Posted on 06/29/2008 7:25:17 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
If such bombings continue, he is believed to have said, the coming into force of the Anglo-Italian agreement of April 16 certainly will be delayed and may even be rendered impossible. In the interests of both Italy and Great Britain he urged the necessity of immediately ending these attacks on British shipping.
Lord Perth’s demarche, according to sources worthy of belief, was not intended either as an ultimatum or as a threat but rather as an appeal by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to Premier Benito Mussolini to consider the possible effects of continuation of unrestricted aerial warfare.
Lord Perth is understood to have dwelt particularly on the parliamentary situation in London and the damaging effects on Mr. Chamberlain’s prestige of the attacks to which he is exposed in the House of Commons. It is understood he further said British public opinion was thoroughly aroused and the Chamberlain government would soon find itself in very serious difficulties unless steps were taken immediately to remedy the situation.
Count Ciano is believed to have replied that the Italian Government would give Lord Perth’s communication sympathetic consideration. He commented that Italy had loyally abided by her undertaking not to increase the weight of her intervention in favor of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, whereas other countries, he argued, had been piling arms and volunteers into Spain at an increased rate. He argued that this situation made it necessary that General Franco protect himself by bombing ports where foreign ships were known to unload cargoes of war material.
Nevertheless he declared Italy was more than willing to examine any reasonable plan whereby supplies might be prevented form reaching General Franco’s adversaries and the bombing of ships be thereby rendered unnecessary.
It is believed one plan discussed in their hour’s talk was the assigning of certain ports to foreign shipping with a guarantee not to carry war contraband to ports that General Franco will undertake not to bomb. It was admitted on both sides that there were grave difficulties in the way of the realization of such a plan.
The Italians believe a more practical way would be to obtain from France a definite pledge that her Pyrenees frontier and her ports will henceforth be closed to war supplies and “volunteers.” Such a pledge, it is felt here, would go a long way toward integral solution of the non-intervention problem and would justify General Franco’s suspending air raids on Spanish ports.
Lord Perth, in conclusion, undertook to urge his government to approach Paris with a proposal on the lines Italy suggested. Count Ciano, on his side, promised the Italian Government would examine the whole problem of aerial bombings in Spain with the intention of meeting Britain’s wishes as far as the exigencies of the military situation allow.
The British Government has caused an investigation to be made of these allegations through a non-intervention board, and it is learned that reports of the board show that no breach of the non-intervention agreement has been committed by any British ship named on General Franco’s list. Moreover, the owners very strongly denied that these vessels were carrying goods prohibited under the 1936 act.
These ships have always carried non-intervention observers.
Insurgent planes later bombed Perello, fifteen miles south of Valencia, where the United States Consul’s residence is situated, and several other coastal villages. They also bombed the port of Valencia, early reports stating there were no casualties and that no ships were struck.
At Barcelona Premier Juan Negrin held a three-and-a-half-hour Cabinet meeting tonight and called another for tomorrow to study the problem of supplies. Insurgent air raids such as those that set fire to two British ships and damaged two others yesterday at Valencia and Alicante have reduced the flow of provisions from the sea, a major source of supplies for government Spain.
The newspaper Politica, organ of the Spanish Government, expressed the possibility today that the government might still take reprisals against “the real authors of attacks on government cities.”
The editorial clearly indicted Italy and Germany were meant. It suggested that Barcelona’s acceptance of the newly created neutral commission to investigate bombings of civilian populations did not necessarily solve the problem.
Officers on the Aquitania and other ships said the masters of these freighters were making fortunes. They are said to receive $500 a month with big bonuses.
The crews are said to get high wages in accordance with their rank on the ship. The whole expenses of operation are paid by the Soviet Government, these officers declared, and the ships are heavily insured so that there is very little loss.
Mrs. Coughlin was niece of the late Luis Munoz Rivera, long Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner at Washington, while her father, Maerico Marin, was the first to bring operas to Puerto Rico. Her year-old daughter survives her.
