DEFENCE OF LERIDA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1938, Page 7

DEFENCE OF LERIDA

TRAP SET FOR FRANCO’S TROOPS TOWN APPARENTLY DESERTED. 'entering force ambushed AND WIPED OUT. (Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) BARCELONA, April 1. Some of General Franco’s troops were victims of an extraordinary ambush. Resistance at Lerida stopped at dawn and planes saw no signs of life, whereupon a body of troops, escorted by tanks, entered the city, after which fifteen thousand Government troops hidden in the houses opened fire and, it is believed, wiped out GeneraF Franco’s force.

FRONT STRENGTHENED HEAVY REINFORCEMENTS SENT UP. COUNTER-OFFENSIVE BEYOND MADRID. By Telegraph—Press Association. BARCELONA, April 1. The Government is heavily reinforcing the front. Ten thousand volunteers have been raised in the past eight days. Ten thousand women are undergoing industrial training to replace them. The loyalists launced an offensive on the Guadalajara front north-east of Madrid, in the hope of relieving Aragon. REFUGEE TROOPS EXCELLENT MORALE CAUSES SURPRISE. SOME DEATHS IN PASSAGE OF MOUNTAINS. .(Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) LACHAN (France), April 1. The morale of the refugee troops, of whom three to four thousand have arrived, is excellent. The French were amazed to find some armed only with old-fashioned sporting guns and daggers. The men stated that it was impossible to continue their resistance, as they had run out of ammunition. Some died of exhaustion in the snow or fell over precipices in the Pyrenees. SERIOUS PROBLEM RECEPTION ARRANGEMENTS IN FRANCE. (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) LUCHON, April 1. The flow of refugees to France continues, creating a serious problem for the French authorities, who have disarmed the troops, vaccinated and fed them.

The Spanish Government has requested France to repatriate all refugee troops and offers to pay all expenses. QUESTIONS IN COMMONS. (British Official Wireless). (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) RUGBY, April 1. Spain will figure largely as a subject in question in the House of Commons on Monday. Several questions addressed to Mi. Chamberlain by the Opposition relate to the references to Spain in Signor Mussolini’s recent speech. ENGLISH PRISONERS. REPATRIATION IN PROSPECT. (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, April 1. The “Times” Burgos correspondent says three hundred English volunteers who surrendered to General Franco at Tarragona have been sent to Saragossa for repatriation.

ONLY ALTERNATIVES.

MASSACRE OR FLIGHT.

(Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) LUCHON, April 1

General Gayo, commander of the Government Tenth Army, and othei leaders, have arrived. General Gayo said the fight was up and they had the alternative of facing massacre by bombing planes or going to France.