SALAMANCA RAIDED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 47, 24 January 1938, Page 7

SALAMANCA RAIDED.

LOYALIST RETALIATION. BARCELONA, Jan. 22. Tn retaliation for the rebel slaughter of civilians in air raids at Barcelona, Valencia and other coastal towns, Loyalist ’planes heavily bombed the Nationalist headquarters at Salamanca, causing much damage. The British Agent (Sir Robert Hodgson) and Ins staff had narrow escapes. The rebel casualties are nine dead and 20 wounded. One bomb wrecked a cafe, killing four cleaner?. A second hit an infant school conducted by nuns, .but 200 children escaped. The whole of a working-class street was wiped out and four were killed, including two bedridden people. Business was normal within half an hour. , , Pointing out that they had warned the insurgents months ago that air raids on open cities would provoke retaliation, an official Note explaining the Government’s decision to retaliate, states: “AVhile our air force was engaged solely in military operations at Teruel and other zones for reconnaissance, the rebels dedicated a large proportion of swift bombers to civil aggression, not a single day passing without there being victims of the attacks, which culminated in a raid on Reus, in which a number of people totally removed from military activities were killed. The Government, therefore, ordered the raid on Salamanca, from which city orders are dictated for aerial massacres by the foreign Powers aiding General Franco.”