The Washington times., 1937-05-03
TOLEDO DELAY
IS BRANDED
COSTLY ONE
War StaIemate Likely
Unless Fascists Get
More Allies
Continued from Page y

CaZar saved the lives OF LOO men
and women in that fortress, but
since then ten times that many
Spaniards have persisted because
Franco chose to rescue the Alcazar
rather than take the capital.
The victory at Toledo made
General Franco dictator, but
history has yet to say whether it
did not lose the war for him.
These opinions are shared by
many military observers who have
watched the course of the civil
war from July to date. They are
based on the facts regarding man
power on both sides and on the
character of modern warfare. So
far little has been published re
garding the man power of the two
armies now bent on extermlnat-
ing each other.
100000 Under Franco
The best estimate now is that
General Franco has about 300, 900
men under armS-25, 900 native
Spanish Legionnaires and MoorS;
10000 in the regular army; $4,000
Carlist troops of reuuetes: 10000
felangist or fascist militiamen;
$4,000 Italians; 10000 Germans;
1000 Portuguese, and 1000 Irish
the last reported to be about to
quit.
The whites started with about
$4,000 legionnaires and MoorS and
possibly $4,000 in the regular army.
The total peace-time strength OF
the regular army outside Morocco
was $4,000 when the coup d'etat
Of July failed. In the territories
now controlled by the reds there
were at least 10000 army men
caught on the red side, leaving
the whites around $4,000.
Mostly New Men
dictionaries and MoorS were
used in the shock fighting so per-
sistently that they lost more than
half their strength. At the same
time Franco strove constantly to
fill the legion with Moors and
fresh recruits. Today it is est.
mated there is a maximum OF
10000 Moors and $4,000 Spanish
legionnaires, mostly new men, or
ganized around the core Of sur
viving veterans.
The regular army Of $4,000 was
depleted by at least one third,
but has been recruited again to
possibly $4,000 now.
RequeteS-wearerS Of the red be-
ret-are the best auxiliary troops,
their $4,000 being worth more
than the whole 10000 fascist mi
litiamen, who have largely come
from the same class which en-
tered the red militia with equal
alacrity.
Thus it may be seen that save
for the Italians and Germans,
General Frances army has not
materially increased numerically
since about october l, after the
first three months of fighting.
His actual reserves in white ter
ritory, comprising about half the
population of Spain, should be as
large as the reds But it appears
that Franco has refrained from re-
cruiting heavily for three reasons.
First, he anticipated an early
victory with the forces at his
disposal; second, he could not
rely on the rank and file OF
peasants and workers to the same
degree as the reds could with
their promises of heaven on earth
for the common man; and, third,
he counted upon the Italians and
Germans to furnish enough
trained troops to win the war
after an early victory failed 10
materialize.
Reds Have 100000
The reds, on the other hand,
now claim 100000 men unoer
arms, with about 100000 at the
front and 100000 in training. OF
the reds total, they have possibly
10000 or 10000 foreign volunteers,
although this figure is harder to
check than that Of the Italians
and Germans on Frances side.
Some OF CQSSe NO4u44GCCAS oAC
trained soldiers, but many were as
inexperienced as the original red
militia. The red militia started
with no training at all, but the
eldest veterans now have behind
them nine months Of the best OF
all training-war itself.
Fair.minded white officers today
admit what they never would have
admitted at first: That the reds
are, man for man, as good soldiers
as the whites. If they are not con-
ouered before they get their TOO, 1000
in the field, they will be even more
refractory than they are now.
Finally, ever since the red and
white armies became anything like
equal in training and equipment,