The Battle for Spain A fortnight ago General Franco opened
his great offensive against Catalonia. The front stretches 70 miles from the foothills of the Pyrenees in the north, through the plain of Lerida in the centre, to the coastal ranges through which the Ebro flows to the sea in the south. The insurgent attack has been delivered with overwhelming superiority in the air and in artillery ; but the Republicans have had time to prepare a system of defences in depth, and so far the insurgent gains have been indecisive, though they have captured, in the north, Artesa de Segre, an important road junction with Barcelona, Tremp and Lerida. The fiercest fighting has been in the southern sector, where four Italian divisions under General Gambara have been held up by Colonel Lister's troops eight miles from their objective, Borjas Blancas, which commands the road to Barcelona. The insurgents are now too miles from Barcelona and 5o from Tarragona ; the fighting is likely to become fiercer as General Franco throws his full strength into the battle in order to win a decisive victory before January i WI, the date of Mr. Chamberlain's visit to Rome. An insurgent victory would have the gravest effects on the visit, and on the future of this country and her ally France.
Previous page
