Day After Day

An eyewitness with the Leftist forces close to the front last week was Chicago Daily News's Richard Mowrer, who later contrived to get the following out uncensored: "This correspondent saw the retreat of a whole division of Republican forces turn to flight--a flight which lasted ten hours before any visible attempt was made to check it. There were no officers in sight.

"When this correspondent left Alcaniz--abandoned to the enemy without a shot being fired in its defense-- the flight had become a general panic.

"A few hours later high officers of the general staff, pistols in hand, were desperately trying to stop the flight. . . . Soldiers straggled past--useless and without arms because they had thrown them away."

Mr. Mowrer had just been to the headquarters of the Spanish commander of the 35th Leftist Division who told him with a wry smile: "Yes, I am here; my staff is here; everybody is here except the 35th division."

Other points from Eyewitness Mowrer: "Three officers in plain khaki uniforms, devoid of any insignia whatever, came into the room and talked in Russian and made pencil marks on the map stretched over the table. . . .

"An armored car manned by blond Germans of an international brigade stood on the side of the road. 'If an officer tries to go back, shoot your pistol,' a Spanish colonel instructed one of the Germans. The internationals were coming up. We watched fieldpieces hauled in among the olive trees and put into position. Near the road the Czechoslovakian crew of an antiaircraft battery was working quickly and efficiently. . . .

"Inexplicable as this seems, raw recruits were in the front line and it was these men who gave way before Alcorisa and Alcaniz, together with carabineros and other units. . . .

"The Fascists' great superiority in arms and planes is not wholly responsible for their rapid advance. They have met comparatively little resistance. On March 9 they struck on a weak front, a front which for the most part had been quiet for a year and a half, at a time when the international brigade was resting after the Teruel offensive."

General Franco's great push from behind Belchite went forward all week long. Objective was to reach the coast and split Catalonia off from the rest of Leftist Spain. The Rightists at latest reports had held Caspe against nine Leftist counterattacks. Leftists figured they had blocked any immediate Rightist advance via Lerida upon Barcelona, where Rightist bombers had slain over 1,000. This week Rightist artillery was pounding ahead of Rightist thrusts toward Gandesa, which is the junction point of two highways to the sea. Rightist planes were furiously bombing Tortosa and many other towns up and down the coast. As Barcelona at last received some respite from Rightist bombs, Rightist artillery opened up heavily for the first time in some weeks against Madrid. Net of the week was 1,100 sq. mi. added to Franco's Spain.

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