The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-06-01
GERMAN SHIPS
PURPOSE NOT
SUSPECTED
SIeepy-Eyed Citizens
Crushed Under
Blasted Buildings

bGrdment spread terror through
Almert1, Nth men, tDoTlen and
children rushing to safety IN night
clothes, is described in the toHoto-
ing eye-DitneSS description, 90
tanned By telephone)
By ALKEOS ANGELOPOULOS
VALENCIA, June l UN.S0.
The quiet coastal city Of Almerla
was just beginning to awaken
yesterday when it felt the wrath OF
Nazi vengeance for the killing and
wounding of German sailors
aboard the pocket battleship
Deutschland by loyalist planes.
A member of the Almeria civil
governors Office, contacted by
telephone today, gave 1nterna-
tional News Service a dramatic
account of the terror OF sleepy
citizens, reused from their DedS
by air raid warning sirens, to face
the horrors of bursting bombs and
Shrapnel.
The siren, he declared, was the
first intimation of danger-that
five German WarShipS were ap-
preaching the port to carry out
reprisals for the Deutschland
bombing.
Ships Not Suspected
e Sleepy-eyed residents, rushing
from their beds at the warning,
were surprised to find there was
no air raid, said the official. Many
of them rushed to the docks and
piers, not suspecting the German
vessels they saw in the distance
would open fire. The otnclal re-
lated:
"QuietIy they watched the
warships steam coward the
port in formation, each lay
ing down a smoke screen.
'"Then, at $50 a. M, the
watchers saw a sudden flash
of lame and smoke as the
guns of the leading vessel
belched Ieaden death upon the
SBefOre the terrified spec
tatOrs had a chance to take
cover N re was terrific ex-
plosiOn in the center Of the
town."
Bewildered, the watchers ran
from. the uuayside, hastily col
RE-5d their families and fled to
><s,helters. The official continued:
81 have never seen tn.
streets of q city emptie so
quickly. What followed was
z a nightmare. Shells screamed
overhead. They crashed into
{ buildings and houses. ExplO'
siOns, screaming shells, thun-
der of falling masOnry-an
mingled horribly with the
shrieks of wounded caught in
an avalanche Of bricks and
dust.
at was terrible sight.
The population realized, after
. dozen shells had landed. that
buildings were hopeless as
places Of protection. They
shed into open spaces, wOm-
en- in their night dresses
children covered with blankets
and bed sheets.
CHILDREN LOSE PARENTS
1.-THE dust of cOIlapsing build
ings and the smoke Of exploding
shells was extraordinarily thick.
Terrified Ameria citizens
CROPPED their way through the
holocaust. Visibility was limited
to six yards.
'tMany children lost their par.
ents. In the SemidarkneS they
were crushed to death by falling
walls. Bodies Of the dead and
wounded lying in the streets
made it impossible to run in the
shelIed areas without stepping
on a corpse or a wounded per-
son.
"Rescue operations were i'm
possible for some time owing to
the heavy pail Of smoke and
dust.
Bursting water mains and gas
mains added to the terror Of
flying Shrapnel.
"T estimate more than 800
shells were fired into the city,
although it seemed more like q
million to me.
~ WAS ~ AHAHubCS VI ECdA
hell, which shall never forget"
He said the bombardment left
the town in a "deplorable condi-
ton" and that not a single store
escaped at least Shrapnel damage.
After the shellings ceased, police,
soldiers and volunteers toiled
through the wreckage all day, ex-
tracing bodies of the dead and
rescuing the injured from piles Of
debris. It will be four or five
days, the official declared, before
the search is completed.
1.-TWO children, buried IL hours
under a mountain of debris, mirac-
ulously were pulled out alive" he
added, estimating $50 persons
were trapped under the ruins and
that 200 were wounded or hurt.
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