WAR IN SPAIN: Yague Restored

Forest fires on mountain slopes in the Leftist-held Ebro River salient last week brought a Rightist offensive to a sudden halt, resulted in the 26-month-old war’s quietest week. Rightist Generalissimo Francisco Franco himself commanded during the early part of this drive. Mentioned casually, however, last week in a Rightist communiqué as the new commander of the Ebro offensive was able, forceful General Juan Yague, who directed the successful Rightist offensive last spring. This meant that General Yague, relieved of his command—rumored even to have been put in jail—because of an “indiscreet” speech at Burgos, opposing civilian bombings, had been fully reinstated. If there was a moral to the tale, it was that the Rightists had been obliged to recognize the superior abilities of a general who thought bombing civilians useless as well as immoral—an opinion shared by many military men who regard winning a war as more important than killing people.