DESPERATE STRUGGLE IN SPAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 22, 27 January 1938, Page 8

DESPERATE STRUGGLE IN SPAIN

After eighteen months of civil war in Spain it is still impossible to say definitely which side is winning; certainly neither side has yet achieved a | decisive victory. ' Territorially, of j course, the insurgents, • as they are still called, under General Franco,! have in a year and a half made many, gains and suffered few losses, : but these gains have been tactical rather than strategic; that is to, say, they do not necessarily imply the attainment of a commanding position 'from which victory could'be won and| the war terminated at any desired moment. Madrid, after a semi-siege of over a year, is still firmly in the hands of the Gpvernment; no advance has been made by Franco south of Madrid since-the capture of Malaga nearly a year: ago, and the wedge', long anticipated by military critics, has yet to be driven between the two coastal strongholds of the Government, Barcelona and Valencia. The tip'of the wedge at Teruel has been in the last month the scene of some of the fiercest' fighting of the war. The old city of Teruel, held by the insurgents since the very outbreak of hostilities, was taken by the Government forces, but is insecurely retained by them against a feverish attempt by Franco at In itself, Teruel, now a heap of ruins at the bottom of a deep valley, has no particular strategic value, but if the Government lose the mountains to the east which command it, the way will be open to Franco to drive the wedge through to the Mediterranean and effectively cut. off Barcelona from Valencia. In this event the Government could hardly survive, as Madrid would also be cut off from Barcelona and with the ,rest of south-eastern Spain must fall to Franco. Only Catalonia in the north-easl would then remain lo be conquered. To achieve such a victory Franco would require further help on a large' scale from his foreign friends, Italy and Germany, without which, in the first place, he could hardly have cpnquered the Basque Provinces and Asturias in the first year of the war. The powers of resistance and even of taking the offensive revealed in the Government forces near Saragossa and round Teruel must have come as an unpleasant surprise to General Franco and his - foreign helpers, and a recent cable message states that "uncensored reports from Rome describe feverish activity in, military centres for a big offensive which Signor Mussolini hopes will end the Spanish war." Such deliberate assistance—and there is no reason lo doubt it —is being given in the teeth of the Non-Inlerven-lion Committee's proposals for a withdrawal of all foreign contingents from both sides in Spain. In the meantime the aerial .bombardment of towns and cities, without military pretext, has been intensified lo an unprecedented degree, in retaliation for repeated raids on Barcelona, Valencia, and other places the Government has bombarded Salamanca, Franco's headquarters, with results about which the reports conflict. The signs are all for a desperate and. possibly, decisive struggle in the early spring, but which.side will win il is impossible to predict.