HEAVY FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1938, Page 9

HEAVY FIGHTING

SPANISH INSURGENT DRIVE ON LERIDA REPUBLICAN RESISTANCE STIFFENS. ADVANCE OF MOROCCANS CHECKED. LONDON, March 31. The Moroccans have fought their way to within two miles of Lerida, where heavy machine-gun and riflefire from the outskirts checked the advance, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” Fraga correspondent. There is a noticeable stiffening of the Republican resistance, planes being more active in supporting the infantry, says the correspondent of “The Times” at Hendaye. The insurgents are pushing the advance in other sectors. A Navarre brigade captured the villages of Maella and Fabara, 13 miles east of Caspe, and later entered the Catalan province of Tarragona, three miles east of Maella. The Government troops are reported to be retreating at Gandesa and Seville. The Republicans claim an offensive south of Guadalquivir, in which a cavalry charge was followed by an extensive bombardment. Aerial bombing drove the insurgents from important positions in the border provinces of Cordoba and Jaen.

REPUBLICAN REFUGEES

SEVERE HARDSHIPS ENDURED IN PYRENEES. . FEARS THAT MANY HAVE DIED IN MOUNTAINS. (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) • PERPIGNAN, March 31. Thousands of Republican soldiers and civilians, fleeing from the war zone have arrived after suffering terrible hardships in the Pyrenees. It is feared that many are succumbing in the snowclad mountains.

ALLEGED ADMISSION

BRITISH SHIPS BOMBED BY GERMANS. STATEMENTS BY CAPTURED AIRMEN. (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) Barcelona, March 31. A German lieutenant, Rudolf Ruker and three other members of the German bomber, told Defence Ministry officials, after being shot down and taken prisoner, that their plane bombed the steamer Stanwell on March 15. They added that came from a German air base at Pollenza and bombed and attempted to bomb other British ships.