SPANISH STRIFE

Grey River Argus, 21 September 1937, Page 5

SPANISH STRIFE

AT FRENCH PORT Commander of Submarine TRIES TO INDUCE ANOTHER’S . CREW. TO GO OVER TO INSURGENTS. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received September 20, 7.40 p.m.) BREST, September 20. A Spanish Government submarine, the C2, has been repairing her engines in Brest Harbour, in France. While a majority of her crew were ashore, she was boarded by twelve men from a rowing boat. The men covered the guard with automatic rifles and their leader demanded to see the Captain of the submarine, Commandant Jose Ferrando. It is alleged that he told Ferrando that he was the Commander of the Spanish Government’s submarine, C 4. The latter submarine is at present, being repaired at Verdon, near Bordeaux. The leader of the men added that he, with his crew, had gone over to the insurgents, and he offered Ferrando three million pesetas to join them with his ship. Ferrando refused. Thereupon he and his skeleton crew were bound and gagged. The captors, however, fruitlessly endeavoured to start the engines of the submarine. and they had gathered on deck to deliberate upon the position, when a sailor, belonging to the C2, who had hidden in the conning tower, and sounded the siren, and then emptied a revolver into the men, killing one. The others all escaped, in the boat, dragging off with them Ferrando and the Chief Engineer. They disappeared in motor-cars from the "Brest quayside. The French police are searching the countryside, and have arrested six men, including the Commander of the prisoners, and papers were found in the possession of the man, Juan Los Haras, the Commander of the Submarine, C. 4. The papers included a letter from General Toncoso, the Commandant at Irun, offering him two million psetas, and guaranteeing him safety, if he joined the Nationalists with the crew of his submarine.

The man killed aboard C.2, was a Spanish Terrorist, named Gabaria, who was wanted by the police in connection with a bomb outrage at Marseilles. Those arrested include Emmanuel Morendain, a Spaniard, who is believed to have placed the bomb on a Spanish Government ship at Bayonne in March.

“PIRATE” SUBMARINES. ARE THEY RUSSIAN? HENDAYE, September 19. A communique issued from General Franco’s headquarters at Salamanca, accuses Russia of Mediterranean piracy, It says that the Salamanca Government has irrefutable proof, which it is shortly placing before the NonIntervention Committee, that at least two submarines in the Mediterranean belong to the Soviet Fleet.

NYON ARRANGEMENT. tßritish Official Wireless], RUGBY, September IS. The Italian Government, having received a copy of the agreement supplementary to the Nyon arrangement, which was signed yesterday, its terms were published in Geneva today. In communicating the text to the Italian Government, the latter was informed that its practical observations on the second agreement as on the first would be given the closest attention by the Nyon Powers. The new agreement applies to attack by surface vessels or aircraft upon any merchant ship in the Mediterranean not belonging to parties to the Spanish conflict, when such attack is accompanied by violalion of humanitarian principles, embodied in the rules of international law, relating to warfare at sea, as laid down in part four of the Treaty of London, 1930, and confirmed in the London Protocol signed in November last. _ Any surface war vessel which witnesses such an attack, when engaged in carrying out the Nyon arrangement, is authorised, if the attack is by aircraft, to open fire on such aircraft, or if the attack is committed by a surface vessel, to intervene within the limits of its powers, and if necessary, summon assistance in that task.

In territorial waters, each of the participating Powers concerned will give instructions as to the measures to be taken by its own war vessels, in the spirit of the present agreement.

It is pointed out that nothing in the agreement prejudices the right of any country to defend its shipping from attack of any kind whether such attack is in conflict with humanitarian principles or merely illegal.

GERMAN VIEW. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, September 19. The “Manchester Guardian’s” Berlin correspondent says: The extension of the Mediterranean anti-piracy patrol, coupled with the sudden abandonment by Britain and France, of the naval control of the Spanish coast, is arousing serious suspicions in German political circles. Some regard the course that London and Paris are steering as deliberately directed at Italy. Others declare that British and French naval forces are being diverted from the task of international peace to one smacking of AngloFrench interests— something like an Anglo-French “naval dictatorship” in the Mediterranean. It is expected that the battleship Resolution and two destroyers will keep their present station off northwest Spain. It is understood that there will be thirty-eight British destroyers and five flotilla leaders available for carrying out the duties imposed by the Nyon agreement. It is understood that recommendations contained in the recent report on the work of the Non-Intervention Board, include a proposal to end the patrol. The Board was satisfied that the patrol was not effective as ancillary to the sea observation scheme, while it was costly and involved many objections and risks.

ITALY’S STAND. FOR EQUALITY IN PATROL. ROME, September 19. A communique announces that when the Anglo-French Charge d’Affaires submitted to Count Ciano the supplementary Nyon agreements.

they asked for a further explanation of the Italian Note of September 14, as it had produced contradictory interpretations regarding whether Italy would collaborate in the Mediterranean patrol. Count. Ciazo, subsequently explained that. Italy, in advancing the question of parity rights, intended to establish that the Italian fleet must have a position equal to the Anglo-French fleets, if it is to participate in the naval measures. He added that Germany had been informed of the contents of the communique.

DANGER INCREASED. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, September 19. “The Times’s” Rome correspondent says: The indignation aroused both by" the Nyon arrangements and the procedure adopted at the Conference, is steadily mounting. One excited commentator writes of Britain and France as having organised “a regular naval demonstration, if not a dress rehearsal of co-operation between Iwo fleets in a possible future war.” The situation is declared to be becoming difficult, and the extension of Mediterranean patrol to cover surface vessels is described in some Italian circles as a symptom of the mania for creating a fatal incident.

EDEN’S REVENGE? ANGLO-FRENCH PATROL POLICY. (Received September 20, at 8.50 p.m.) BERLIN, September 20. The Berlin “Montag’s Post” says: Anglo-French Entente in the Meditterranean, which could hardly have been closer during the world war than it is to-day, creates the impression that Mr A. Eden ('British Foreign Secretary), is thus having a petty revenge for his Abyssinian setback. It is always dangerous, however, when .the cravings for personal revenge influence national policy. ITALIAN REPLY. TO BRITISH PRESS STATEMENTS. (Received September 20, 9.5 p.m.) ROME, September 20. An official Italian communique says: “A number of English newspapers nave deliberately attributed great importance to the sailing of Italian forces to Libya. Their pretended alarm is groundless, as tne sailing is merely the executing of a plan that was arranged a long time ago, and that was made universally known.”

ON ASTURIAS FRONT. LONDON, September 19. Although seven loyalist battalions are strung out over a wide front in

Asturias, they are fighting desperate guerilla actions, dynamiting the roads and bridges, inflicting heavy losses, and holding up the insurgent drive towards Gijon.