army to take control. Civil Guards, though sympathising with the Right, are preserving their tradition of standing by the legal Government, and powerful Labour organisations have not spared themselves. Fighting against such, a powerful if incongruous combination, the army is faced with a tremendous task. The insurgents are claiming victories in the passes through the Guadarrama Range, and assert that they are closing in on the capital, the situation of which is still doubtful, as the rebels declare that they have occupied El Pardo, 11 miles north of Madrid, and El Molar and Navassenada, s about 20 miles north-east. The Government reports the beginning of a heavy bombardment of rebel positions in the Guadarrama Range as a preliminary to an offensive to remove the threat on Madrid, in which the capture of Castillo and Alienza and the killing of 86.insurgents is a step. EVIDENCE OF FLIGHT. Correspondents with the rebels describe captured Government encampments as like picnic grounds, littered with empty beer-bottles, and contend that in the last few days the roads have been littered with abandoned cars, mostly turned in the direction of Madrid. Villages have suffered severely from sabotage. The Government, however, does not entertain fears for the capital, indicating that the rebel hopes are perhaps pitched too high. Rebel artillery is placed in position to shell Bilbao, from which the population is fleeing, as the rebels are giving no quarter. The implacable character of the civil war is further indicated by reports from Barcelona, where the population is out of hand. The Government is faced with the problem of getting thousands of armed persons who*are often intoxicated off the streets, and .is sending extremists against the rebels at Saragossa. Here the trained soldiers have little)difficulty in mowing down the youths against them. Only 32 survive from one contingent of 300. GOVERNMENT CLAIMS. The Government claims the defeat of 700 rebels at the village of-Sietamo by troops advancing on Saragossa who forced the rebels to flee, abandoning improvised armoured cars., Othsr troops captured Almudebar, Sastiago, and Quinto. General Mangada, who is leading the Government troops in the north-western region, was victorious at Navalperal, where the Carlist leader, Count Vallelano, was killed. Government troops, using a naval 6in gun and other heavy artillery, reduced to a heap of ruins the picturesque village pt Ovarzun, an important strategic position on the IrunSan Sebastian road. The Government says that the rebels at San Rogue and Algeciras are being hemmed in. A powerful column is advancing from Malaga to attack the rebels at Granada. The fleet bombarded Huelva. Captain Dayo, commander of the Barcelona air base, warned civilians of Majorca to evacuate all towns as they would be bombarded with 2201b bombs. The rebels declare that they routed a force of 2000 miners and railwaymen attacking Zamora, of whom 300 were killed. A Socialist deputy, Senor Fernandez, reports that while the rebel leader Colonel Aranda occupies Oviedo with machine-guns at all strategic points, the rebels are practically prisoners as they lack water and provisions, and dare not go on the streets, yet they refuse to surrender, necessitating the Government destroying the city. EXTREMISTS' ACTIONS. , Escaped nuns at Barcelona are going from house to house asking to be taken in as maids. The morbid taste of the extremists was gratified by the exhibition of a dozen corpses of nuns exposed in coffins, one of which was dated 1624, and rapidly decomposing in the hot sunshine. Fascists shot 500 Communist prisoners in revenge for. an attack on one of their leaders near Valladolid. A Gibraltar message states that British refugees arrived from Malaga and other southern Spanish towns allege that the Communists, who are short of ammunition, have decided not to waste bullets on executions and are accordingly beheading captured Fascists and casting their bodies into the sea. At Madrid the police have issued strict orders that no houses may be searched without instructions from the authorities. Every effort is being made to bring.back the mobs under control. NATIONALISING INDUSTRIES. Cabinet, at its first formal meeting since it was formed a fortnight ago, decided to take over all industries which owners have "abandoned," thus legalising 200 seizures made by the workers' militia since the outbreak of the rebellion, but the nationalisation of industries is provisional, their ultimate fate depending on the Cortes after the signing of peace, although the owners can prevent further Government action by resuming control within 48 hours. The industries include water, gas, electric supplies, war munitions, and motor factories, among which is the Hispano-Suiza plant. According to a message from-Lis-bon, 1500 Spanish exiles who took refuge in Portugal after the flight of King Alfonso, formed a "Duke's Battalion," including some of the bestknown names of the Spanish nobility and monarchist army officers. They mobilised at Salamanca. A Lisbon message reports the defeat.

of the "Duke's Battalion" by loyalists after the departure from Salamanca of its leader, Colonel Garardo Doval, who declared his intention of being the first to enter Madrid, followed by Spain's "jeunesse doree." They attempted a dash to the capital, assisted by 20 lorries.

At Barcelona three hydroplanes, each carrying bombs, dropped their loads on Palma, Majorca, destroying gasometers. Militia seized Cabreta Island after a bombardment.