FOREIGN TROOPS IN SPAIN.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1939, Page 4

FOREIGN TROOPS IN SPAIN.

"YESTERDAY’S news on the subject of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Spain did something to ease an otherwise intolerable position, but there is still an absence ol any definite assurance that German and Italian pledges oL withdrawal will be honoured. More than a suggestion of disingenuous evasion clings to the official statement issued m Burgos that the foreign troops “have to participate in a victory march, probably on May 2,” and the. attempt to establish a parallel with the necessarily slow withdrawal of the Allied armies from France after the Great War obviously is ridiculous.

Exceedingly vague also was a message from Lome staling Hull Signor Mussolini attended a conference with General Gambara. commander of the “volunteers” in Spain, “who reported concerning repatriation and the date on which this will occur.” In view, however, of the blunt warning given by France to General Franco that she would regard the retention by him of foreign troops after May 15 as an unfriendly act, it seems possible that the dictatorships may feed bound to honour their promises regarding the withdrawal of troops from Spain, even if they do so with a bad grace. The outlook meantime remains uncertain, ft will be time enough to credit Italy and Germany with an honest performance of their promises when all foreign forces have been withdrawn from the mainland of Spain and also from Majorca and Spanish Morocco.

Unfortunately, even an ostensible withdrawal of all foreign troops from Spain will not. necessarily end the matter satisfactorily from the point of view of the democracies. Apart from or rather in conjunction with their military occupation, the totalitarian States have gained a far-reaching hold on Spanish industry, establishing their nationals in key positions of control over power stations, mines and other establishments. There is much to suggest that should war break out in Europe’, submarine and other bases in Spain would be freely at the disposal of the dictatorships for action, against the democracies.