SPAIN: A Matter of Hours!

White Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s “Silver Falcons of Death” last week swooped silently over Madrid and for the first time since Spain’s civil war began the capital, with its refugee-swollen population of 1,500,000, cowered and shuddered beneath the impact of live bombs. So sudden was this first attack that there was no time to sound air-raid warnings, and before thousands of pedestrians and motorists on the streets could be herded indoors, the skies were raining shrapnel. Over 125 were killed, including 70 children playing in the grounds of a schoolhouse. Three Bombs fell on the Plaza del Callao, Madrid press district. To add to the Radical Government’s misery, batches of terrified Red Militiamen promptly crossed the lines to join the White Army.

Meantime Generalissimo Franco’s lines, which more than half-encircled Madrid like a giant horseshoe, receded or advanced as alternating sallies of the Red Militia and the White Army met with setback or success. White troops, however, were saying confidently that “the fall of Madrid is only a matter of hours.”