NEWS OF THE WEEK B ILBAO, whose fall General Franco announced
for Wednesday, was still holding out on Thursday morn- ing, but it appears impossible that resistance can be con- tinued much longer. The deciding factor is not man-power but material, and in that, notably heavy artillery and aero- planes, the insurgents have an overwhelming superiority— whence and when obtained can only be surmised. Bilbao, indeed, is practically without any air force at all, and the bombing of the city can only be met with ineffective replies from anti-aircraft guns ; Madrid is incapable of sending support across 200 miles of enemy territory. That the fall of Bilbao will have far-reaching effects on the civil war is inevitable: It will not mean the end of the war ; according to Government spokesmen it will, on the contrary, greatly protract the campaign. That judgement, however, rests on the assumption that the Government will ultimately win, a conclusion for which there is no definite warrant today. With the Bilbao obstacle removed General Franco will be able to move considerable forces to the Madrid area. The fate of his next drive on the capital will play a larger part in determining the issue of the campaign than the drive on Bilbao. Meanwhile it is satisfactory that Germany and Italy should have resumed their places in both the Non-Intervention Committee and the naval patrol, after a fortnight's absence as result of the ' Deutschland' incident. It is as important as ever to prevent the flames in Spain from setting Europe on fire.
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