On to Valencia

The olive brown troops of Generalissimo Francisco Franco's Rightist Army drove on through the vineyards, the fruit and palm trees of Spain's Levant last week. Edging down the Mediterranean coast a few miles a day, they camped each night a little nearer Valencia. Capturing the once pleasant and prosperous resort of Nules and the little town of Villavieja, two miles inland, as the week ended the Rightist Galician troops commanded by General Miguel Aranda were within ten miles of Sagunto, 25 miles of Valencia.

Defending Leftist militiamen under General Jose Miaja retreated steadily but in good order, inflicting severe losses on the attackers. The Rightists, attacking in mass infantry assaults, were estimated by the Associated Press to have lost 10,000 men. The Leftists, following strictly defensive tactics, lost 2,000.

In Valencia, with a pre-War population of 350,000 now swollen by refugees to an estimated 1,000,000, children were forbidden the frequently bombed beaches. A public subscription was started to send children inland to safe colonies. Twenty-five ambulances sent from abroad reached Valencia. Belgian Non-intervention Observer Paul Heemans was wounded in an air attack.

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