Panic and congestion of roads in the Loyalist territory in Catalonia yesterday prevented the government from organizing a new defense. Troops lacked arms and ammunition. One division from the northwestern mountains, and other troops, crossed into France. General Franco’s forces continued their advance, meeting with virtually no resistance.
In Barcelona lines of residents waited in the rain for Rebel food trucks. Franco posters covered the city as squads effaced Loyalist slogans.
More than 10,000 refugees were permitted to cross into France as one of the greatest mass migrations in history was under way. The starving refugees were but the vanguard of the hundreds of thousands more expected at the border. French troops were sent to the area to cope with the situation.
In Italy an order was issued to take down flags celebrating the capture of Barcelona, to be displayed again when Madrid falls. It was indicated that the issues with France would not be pushed until that event. It was denied that Italy was seeking a four-power conference.
Caught in one of the strangest military blockades in history, the Loyalist Government of Spain today stands helpless before the onrushing Rebels. The human and mechanical tide that has been flowing steadily northward into all roads to France now has been dammed by the frontier. Even if France were to open the border for the passage of arms they could not go through; neither can gasoline, or food for the soldiers. There is still a desperate chance that the leakage to France will ease the pressure after a few days and permit at least one last stand to be made. But it looks rather as if the blockade will become worse. It seems only too likely, as this writer declared after leaving Barcelona, that the Loyalist Army has been destroyed to all practical purposes. The Twenty-sixth Division came over the frontier at Puigcerda today with all arms, it is declared here, and another body of troops, unnamed, crossed just east of that village. In the crowds of refugees trying to force their way through at Perthus and Cerbere were many hundred soldiers.
Spanish insurgent forces, bent on conquest of the last corner of Catalonia, reported tonight they had captured Arenys de Mar, coastal anchor of the government’s new line, almost without firing a shot. Arenys de Mar is twenty miles northeast of Barcelona, former loyalist capital. Rebel officers said the government opposition could be called genuine military resistance only by courtesy. The Catalonian defense actually collapsed, they asserted, with the fall of Barcelona on Thursday in the government’s greatest defeat since the civil war began.
Caldetas, just southwest of Arenys de Mar, also was reported to have fallen to the thrust along the Mediterranean. The success of the advance caused optimistic insurgents to believe all Catalonia might be theirs in another week. Only a week ago the government was holding what was considered a strong defensive line twenty-five miles west and south of Barcelona. Government troops today retreated so fast in many sectors, the insurgents said, that General Francisco Franco’s advance guards were unable to keep in contact with their enemy.
The town of Granollers, thirty kilometers north of central Barcelona is captured by the Nationalists tonight. Just eight kilometers north of Granollers, the town of La Garriga has 10,000 people, 7,000 of them Madrid and Basque refugees, and now has the remaining Republican troops under General Lister hiding with them. With the Nationalists in Granollers, the men have to leave, while the refugees have nowhere to go but towards France, if they dare.
Chamberlain tells an audience in Birmingham that Great Britain must prepare herself to defend not only her territory but also “the principle of Liberty.” Lord Chatfield will be named Britain’s Minister for the Coordination of Defense. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in a vigorous speech before the jewelers’ association in Birmingham, tonight warned Reichsführer Hitler and Premier Mussolini against trying to “dominate the world by force.” Announcement of a cabinet shakeup accompanied the speech. The shakeup involved the expulsion from the cabinet of Earl Winterton, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and the appointment of Lord Chatfield as minister of coordination of defense to replace Sir Thomas Inskip. Lord Chatfield was first sea lord and chief of naval staff from 1933 to 1938. He retired last September upon reaching the age of 65.
Chamberlain said he was ready to talk with both the Germans and Italians on terms of equality and would make an effort to “satisfy any reasonable aspirations they cherish which do not conflict with the general rights of others to liberty and justice.” Regretting that the “air is full of rumors and suspicions,” Chamberlain said that under no circumstances would Britain or other democratic countries submit to force. He announced that he stood by his Munich policy of appeasement (under which Czecho-Slovakia was carved up to give Germany Sudetenland), criticized though it may be. “Looking back,” he said, “I have nothing to regret.”
Three Royal Air Force planes, their machine-guns spitting dummy bullets and their bomb racks dropping tons of imaginary explosive, “destroyed” Sandringham House today before the eyes of the royal family. More than 200 members of the staff and workers on the royal estate donned gas masks for the one-hour mock raid and dashed for concrete dugouts when it came. A fire brigade fought make-believe mustard gas while the “attackers” wheeled and dived overhead. King George, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and the two little Princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, stood on the lawn and watched. None of the royal family wore gas masks or participated in the drill. The King said he was “well pleased” with the demonstration.
President of the Reichsbank Funck sends a memorandum to the OKW on the use of prisoners of war to make up labor deficiencies which would arise in case of mobilization.
Germany asserts it is strong enough to make more claims on the world, even at the expense of war.
Irish poet and playwright W. B. Yeats dies in the south of France after a short illness.
Josef Stalin announces the first Russian Congress since 1934.
Soviet workers who are fired for tardiness are eligible for work at other companies.
The U.S. Senate passed the $725,000,000 deficiency relief bill this evening in much the same form it came from committee after a day of anti-climactic debate following its approval yesterday of the $150,000,000 House cut in the amount asked by the Administration. The measure was sent to the House for its action on changes made by the Senate. The chief amendments were two offered by Senator Barkley, the majority leader, to the so-called political amendments substituted for those in the House draft by the Senate committee. These amendments go further in prohibiting use of government funds and work opportunities for political purposes than any ever before proposed. The Senate committee amendments originally made it a felony for any person directly or indirectly to offer or promise any employment, compensation or other benefit provided in the 1938 relief act or the present extension of it as a reward for any political activity, or to solicit or knowingly to be concerned in soliciting campaign contributions for any candidate from any one receiving compensation under these measures.
