Balance Shifted?

War planes of Leftist Spain bombed Caude, the Rightist air base near Teruel, last week. Later, Leftist communiques announced as the result the destruction of 25 Italian Fiat pursuit planes. Near Cedrillas, on the Teruel-to-the-sea front, Leftists reported that the Rightist advance had been checked with the aid of their bombing and strafing aviation.

What all this added up to, in the opinion of some observers, was that once again the balance of air power, of first importance in the Spanish Civil War, had shifted. For the past fortnight reports have indicated that fast new Russian planes have reached the Barcelona Government in large quantities.

At the war's outset, Generalissimo Francisco Franco received enough planes from Germany and Italy to down enemy aviation, to facilitate his 3 1/2-months' drive to Madrid. Then the aerial tide turned. In October and November 1936, Russian planes of the American Boeing type-- nicknamed "chatos" (snub-nosed) by Madrilenians--had arrived in such numbers that in the following two months Leftists eliminated the fierce aerial bombing of Madrid, stopped two strong Rightist offensives. Then early this year, Franco's augmented air force blasted a bloody path for his march to the sea, splitting Leftist territory in two this spring.

On the ground, last week, Rightist troops straightened out the southern end of their corridor to the sea. At week's end, Catalan Leftist troops were on the offensive near the hydraulic power station at Tremp, on the Catalan front.

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