The Washington times., 1936-10-08

BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
Copyright 1885 by international
News Service)
8 TALAVERA DE LA REINA, Oct.
S.-We dined last night with the
Marques De Sales in CacereS, in a
restaurant apparently reserved
for aviation officers. We were
starving after whole day Of driv-
ing all the way from Burgos with
out a bite to eat. But we couldn't
take the green beans because they
were cooked in olive oil too rancid
to tolerate. However, there was
some fair chicken.
After dinner we drove on to
Trujillo, which had been full of
Moorish troops when I was there
before, but was now empty, so
we had no trouble getting rooms
in the Hotel Cubano, and I slept
like a log until 7 in the morn
ing. I got up and went hunting
food. I didn't want to get stuck
at the front for a day or two
without anything to eat. and
was not sure we would be in
touch with the troops at eating
time.
Food Scarce and Poor
wandered about the town
from place to place and picked
up two large tins of Sardines,
pound of sliced nam, two cans
Of peaches, half a dozen bars
Of chocolate and four bottles of
water. Then I got the two ther
mos bottles filled with coffee and
milk at the hotel, had miser-
able breakfast of that same cof-
fee, a vile imitation if there ever
was one, and two eggs fried in
rancid olive oil.
We sped over the road to Tala-
vera in the brilliant sunshine of
a delightfully."- cool morning. The
last time I was here it was in
sufferably hot. The Legion fought
half-naked, with no shirts. They
are all wearing their shirts now.
But we saw few soldiers all the
way along through Navalmoral,
La Calzada to OropeSa, where
that grand old castle stood up
against the skyline and gave me
a chance to tell my companions
about the classic battle I had
witnessed there between the Le
gion in the castle towers and
Red armored train down there
on the railroad.
Furthermore the roadside mad
been cleaned up all the way to
Talavera de la Reina. The
.corpses which had Uttered the
fields and bitches were all gone,
but few outstanding old timers
which I recognized from the previ-
:ous trip. However, there was
fresh lot, much more numerous,
further along It takes on the
whole about three weeks for the
army to get around to busting off
the landscape and tidying up, and
1t will be very long time before
The Spanish landscape is ready to
receive visitors.
First Real Trenches
); The signs of active warfare in
creased as we approached Tala-
vera. The reds had depended
heavily on defending this most
important step on the road to
Madrid, and this is the first place
] saw genuine trenches with
barbed wire entanglements. The
trenches were already provided by
deep irrigation bitches outside
Talavera and fronting toward the
east, whence the whites were at
tacking.
Talavera is a much bigger town
than any along this route since
Caceras. and I was surprised to
find that despite the heavy fight
ing which had cost, according to
white estimates. over 1000 red
dead there were so few signs of
damage and looting in the city
itself The streets, however, were
jammed with Madrid auto busses,
at least 100 of them, seized from
the reds. This war is being fought
on both sides with the ordinary
lowly countryside auto bus as the
principal means of conveyance for
the troops.
When the defeated enemy has
no time to remove trucks or auto
BUSES, but, nevertheless, has time
to disable them, they usually take
off the rear wheels. In time, of
course, the wheels can be replaced,
but it is an effective way to keep
the victor from converting the cap
tured vehicles Immediately to their
own use.
Welcomed BY Old Friend
We drove straight to the center
of Talavera, and got there about
noon. The principal square was
crowded with soldiers of the
legion, Moors, Phalangists, but al
most none of the red-beretted Re
quotes, the CarlistS whose strong
hold is the north.
The American flag on our auto
mobile aroused great attention
AID presently my old friend from
BurgoS, Don Jose Sainz came run
ming up and we eagerly shook
hands. This was great luck to
meet Sainz, who has spent many
years of his life in America,
studied at StuyveSant High School
in New York, speaks perfect
American and admits he feels a
love for the United States second
only to his hot patriotism for
Spain.
He is 80 years old, but looks
years younger. He had his hand