RIVAL THRUSTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 January 1939, Page 5

RIVAL THRUSTS

CRISIS OF THE SPANISH WAR

HEADWAY IN REPUBLICAN COUNTERSTROKE. NEW FOCAL POINT CREATED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, January 9. Whoever keeps up the pace longest will win, says the Hendaye correspondent of “The Times” summing up the critical stage of the Spanish war of which the focal points at present are, first, the Republicans’ suprise offensive on the Estremadura front attempting to sever the main Nationalist communications between Seville and Burgos or, alternatively, to capture the strategic town of Cordoba, and, secondly, the Nationalist thrust on the Catalonian front to Tarragona, menacing the Leri-da-Barcelona highway. It appears that the Republicans, in their three-day offensive, were temporarily more successful than General Franco’s twelve-day drive on Catalonia, The “News Chronicle” points out that the Republicans are now 30 miles from their objectives, which is closer than General Franco is to his objectives.

The latest news from the battlefronts reveals' that the rebels’ offensive is slackening, probably because of the dispatch of reinforcements to Estremadura.

PROGRESS CLAIMED

IN CATALONIAN OFFENSIVE. ROAD AND RAIL JUNCTION CAPTURED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) BURGOS, January 9. Despite fog, the rebels have continued to advance on the whole Catalan front and claim to have captured Mollerufa, a road and rail junction between Lerida and Cercera. The Republicans are retreating to Cercera, dynamiting bridges. Several hundreds of Moors and Phalangists have crossed from Ceuta in response to General Franco’s appeal for reinforcements. NEED OF REINFORCEMENTS. FRANCO CALLS UP BOYS OF EIGHTEEN. (Independent Cable Service.) (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) General Franco has issued a decree calling up boys aged eighteen for military service.