The Advance on Sagunto In a broadcast speech to the
nation from Barcelona on Monday, the President of the Spanish Republic, Senor Azaiia, gave a definition of the Spanish conflict admirable in its clarity and simplicity. It is, he said, " a problem of internal order distorted by foreign intervention," and he went on to emphasise the dangers with which Europe was threatened by that distortion. At the same time the Nationalists at Burgos were celebrating the beginning of the third year of war, the " liberation " of Santander, Asturias, Aragon, the invasion of Catalonia and the Levante coast, and the break- through last week on the Teruel-Castellon front at Sarrion. The Republicans retreated to miles on a 2o-mile front ; nevertheless, their retreat has not turned into a rout and they continue to resist with unexampled tenacity and stubbornness. General Franco's advance on Sagunto is slow, and achieved, it is reported, " by sheer weight of men and metal " and with heavy loss of life. Indeed, the war has now reached a pitch of destructiveness which has led observers to compare it with the war on the Western Front. Success is achieved by amassing a superiority of men and material and slowly wearing down the enemy. It is what a Swiss writer has called " the war of stupidity."
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