“Taranaki Central Press” TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1937. THE WAR IN SPAIN

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 453, 22 June 1937, Page 4

“Taranaki Central Press” TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1937. THE WAR IN SPAIN

The fall of Bilbao and the collapse of the semi-auto-nomous Basque republic, are not events likely to have a decisive influence on the course of the struggle in Spain. The Basque region has been isolated from Catalonia and from Madrid since the early months of the war; and with the capture by the rebels of San Sebastian and Irun it also lost its land contact with France. Obviously, therefore, it has always been within General Franco’s power to capture Bilbao. Until last April he preferred to concentrate his forces on attacking Madrid, since the taking of the capital afforded the one opportunity of bringing the war to a rapid conclusion. But a series of defeats, culminating in the dramatic rout of the Italian divisions on the Guadalajara front, so lowered the rebel morale that it became essential to win a victory. Accordingly General Franco directed the main weight of his attack against the Basques, even though this meant a prolongation of the war. In this decision he was probably influenced by his German advisers, who are anxious to bring the iron mines of the Basque region under German control. A point of interest, as indicating the relative unimportance r'f the war in the north, is that neither the Valencia nor the Barcelona governments made any serious attempt to relieve the Basques. Had loyalist aeroplanes been sent in any force to Bilbao, they would certainly have delayed General Franco s success for several months, even though they would not have broken the rebel offensive, Ihe probable results of the Basque collapse are at the moment difficult to forecast. In the eyes of the world, General Franco has enhanced his prestige; and when “mopping-up’’ operations in the Asturias have been completed he will have an additional 40,000 highly-trained troops, as well as large numbers of aeroplanes and tanks, available for a fresh « drive against Madrid. On the other hand, the Valencia Government has taken advantage of the breathing space to weld what were at the beginning of the war untrained levies into a fighting force which, according to foreign military observers, compares favourably with any modern professional army.