WAR IN SPAIN

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20510, 28 May 1938, Page 9

WAR IN SPAIN

FRENZIED FIGHTING WAVE AFTER WAVE OF ATTACK THE FIGHT FOR VALENCIA Untied Press Assn.—Elec. TeL Copjr n ('Received May 28, 1 p.m.) BURGOS, May 27 Six days of frenzied fighting in the Segre Valley, due to the loyalists’ desperate efforts to recover the sources of Barcelona's electricity supply in Western Catalonia, achieved meagre results, despite wave after wave of attacks, involving enormous quantities of men and material. The rebels claim to have inflicted 25,000 casualties, but must have sustained heavy losses. The rebels' immediate objective is Valencia, whither two Army corps, totalling 100,000 men, are working their way from Teruel and Castellon. General Franco's Aragon armies have halted on the Segre. The Italian divisions have withdrawn from the Lower Ebro sector for recuperation, after losing 729 killed and 2512 wounded. ARREST OF OBSERVER IMPRISONMENT OF ITALIANIMMEDIATE RELEASE DEMANDED (Official Wireless) (Received May 28, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, May 27 In accordance with the Non-inter-vention Committee's request to the British Government, Mr J. H. Leche, British Charge d'Affaires at Valencia, has asked the Spanish Government for an inquiry into the arrest of an Italian non-intervention observer. Signor Mezzo Capa. Signor Capa was an observer on the steamer Greatend, which on arrival at Valencia was bombed and sunk to the waterline. Signor Capa was arrested and imprisoned. Mr Leche has demanded his immediate release. Denied by Embassy. The Spanish Embassy in London denies that an Italian observer is imprisoned, and says:— “After landing at Valencia he was lodged in a leading hotel under the care of the authorities. Then he was transferred to a Barcelona hotel, from which he was escorted to-day to Perpignan by the police. He was treated throughout with the utmost consideration.”

BOMBING OF ALICANTE BITTERNESS AGAINST FRANCO MASS BURIAL OF VICTIMS (By Telegraph.—Press Association) LONDON, May 26 The deathroll from the bombing of Alicante totals 300, about 200 of whom were buried without ceremony. The extrication of corpses from the wreckage continues. One thousand mourners attended a mass burial of victims of the bombing of Alicante in a vast common grave dug by volunteers overnight. All the undertakers in the city were mobilised, but proved insufficient to move' the bodies to the graveyard. Many were carried in wreath-covered lorries and cars.

The bombing has intensified the bitterness against General Franco.

RAILWAY STATION BOMBED THREE PEOPLE INJURED untied P. 99! Assn.—Elec. Tel Copvrtra PARIS, MaV 2 6 Spanish Insurgent aeroplanes bombed and considerably damaged the railway station at Cerbere, on the French side of the Franco-Spanish frontier. Several coaches of a passerfger train were hit and two houses near the station were destroyed. Three persons were slightly injured.