To this Mr. Barkley, who was charged in his re-election campaign last Fall with receiving political aid from WPA workers, offered provisions making these prohibitions apply to “any act of Congress.” Thus, the Senate bill makes a felony out of offering any benefits to or soliciting any contributions for political activity from any person in government employment or receiving any compensation from the government. The amendments passed with voice votes and with no discussion beyond the majority leader’s explanation of them. Other approved amendments included one by Senator Borah providing that $15,000,000 of the deficiency fund, which is to last until June 30, shall be used for direct relief of needy persons, another by Senator Clark that none of the money shall be used for any warship or other armaments expenditures with the exception of military quarters, and a third by Senator McCarran to create clerical work projects under the direction of the Railway Retirement Board for unemployed clerical railway workers.
After hearing the testimony of General Malin Craig, chief of staff of the army, members of the senate military affairs committee today expressed the opinion that the Roosevelt administration had entered into a secret military alliance with France. Various senators based this opinion upon revelations concerning the authority, given by President Roosevelt over the objections of the war department, for a French air mission to have access to the latest American military planes even before the war department itself had had a chance to test them for use by the American army.
The crash at Los Angeles last Monday of a new Douglas light bomber during a special test flight for the benefit of the French air mission led to the disclosure of the Roosevelt administration’s efforts to assist the French armament program. As a result of this crash the Douglas company, having spent some $400,000 on the construction of the bomber, will have no entry in the forthcoming competition for the army. It is assumed that the Douglas bomber was the best in the world and would have been accepted by the army, and, if this is true, the army will have to take the second best. Yet France was given precedence over our own army and authorized to try out the new bomber with a view of placing an order.
Captain Paul Chemidlin, a representative of the French air ministry, was injured when the bomber crashed and Paul Cable, the test pilot, was killed. General Craig was asked at today’s closed session of the military affairs committee whether there was any possibility that the Frenchman, by virtue of his presence aboard the plane or otherwise, was responsible for the crash. He replied in the negative. Senators pointed out, nevertheless, that the plane was lost as a result of a special test flight for the benefit of France, and it will require at least six months to build another one like it — too late for the war department’s competitive tests in February and April. While other isolationist senators expressed the same opinion privately, Senator Gerald P. Nye (R-North Dakota), was the only one to assert publicly that this government had entered into a military alliance with France.
The American Institute of Electrical Engineers discusses a new type of turbine engine that may save companies millions of dollars annually.
It is discovered that the fission of a Uranium-235 atom produces 200 million electron-volts. Scientists touted the advance but said it was too soon to talk about any sort of practical applications of the phenomenon.
The dean of Cornell University asserts that football has a disquieting influence on students.
Four leaders in Mexico’s second largest political party were jailed. today after having sponsored meetings at which the administration of President Lazaro Cardenas was attacked. Wives and friends of the four, who were officials of the Mexican Constitutional Democratic Front, said that the men were charged with “insulting the President,” which is a violation of Mexican law. Police confirmed that the four were in custody but declined further information.
Earthquake survivors in Chile sleep in the streets outside the ruins of wrecked buildings, next to the dead. Torrential rains now add to the misery and threat of disease.
A pacification plan for Japanese-occupied areas of China is set. Preparations for the formation of a “Central China Pacification Commission,” a Japanese-projected government for conquered parts of China, have advanced so far, it was reported tonight, that some of the members have gone to Kaifeng, which is to be the seat of the commission. This report was carried tonight from Nanking by Domei, Japanese news agency, which disclosed that the formal inauguration of the commission is expected early next month. Domei said the commission would carry on activities within war zones outside areas under jurisdiction of the Nanking and Peiping provisional governments, “subduing those who resist and welcoming those who surrender.”
A report from Japanese military circles at Nanking that Wu Pei-fu, once China’s most powerful military leader, would emerge from twelve years’ retirement to head the new united regime lacked confirmation tonight, twenty-four hours after it was first circulated. A Japanese spokesman said forces in Central China “are not attempting to extend their lines beyond those established after capture of Hankow but are carrying on a multitude of engagements against guerrillas throughout Japanese-occupied areas.” A report from South China said Japanese forces from Waichow Island had been repulsed when they attempted a landing near Pakhoi, Kwangtung Province town near French-Indo China.
A plea that American and other foreign contributions for the relief of China’s millions of war destitute be used more constructively was made by Madame Chiang-Kai-shek in an interview. She recommended that more funds be utilized in ways that would put refugees to work and prove productive and thus heighten morale. “At present, I think that too much emphasis is put simply on food, clothing and shelter,” she said. “The American advisory committee in Shanghai is always insisting on that. I am more interested in productive relief and especially in morale.”
Japan resumes bombing of the Lunghai Railway.
Australian Championships Men’s Tennis: Australian John Bromwich wins his 1st Australian title; beats doubles partner Adrian Quist 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: In an all-Australian final Emily Hood Westacott beats Nell Hall Hopman 6-1, 6-2 for her only Grand Slam singles title.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 138.79 (-0.11).
Born:
John M. Fabian, U.S. Air Force Colonel, astronaut, mission specialist (Challenger, STS-7; Discovery, STS-51G), in Goosecreek, Texas.
Died:
W. B. Yeats, 73, Irish poet (“Wild Swans at Coole”-Nobel Prize, 1923; “The Second Coming”).
Naval Construction:
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type IX U-boat U-41 is launched by AG Weser, Bremen (werk 946).
William Butler Yeats – “The Second Coming”
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Frighteningly applicable in this Year of Darkness that is 1939.
Artie Shaw & his Orchestra, vocal by Helen Forrest
History Diaries 