Evening star., 1938-08-10
.L0YAL|STS SHIFT
ATTACK TO SEGRE
Drive Over River Between
BaIaguer and Lerida
to Confuse Foe.

BACKGROUND
Spanish insurgent offensive to
capture Valencia thwarted by re-
newed Loyalist driDes against tpeak-
ened rebel forces in Catalonia.
Government forces crossed the Ebro
two Ueeks ago and threatened to re-
take Gandesa. When this offensive
,ras halted they struck tDest OF
Teruel for stable Advance. Rebels
hare continued to march torward
on the Estremddurd front in Far
Western Spain, however.
By the Associated Press.
HENDAYE, France. Aug. 10.-Span-
ish government troops drove a deep
wedge between the insurgent strong
holds of Balaguer and Lerida in Cata-
lonia today in a sudden shift of the
offensive to new sector.
Dispatches from Barcelona said the
Segre River had been crossed between
the two centers and a new govern
ment line established on the west bank
of the wide stream, which flows south
into the Ebro.
The offensive is the third tripham-
mer blow government troops have dealt
insurgent Generalissimo Francisco
Frances forces in two weeks of pound
ing at weak spots in his extended
eastern front.
First Blow July Is.
The first blow fell July Is when the
militiamen crossed the Ebro and ad-
vanced to Generalissimo Frances one
time regional headquarters at Gandesa
just as the generalissimo concentrated
the main masses of his armies far to
the south for an offensive against
Valencia.
No sooner had Gen. Franco shifted
his manpower to the Gandesa sector.
IL miles southwest of the Ebro, than
the government jabbed at his extreme
right flank west of Teruel and rolled
him back for nine-mile advance.
During all this time. and unnoticed
in the general surprise over the sud-
den government aggressiveness, troops
along the Segre were carrying out
'feeler attacks
Under cover Of darkness Monday
night the government troops moved
into carefully scattered positions.
threw pontoon bridges across the river
and attacked at dawn yesterday.
The main offensive force was di-
rected at low-lying hills just south of
Balaguer bridgehead, held by insur-
gents since their Easter campaign.
The governments double -barreled
objective aimed first at recapture of
the Balaguer bridgehead and second
to force Gen. Franco to rush REIN
forcements there, weakening other
sections Of the line for the next gov
ernment blow.
Campaign on 14-Mile Front.
The campaign extended over a IA
mile front which had been quiet since
the insurgents split government Spain
by drive to the Mediterranean and
government forces held the lnsurgent
offensive behind the strong Ebro-
Segre line last spring.
Lerida, rich provincial capital, was
called one Government objective. The
attackers were said to have taken vast
quantities of war materials and many
prisoners before crushing stubborn re-
sistance.
Central forces of Gen. Jose Miaja
Savior of Madrid" pursued series of
combats from Albarracin, 20 miles west
Of Teruel, to the Teruel-Sagunto high
Wav sector with Indications that he
was about to launch major drive in
that area because insurgent defenses
around Teruel had been weakened by
demands of the Ebro Valley fighting.
In Southwestern Spain, on the Es-
tremadura front, the insurgents re-
ported they resumed an advance on a
25-mile front. Dispatches said they
went forward miles behind heavy
artillery and air bombardments.