INCENDIARY BOMBS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 208, 3 August 1937, Page 9

INCENDIARY BOMBS.

, GREAT HAVOC CAUSED. NEW TERROR FOR DEFENDERS

Incendiary bombs dropped from rebel aeroplanes with the object of firing the countryside are a new terror for troops engaged in desperate battles west of Madrid. Germans with General Francos forces turn searchlight beams on areas they want to bomb. Aeroplanes carrying thermite bombs then slide down the beams and let go their loads, which discharge a white liquid fire over the ground where they strike. The thermite blazes for some time, and clearly outlines the targets, which are then attacked with explosive bombs from other aircraft. In this way almost every square mile of country to be attacked, by infantry is first set alight as a means of dislodging its defenders. There have been frightful losses on both sides. In the thickest of what was regarded as the biggest battle ot the war, the International Biigade stood up to almost continuous bombing for 12 hours. Afterward they engaged a mixed force of Moors and Foreign Legionaries hand-to-hand. Finally, incendiary and thermite bombs burst a huge petrol reservoir, and the blazing petrol poured into theii trenches, forcing them to give ground. Tiie Government admits a retirement from Villanueva dc la Canada, but only to the second-line trenches. Trouble lias developed in tlio Madrid High Command over the tactics to be adopted on this front. Colonel Lister, commander of a brigade famed for its merciless fighting, and Cbloliel Gonzales, known as “’lhe Peasant” because of his dark face and rough voice, have been dismissed from their commands and given work behind tlie lines. This action followed an ultimatum from Colonei Vincente Roja, ohief-of-staff to General Miaja, that lie would resign unless there was a clean sweep of “amateurs” from the High Command. The dissension came from General Franco’s attack on the western

front. , _ . , General Alia]a and Roja favoured a withdrawal from the newly-won ground owing to the terrific rebel pressure. The Defence Minister, Senor Prieto, and others, urged that the lino must be held at all costs.