NEWS OF THE WEEK T HE battle for Madrid, which may
be the last phase of the Organised 'war in Spain, is now beginning. General Franco is moving . with deliberation, and the cordon round the capital is not yet complete ; the Government can still with some difficulty secure supplies from the coast at Valencia" and Alicante, there is littI food shortage in Madrid: The weather; moreover, against the insurgents, .-virhOse- Movement§. are impeded by heavy rain. By the end of the month, it Madrid can hold out so long, the intense .Cold in the Gtiadariamas will take heavy toll of the Moors and of the Foreign Legion accustomed to Morpccan suns‘, But the superiority of the insurgents ii artillery and aeroplanes is undoubted, and a series of air raids on the capital might, by their effect on morale, do Much more than direct attack- to carry the siege through to success. Nothing is certain in war ; the resistance may prove more stubborn than at present seems likely ; the fall of Oviedo, confidently predicted for six weeks or more but -now apparently. imminent, -might release the formidable Asturian .minerS for an attack on Franco's rear. But the insurgents are even more superior in leadership than in material, and the prospect of a successful defence of the capital seems remote. . With its fall the organised war would end, except' perhaps in Catalonia, though towns like Bilbao and Malaga are still holding out. But to the guerilla warfare no end is in sight.
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