Evening star., 1937-06-17

AVN
sed city.
By the Associated Press.
Loyds' agent at Gibraltar cabled
today to London that the Italian
steamer Nadia had been bombarded
by Spanish government aircraft of
Oran, Algeria, but that she was not
hit.
The Nadia, 5,181-ton steamer
out of Genoa, was damaged, however,
from the conclusion of the bomb ex-
plosions.
Her forepeak was reported flooded
and her NO l hold leaking. Pumps
were holding back the water as the
steamer put into Gibraltar.
There were no casualties.
Bound for Scotland.
The NADIA was bound for Clyde,
Scotland, from Port Sudan.
The news came just after Italy and
Germany had returned to the Euro
pean non-intervention patrol of Spain
under safety guarantee plan for their
Warships in the patrol.
An appeal to both sides in the Span
4sh civil war to curtail aerial lombard
ments of unfortifed cities will be
considered by the Non-I Intervention
Committee tomorrow afternoon.
Offensive Is Pressed.
Meanwhile, Insurgent Gen. Fran
cisco Frances legions pushed broad
offensive to the edge of Bilbao, oc-
cuying the International Airfield and
climbing the last two hills at the
western entrance to the Basque capital.
The invaders slowly closed the last
gaps in their plan of encirclement and
mapped new drive on Santander As
miles west Of Bilbao
Indications were the march on
Santander would begin at nightfall
should Frances soldiers succeed in
bottling up Bilbao and occupying their
objective by that time.
There we're rumors that Basques and
their Austrian allies were planning to
dynamite the rich industrial capital
rather than let it fall into the hands
OF the insurgents.
heauy 1Or ClOSc FlgntlnS.
1nsurgent shocktroops, fully equipped
to cope with Basques in last-stand
street fighting, massed at the out
skirts of Bilbao, ready for a quick
assault to "save" the city from such
destruction.
Advices reaching Hendaye on the
Franco-Spanish border said Frances
forces had crossed the Nervion River
both north and south of Bilbao.
Insurgents also were reported to
nave captured three government boat
loads of 5000 refugees fleeing the
besieged city. Many OF the refugees
were reported to be children crying for
something to eat.
In London, the European Non-nIter-
Vention Committee called a session
for Friday to again consider an appeal
to both sides in the Spanish civil
conflict to refrain from aerial lombard
ment of open cities. Germany and
Italy will be represented.
In Wilhelmshaven, Germany,
Reichsfuehrer Adolf Hitler and high
government officials paid homage at a
military funeral to the 81 German
sailors who died in the Spanish gov
ernment bombing of the Reich's pock-
ct battleship Deutschland. New Ger
man warships were sent to Spanish
waters for neutrality patrol work.
The German admiralty announced
the cruisers Nurnberg and karlsruhe
and the torpedo boats Greif, Kondor
and MoeWe had been assigned to duty
in Spanish waters to relieve SINH
lar contingent of German warships
participating in the international non-
Intervention patrol there.
Gen. Frances attempt to COM
pletely unity the forces under him
was understood to have brought q
death sentence for Manuel Hedilla,
former leader Of the Fascist phalanx,
and IA others for conspiring against
his regime
Diplomatic dispatches said 80 other
Fascist party chiefs were tried by
courts-martial at the same time.
Besides the IA sentenced to die,
20 were given life Imprisonment
at hard labor, and the others
were ordered deported ato Spanish
Guinea in West Africa.
In addition to Hedilla, who brought
the greatest number of supporters to
Frances ranks, the Fascist leaders
of Salamanca, Burgos, Toledo and
the Province Of Vizcaya were re-
ported among those sentenced to die
on charges that included conspiracy
against the security Of the country
and the state"