Evening star., 1939-03-03
BY JOSEPH M. ESCUDER.

NEW YORK, March 3 N.A.N.A).
Why did the army of the Spanish
republic collapse - apparently so
suddenly-in Catalonia, losing Bar
celona and bringing the probable
end of the war? Why was it that
Barcelona, so long known as a city
of stubborn rebels, fell so easily?
Why didn't it resist, like Madrid?
How was it that none of the skilled
observers, Spanish or foreign, fore
saw such a possibility or, in any
case, gave no hint of it in their dis
patches? These are questions all the
world is now asking.
This correspondent was at the
front on December Is, two days
after the Fascist offensive had be-
gun. At that time all Barcelona
believed it was utterly safe: every
announcement that was made by
the government, every piece of news
published, underlined the idea that
the army was strong, we'll equipped
well supplied and perfectly capable
Of stopping the insurgent onslaught,
no matter how powerful.
False Confidence.
For months officers and men COM
ing back from the front had, pri-
vately, remarked on the shortage of
food and war materials and on the
growing disorganization of many vi
tai services. Such talk had left a
slight undercurrent of uneasiness,
but censorship and even political
persecution of whoever voiced any
criticism or doubt, no matter who
1t was, served to lull army and peo-
pie into a state of false confidence.
The first break came at the
bridgehead of Seros, where bri-
gade of "Carabineros, internal rev.
enue guards, gave way to the Fas-
cists in the first few hours of the
offensive, many of them going over
to Gen. Frances lines. Some of
them struggled beyond Tremp,
where I was stationed, begging
excitedly to be Incorporated into
my detachment and almost weeping
that they didn't want to run, but
the officers broke and went over, and
after that the whole thing fell to
pieces"
Gen. Franco had attacked at
three points simultaneously Two
held, but because of the fall of
Seros, the Fascists reached the viii
lage of Mayals, or 9 miles be-
yond the lines, on the first dav.
They had successfully driven a
wedge at vital point. and they
threw their whole formidable army
behind it. The sky became cease
lessly black with their bombers, pro-
tected by clouds of chasers, and
their artillery pounded every inch
of no mans land with nerve rack
ing regularity. Our observers re-
ported an artillery line of one can
non to every Is yards.
This was so Overwhelmingly su-
perior to anything we could mus
ter that the thin second line be-
hind Seros, held by the 18th Army
Corps, simply crumbled. The re-
treat became a general rout.
Chaos: The Reason.
How could it happen that whole
army was swept away simply be-
cause 1t cracked at one point? The
answer is that this episode came
at crucial moment, when many
factors conceded against the Re-
publicans. First of all, there was
the immense superiority of supplies
and equipment on the side of the
Fascists. AS all the world knows,
both Germany and Italy continu-
ously poured everything that Gen.
Franco needed, including men, into
his army, whereas the Republicans
had been cut off from any substan-
tial shipments for some time.
France and England were doing
nothing to back Premier Negrin's
conservative Republican regime,
which was set up to guarantee no
revolution in Spain, precisely with
hope of that aid in mind. Russia's
much -publicized aid never material
lied to the proportions imagined.
While newspaper headlines were