Evening star., 1937-06-16

frem well within the city, battered
residential and business districts with
heavy bombardment.
Basques were reported struggling to
prevent anarchists from burning Bill
bao to keep it from falling into the
hands of insurgents.
Columns Of smoke were said to be
rising over Baracaldo, on the west
bank of the Nervion River just miles
north of the ancient city. Insurgent
observers reported serious disorders
had broken out in the Achuri section
of Bilbao.
Basques who wanted to evacuate
were said to be fighting the extremists
who sought to fire the houses and
present Insurgent Generalissimo
Francisco Franco with only the ruins
of victory.
Refugees Head for Santander.
Thousands of refugees were stream
ing out of the ng-beleagured indus
trial center along the still-open roads
westward to Santander, where it was
thought likely the Basque government
would be moved If the city's last de-
fenses fell.
Pltiful scenes were witnessed along
the roadsides, where the refugees
many of them sleepless for four days
and more-straggled with their bun
dies of cherished possessions to at least
temporary safety.
One group arrived in Santander
after l00-mile trek, only to be met
by an insurgent air raid
All available buildings in Santander,
including schools, halls and motion
picture theaters, were converted into
shelters for the refugees.
Red Cross Aids Evacuation.
They were fleeing Bilbao on foot,
by rail and by sea. Four large mer-
chantmen and a fleet of small fishing
traw!ers flying the nag of the Red
Cross brought many of the women
and children to Santander.
The evacuation of the women and
children and the men too old for
fighting was sped by the spatter Of
bullets ricocheting through streets
from the insurgent guns on the hills
that form the eastern border of the
city,
Those who remained hurriedlv bar
rlcaded the streets for last stand
against the invaders. who had taken
up their advance guard positions in
the outskirts of Begona, suburb
just across the Nervion River to the
northeast.
Early Capture Forecast.
An announcement from the official
Spanish insurgent radio station at
Salamanca said Franco expects to
complete the capture of Bilbao within
the next "a hours.
The insurgent chieftain was said
already to have ordered the civil GOV
ernor of San Sebastian to proceed i'm
mediately to the Basque capital to re-
organize civil affairs there.
A column of legionnaires swept the
northern coastal plain, occupying the
towns of Plencia, Lemoniz and Gorliz,
and forced the crossing of the Burton
River, which flows parallel to the
Nervion 4 miles to the east.
1t was the northern pincer of the
movement by which Franco hopes to
encircle the city before ordering the
general advance of his crack army
into the capital itself.
Moving Toward Junction.
The southern wing, with it's field
base at Galdacano, 5 miles southeast
of Bilbao. completed the crossing of
the Ibaizabal River and was moving
toward a junction with troops from
Begona and the Santo Domingo
Heights beyond.
. FRANCOIS troops held places on three
sides Of the city, leaving only the
Nervion to be crossed and the heights
on the west to be occupied before the
order for the occupation went out.
The insurgent right wing lay on the
Bay Of Biscay somewhere between
the villages of Plencia and Barrica,
swinging in toward Las Arenas, where
the bay narrows to become the estuary
OF the Nervion.
From in front Of Las Arenas, the
line cut straight to the southeast
edging always closer to the Nervior
until it reached Begona, which is or
the river itself.
Passing over the heights of Santa
Marina, which look down into Bilbao
just little over mile to the west
the line hooked around the southern
outskirts of the capital, the jump-ofl