The Advance on Valencia Spain celebrated the opening of the
third year of war with some of the fiercest fighting that has yet been seen. The Republicans are being slowly pushed back along the Medi- terranean coast ; and General Franco, having captured Nules, it miles north of Sagunto, last week, is now some 3o miles from Valencia, the objective of his advance. The fighting aptly illustrates the general nature of the war. The insurgents' bombers and guns have laid waste the orange groves and rice fields of one of the richest areas in Spain. The Republican troops, fighting in prepared positions, have fiercely contested " every centimetre " of the ground ; Valencia, says General Miaja, is to be another Madrid. General Franco's advance has cost the insurgents great loss of life, and is due above all to his being able to batter his way onwards by means of his superior artillery and aircraft. A recent message in the Stampa gives some indication of how much Italian intervention in Spain depends not on" volunteers " but on material. In April of this year, 164 Italian aeroplanes were being employed in nine different actions. This is calculated to be nearly one-tenth of Italy's first-line machines at the end of 1937 ; it is not surprising that Signor Mussolini is anxious to see the Spanish war at an end as soon as possible.
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