Eighteen wounded volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade will return from the Spanish war on the President Harding of the United States Lines on Saturday, according to a message from the State Department made public yesterday by David McKelvy White, chairman of the Friends of Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 125 West Forty-fifth Street.
The returning veterans and the extent of their injuries are: Irving Margolis of the Bronx, lost right eye, vision of left eye impaired; Owen Weiri of New York City, shell-shocked and temporarily blinded; George W. Poole of Buffalo, wounded in arm; Ernest A. Schmitt of Milwaukee, wounded in leg, suffering internal injuries; Alexander Nichta of New York City, internal injuries; Henry F. Unger of Oklahoma, cardiac condition; Abraham Osheroff of Brooklyn, wounded in knee, convalescent from typhoid.
Also William F. McCarthy of Brooklyn, shell-shocked; Count Bevensee of New York City, one leg amputated, other wounds; Frank J. Civiers of San Francisco, fracture of arm, osteomyelitis; Charles Roth of New York City, cardiac condition; Nicholas Doggendorf of Baltimore, fracture of femur, osteomyelitis; Louis Siskin of New York City, injuries unknown; Arnold Wyman of Jamaica, Queens, osteomyelities of frontal bone; Abraham Polen of Philadelphia, tubercular; Isidore Cohen of New York City, fracture of lower leg; Arthur Lidz of New York City, shell-shocked, and George Rabie, address unknown, cardiac condition.
LONDON, June 28 (AP). – The Duchess of Atholl today gave details of what she said were guns “threatening Gibraltar” from Insurgent Spain and issued notice that she would ask Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons tomorrow what he intends to do about them. The Duchess recently rebelled from the Conservative ranks and has been a frequent critic of the government.
The question of such guns, allegedly of German manufacture, has been raised repeatedly during the Spanish civil war. The government has taken the position generally that they are not a threat to Gibraltar, Britain’s fortress at the western entrance to the Mediterranean.
The Duchess’s question enumerates guns in greater detail than any previous list. It cites:
More than twenty guns in hills around Insurgent-held Algeciras, including three pieces of more than ten inches.
A number of long-range 5.9-inch guns and several howitzers “so placed that they could drop shells in Gibraltar but yet are invisible from the highest point on the Rock.”
Nine naval-type guns of about four inches on Punta Carnero.
At least one fifteen-inch gun on a high peak near Alcala de las Gazules, almost twenty-one miles inland.
About forty-five guns ranging from six to fifteen inches near Ceuta, in Spanish Morocco directly opposite Gibraltar.
Mrs. James Roosevelt, mother of the President, is a member of the committee of sponsors to aid the Foster Parents Plan for Children in Spain, 118 East Fortieth Street, in a drive for the aid of orphaned and refugee children.
Other sponsors are Helen Keller, Dr. John Haynes Holmes, Mrs. Stephen S. Wise, Louis Untermeyer, Carleton Beals, Helen Hayes, Stephen Vincent Benet, Booth Tarkington, Algernon D. Black, Dr. Mary E. Woolley, Josephine Johnson, Professor Harold C. Urey, Manual Komroff, Frances Farmer, Dorothy Parker, Eddie Dowling, William Rose Benet, Floyd Dell and Professor Paul Douglas.
The Foster Parents plan, organized a year ago in England by John Langdon-Davies and recently established in this country under the supervision of Eric Muggeridge, urges the contribution of 25 cents a day toward the support of Spanish orphans.
There are some Civil War related articles below the main piece, plus shorties about a German waiter/spy in France and a suspicious shooting in Puerto Rico.
I’m impressed by the military’s ability to prepare soldiers for psychological trauma. About half the casualties reported in that article were psychological ones.
British diplomacy circa 1938, the Chamberlain era. I note the lack of confrontation in this apparent supplication. I bet Hitler noted too how Britain asked Italy to stop bombing their ships but was apparently unready to do anything about it.
