The Washington times., 1936-11-06
REDS RETREAT
UNDER HEAVY
BARRAGE
Nationalist Pilot
Wreack Havoc on
LoyaIist Front
Continued from Page II

inch guns or PoZuelo De Alcarcon,
apparently with the view of oc.
cupying this suburb in order to
attack Las Rozas on the way to FL
Escorial.
Insurgent possession Of Las
Rozas would isolate the loyaliStS
around Ell Escorial and enable the
insurgents to establish complete
semicircle from the road to Aran-
juez to the road to Ell Escorial.
Use Big Guns
In a desperate effort to offset
the insurgent attack, loyaliSts
moved their heaviest weapons to
the front. Ten-inch guns were
brought into play for the first
time, and puffs of smoke arising
after each explosion were clearly
visible from high buildings in
Madrid.
Half way between the capital
and Getafe, the suburb which
houses one of Madrid's leading
airports, mushrooms of white
smoke bellied up one after the
other from the shell-scarred
ground.
These came from scores Of
bombs dropped from insurgent
airplanes flying high above the
clouds.
Strafe Defenders
Observers near the battle line
watched awe-stricken while the
pilot of an insurgent plane period
cally dived down to the loyalist
lines. At terrific speed, the ship
raced low over the defending
troops, it's pilot raking the trenches
with an almost liquid stream OF
machine gun bullets. How many
casualties this flying messenger OF
death accounted for can only be
conjectured.
Government leaders claimed a
loyalist victory at Carabanchel,
asserting the insurgents had been
driven back more than two miles
with heavy losses.
Crack insurgent battalionS went
lover the top" in the shell-pitted
streets of suburban Madrid,
storming the heights of the IA
nous Hill of the Angels" and
battling forward block by block.
less than an hours march from
the government buildings.
Hundreds of deadly shells Shrek,
ing over the capitals outskirts,
bombs thudding from war planes,
and fire-spitting tanks cleared
destructive way up to Madras
outer barbados as the inSurrectoS
surged slowly on in their final Of
fenSiVe.
Building BreastwOrks
Military trucks loaded with
militiamen and ammunition rolled
across the narrow ManzanareS
River to the suburban battlefields,
while $4,000 men and women in
cessantly built the inner breast
works higher and higher.
A shattering artillery barrage
preceded the assault on the Hill
of the Angels" then the Moors
and foreign legionnaires charged
with bayonets and hand grenades.
Not only is the hill strategically
important because it overlooks
the CuatrovientoS military air
port, but it has high symbolic
significance for the nationalist
forces, since the hill is the pre-
else geographical center OF the
Iberian peninsula.
nm &11Ns11cf fA1InufnI q Snnrf
lull during which the inSurgent
lines were reorganized in the vicin-
ity of Carabanchel Alto and
moved on to Carabanchel Bajo,
while the two major columns COM
manded by Gen. Jose AscenSio and
Lieut.. Col. Juan Vague were
united.
Advance Is Swift
So swift had been the advance
from the south that, although the
insurgents probably could have
taken Madrid today, they wished
to take no risks, so halted their
advance to reconsolidate.
In the interim, however, air
raids over the capital continued,
setting many fires, and General
Ascensio, selecting new gun en-
placements, ordered his artillery
gunners:
"Send some well directe
shells into the center of Madrid.
See if they can explain that to
the militia"
Batteries of Six-inch guns from
positions near Alcorcon met his re-
quest by hurting shells and shrap-
mel directly into the heart of Ma
drid.
Opportunity was also afforded
for resumption of the inSurgent Of
fensive in the Gadarrama Noun
tain sector northwest of Madrid.
Several victories, said an insur-
gent communique radioed from
Salamanca, enabled the inSur-
rectos to drive the enemy from
vantage points in the mountains
and advance the inSurgent front
lines.
The victories were claimed in
spite of the dispatch of reinforce
ments from Guadarrama to the
Southern Madrid front for the ma
jor offensive there.
A quarrel has broken out be.
tween Premier Francisco Largo
Caballero and President Manuel
Azana, according to the daily
Seville broadcast Of General
Queipo de Llano. Pleading Illness