LOYALISTS’ STRENGTH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 44, 20 January 1938, Page 9

LOYALISTS’ STRENGTH.

STRATEGY OF FORCES. LONDON, Jan. 18. “General Franco, attacking at Teruel, decided to try to repeat the romantic adventure in aid of Alcazar,” states the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at Teruel, who was reported yesterday to have revealed an immense increase in the Loyalist fighting power. “The apex of' two Loyalist protecting columns beyond Muela was obviously weak. If the Government had. brought up heavy batteries and set thousands of sappers to work, the buildings defended by the rebels could soon have been made untenable, but the death-roll would have been terrible.

“Chief interest does not lie with Teruel, which is a mass of ruins, but with the strategy of the contending forces.

“Two outstanding Loyalist leaders are General Vicente Rojo (Command-er-in-Chief), who directed the Teruel operation, and Lieutenant-Colonel Enrique Lister, who cut the rebel communications and afterwards parried their violent attempt to relieve the town. He commands 14,000 shock troops intensively trained in the art of war, who improve immeasurably every month. More will be heard of him.

“The Minister of War (Senor Indalecio Prieto) and the chief of staff have completely organised the Loyalist army, securing adequate petrol and food supplies. The Government is short of officers, but by the end of the summer there should be a firstrate fighting force. “General Franco’s army," on the contrary, has little improved since the outbreak of the struggle. Unless he can produce better infantry than at Teruel his prospects are not bright.”