The Spanish civil war was a rehearsal for WW II in more ways than one.
I only see three cases of shell-shock on the list. But that aside, I doubt the foreign volunteers got much training beyond which end of the rifle to point at the insurgents. Not that I have any actual knowledge of the matter.
Folks like Hitler and Osama bin Laden tend to notice things like that.
Actually I think Chamberlain’s Government was trying to keep from the news of the fact that they were supporting the Socialist Government of Spain along with the Soviet Union. You’ll noticed that it was British ships funded and supplies hidden by the Soviet Union that Franco was having the Italians bomb. Strange bedfellows and complex diplomacy and all that.
Since I became gainfully empolyed my backlog of stories dwindled, but I got busy over the weekend and started working on July and August. There is some interesting stuff that I look forward to sharing with you as we roll along. I hope you are all enjoying the summer (or as they spelled it in 1938, "Summer"), while avoiding flood and fire. We have had some wildfires nearby but a safe distance from the Simpson home, although some friends lost their house.
American League
……………………..Won….Lost…Percentage…….Games Behind
Cleve………………...39……22…….639………………….-
N. Y…………………36……25…….590………………….3
Boston……………….34……27…….557………………….5
Wash………………...34……32…….515………………….7 1/2
Detroit……………….33……32…….508………………….8
Phila…………………26……32…….448………………….11 1/2
Chic………………….23……33…….411………………….13 1/2
St. L…………………19…….41….....317………………….19 ½
National League
……………………..Won….Lost…Percentage…….Games Behind
N. Y…………………39……24…….619………………….-
Cincin……………….35……26…….574…………………..3
Pitts………………….32……25…….561…………………..4
Chic………………….35……29…….547…………………..4 1/2
Boston……………….28……27…….509…………………..7
St. L………………….28…...31……..474…………………..9
Bklyn………………...25…...36……..410………………….13
Phila…………………16……40……..286………………….19 1/2
I hope everyone had an enjoyable Fourth. Here it was the quietest in the nine years since we moved to town.
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
New York 10, Washington 5 (1st).
New York 4, Washington 4 (2d) (thirteen innings, darkness).
Boston 8, Philadelphia 5 (1st).
Boston 5, Philadelphia 2 (2d).
Detroit 7, Cleveland 3 (1st).
Detroit 5, Cleveland 2 (2d).
Chicago 5, St. Louis 4 (1st).
Chicago 5 St. Louis 1 (2d).
American League
……………………..Won….Lost…Percentage…….Games Behind
Cleve………………...41……25…….621………………….-
N. Y…………………41……25…….621………………….-
Boston……………….39……28…….582………………….2 1/2
Detroit..……………...35……36…….493………………….8 1/2
Wash..……………….35……37…….486………………….9
Chic.…………………27……34…….443………………….11 1/2
Phila...……………….27……38…….415………………….13 1/2
St. L…………………22…….44….....333………………….19
No games scheduled today.
National League
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
New York 3, Brooklyn 0 (1st).
New York 16, Brooklyn 1 (2d)
Pittsburgh 2, Cincinnati 1 (1st).
Pittsburgh 3, Cincinnati 2 (2d).
Chicago 4, St. Louis 3 (1st).
St Louis 4, Chicago 3 (2d).
Boston 10, Philadelphia 5 (1st).
Philadelphia 10 Boston 2 (2d).
……………………..Won….Lost…Percentage…….Games Behind
N. Y…………………45……25…….643………………….-
Pitts………………….38……25…….603…………………..3 1/2
Chic………………….38……30…….559…………………..6
Cincin.……………….35……31…….530…………………..8
Boston……………….31……32…….492…………………..10 1/2
St. L………………….29…...35……..453…………………..13
Bklyn………………...28…...40……..412………………….16
Phila…………………19……45……..297………………….23
No games scheduled today.
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