Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-11-06


the Associated Press Bureau in Mad
rid, here relates the story of siege and
suffering in the Spanish capital dur
ing Spdin's civil Udr.
They shall not pass" still remains the
blood stained motto of war-battered
Madrid.
Cold, hungry and forlorn, the capital
OF Spain, now entering its third year Of
siege" Is striking monument to the
military axiom that q city that won't
surrender can be neither destroyed nor
taken.
AS devastated Spain approaches the
third winter OF war, all signs indicate
that the day conflict ceases through
mediation or military success elsewhere,
proud Madrid with its million war weary
and suffering people will still stand de-
liant and unafraid of the laundering
enemy guns crashing at its gates.
Reports reaching Washington state the
day OF peace may still be far distant de-
spite the current British Italian neao-
tiations
Competent observers believe fighting
will continue well into next summer;
some think the war may go on for several
more years.
Starvation = Specter.
Meanwhile, the specter of starvation,
long feared, finally stalks the hard
pressed Republican zone. The food
shortages are particularly acute at Ma
drid, now isolated from the world by bat
tie lines and by the sea. Food shipments
recently sent by the American Red Cross
likely may never reach Madrid.
The siege of Madrid was laid two
years ago tomorrow when insurgent
armies drove into the suburbs and an
nounced they would enter the famed
Puerta de Sol CMadrid;s Times Square,
the following day.
Premier Largo Caballero and his GOV
eminent fled precipately and secretly to
the coast over the only highway still
open, His last act was to draft a sur
render order to Gen Jose Miaja, leaving
it to that aged Asturian soldier to give
up the city on the best terms possible.
To all intents and purposes the city was
lost, the war virtually over 1t was saved
only by the International Brigade then
composed mostly of French Communists.
who came hurrying into the lost city
to man the barbados and set an ex-
ample of resistance to the supine popu-
lace.
The motto They shall not pass" was
dedicated in blood at a hundred street
ends. The present impregnable defenses
OF Madrid we're fashioned under the hail
of machine gun and artillery fire from
the ground and bombs from the air.
Disobeyed Surrender Order.
Gen. Maija since has disclosed his mill
tary situation when the international
troops came in. He did not know how
many troops he had or where they were;
their fighting morale had disappeared in
repeated defeats and long retreats. There
were enough artillery shells for only
three hours fighting. Madrid defenders
had only a few machine guns, a few
thousand rifles.
With heroic effort, Miaja. now general
issimo of all Central Spain, disobeyed
the surrender orders and resolved that,
though the city be lost, it would 20
down fighting. He mustered a defense,
pitifully inadequate. but enough to awe
and stop the insurgents, who had ex-
pected to march into the city without
resistance.
Before they had rallied Madrid COL
lected its defense, and the battle lines
that formed then, though since the
scene of bitter months OF fighting, re-
main about as drawn, some of them
running through Madrid proper.
Here is the picture OF Madrid after
two years Of lighting within its gates
For three-quarters Of the way round
the city the suburbs have been invested
by the enemy or destroyed by gunfire.
Madrid proper has been pounded I'M
mercifully by bombs and shells; there
probably Is not a square block In the
city where shells have not fallen and
people been hurt or killed.
Quarter Of City Ruined.
At least quarter of the city has
been rendered uninhabitable. Hundreds
Of ruined buildings now are being clear
away within plain sight of the enemy
lines. Fighting Is heard continuously
day and night. The nearest enemy ar
tillery is IN the old Royal Park only a
mile from downtown.
Beautiful University City, the greatest
and newest university in Europe, is COM
pletely ruined: "no-mans land" runs
through its campus; its blasted buildings
form the front. The uniyersity's clinical
hospital is the spearhead of the in
surgent wedge driven into Madrid proper.
The city is completely without heat.
Use Of electricity Is drastically restricted.
All elevators are closed by decree. No
food is sold in the free market; every
thing is handled on food card; rations
are but few ounces daily. There is no
milk or soap. few medicines, little sugar,
meat, vegetables; no tobacco.
The city is blacked out every night;
curfew - at .. A limited street car and