Evening star., 1942-12-24
Spain Still q Question Mark
kozis Reluctant to Supply Franco With Weapons;
Madrid Hopes to Regain Territory Without Fighting


which Spanish pride never ceased
to resent-is brought back to ex-
iStence, Gen. Franco must feel
inclined to seek at least some
advantages: For instance, to in
duce Washington and London to
recognize the forcible steps car
ried out in Tangier in the sum-
mer of 1914 which made short
work of the international re-
gime: as a bare minimum, to win
back the districts which were Sft
to French troops on the close Of
the campaign against Abd-El-
Krim in 1926 for reasons of mill
itary necessity and which, after
ward, they continuously retained.
Show of Solidarity.
BY putting forward claims Of
this description, Gen. Franco
could hope to ingratiate himself
to Hitler, since the Anglo-Amer-
lean command would not deem
it safe to ignore entirely the men
ace implied in the dispatch of
reinforcements to Spanish Mo-
rocco. Moreover, before his own
people, he would be able to boast
of having achieved something
Gen. JOrdana, the Spanish
Foreign Minister, has spent the
last few days in Lisbon. and a
great show was made there of
"Iberic solidarity" Last sum-
mer, the ambitious idea was en-
tertained in Madrid and Lisbon
that "Iberic solidarity" might de-
velop into a fairly large group Of
neutrals with the participation Of
Chile and Argentina.
BY now, that grandiose scheme
is gone. Chile is expected to en-
ter the war in few weeks, but
Gen. Franco and Gen. Jordana
are hopeful that the diplomatic
support of Portugal will not fail
them in the fulfillment of their
African program.
Such a picture Of Spanish poll
icy accounts for it's seemingly
ambiguous course.
On the one hand, great care is
being taken by the rulers in
Madrid not to offend Germany or
even ruff1e her feelings. Two or
three German submarines have
taken shelter in Spanish harbors
and their internment in accord
ance with international law is
long overdue. Yet, so far, they
have been left alone.
Neutrality Comes First.
A rumor spread the other day
that Gen. Munoz Monte, COM
mander of the Blue Division on
the Russian front, a friend of
the Falangists, was going to re-
place at Tetuan Gen. Orgaz, the
high commissioner, or Gen.
Vague, the commander of the
troops, both of them reputed to
be of fairly moderate views. Late
ly the governor general of Cata-
lonia was appointed to a sinecure
and his post assigned to a mill
tary leader more agreeable to
extremists.
On the other hand, the
Spanish government significantly
made it known in a communiQue
three weeks ago that it had not
pressed Vichy for the surrender
of Largo Cabellero, the former
Socialist minister of the republic.
And the Allies are periodically
being given the assurance that
the Spanish government has kept
clear from all pledges toward
Germany and Italy, that its main
purpose is to avoid being en-
tangled in the conflict.
Clearly, the Nationalist regime
is not strong enough to play for
very high stakes. However, even
with restricted objectives, it may
complicate African affairs. And
nobody knows for certain, after
all, if Hitler will or will not spring
surprise in the Western Medi-
terranean.
tReleased by North American News
paner Alliance)