Evening star., 1938-07-29

cJCtoc W tuteUCW.
~ the Associated Press,
HENDAYE, France, July 2a-
Spanish insurgents opened all dams
today in the Ebro River and its tribu-
taries in an attempt to sweep away
bridges behind the governments ad-
vancing armies on the Catalan front
An insurgent news agency report
from st. Jean-de-Luz, France, said
Generalissimo Francisco Frances high
command had released a swirling g.
foot-high wave of floodwater from
dams high in the Pyrenees Mountains.
1t said the torrents made the river
impossible" in 80 minutes.
Government adviceS admitted the
Ebro had risen noticeably, presumably
from the opening of dams They de-
MED, however that their bridges had
been swept away and insisted their
communications lines were intact.
All Dams Reported Breached.
Insurgents said they had preached
all the dams of the Representatives.
River and the Segre hydro-electric
system above the governments feeder
lines across the Ebro.
The waters, swollen by recent rains,
were said by the insurgents to have
carried away all that was left of the
pontoon bridges after three days of
air bombardment.
Just before the dams were opened,
the insurgents said, Flying Officer
Heraclio Gautier was sent to take
aerial photographs of the floods
effects.
Gautier's plane flew through such a
curtain of anti-aircraft fire it was
struck 200 times, they admitted.
Gravely wounded, but with his photo
graphs intact, he eased his plane to
landing at the insurgent base and died
still grasping the controls.
Recalls Loyalist Stroke.
The insurgents strategy in opening
sluice gates recalled the government
stroke late in 1886, when the big
Alberche Dam at El Tiemblo, in the
Grades mountains, was opened in an
attempt to engulf Gen. Frances troops
at Talavera de la Reina. The attempt
then was to keep the insurgents back
from Madrid.
A wall of water 16 feet high ragged
through narrow Alberche gorges to
Join the Tagus River. But after cover
ing 80 miles to Talavera, mostly along
the wide, almost dry river bed, the
flow had shrunk to one foot.
Dispatches from Barcelona said
government militiamen were advanc-
ing north and south of the insurgent
headquarters city Of Gandesa on
circular front extending is miles IN
the Catalan war zone.
Line Touches Gandesa.
The line was said by government OBJ
servers to reach from north OF Villa
Alba de los ARGOS, secondary COM
munications center miles from Can
desa. through the eastern outskirts
Of Gandesa to Bot, an insurgent COM
munications junction II miles to the
southwest.
This front roughly paralleled the
Ebro River and the line, IA miles to
the rear, from which Col. Enrique Lis
ter's peoples army" of 10000 men
started its surprise offensive on Mon
day.
An insurgent official communique at
Salamanca confined itself to reports
of further gains in the Estremadura
region, on the other side of Spain near
the Portuguese frontier.
Claim 10000 Crossed River.
Insurgents said only 10000 govern
ment troops had been able to cross
the broad Ebro and that half that
number had been either killed or cap
tured in fighting since Monday.
Advices from Barcelona, on the
other hand, insisted that $4,000 gov
eminent soldiers crossed the stream
the first few days and that count
less others" still were crossing on
pontoon bridges, heavily guarded.
Two government columns were con-
verging on the highway west of Gan
desa to Alicante, hoping to gain the
double objective of surrounding the
insurgent headquarters town and
simultaneously cutting what they said
was the only remaining artery for the
movement Of insurgent reinforce
ments.