The Fighting in Spain After a lull of five weeks
the insurgents have taken the offensive on the northern front, and within three days captured 20 villages and taken 2,000 prisoners and huge quantities of arms. Their most valuable capture is the town of Reinosa, which with its armament factories was the Basques' most important source of war material ; 40 heavy guns nearly completed fell into the insurgents' hands. Their march has already taken them beyond the Basques' best line of resistance. Heavy losses are admitted both in Valencia and Barcelona, but no explanation is given of why so little support has been sent to the Basques, nor why so valuable a possession as Reinosa should have been surrendered so easily ; it is possible that the Basque front has already been given up for lost. Yet victory in the north may allow Franco to renew his assault on Madrid and to reinforce the blockade of the east coast with ships now blockading the Basques. On the Madrid front Brunete has been captured again by the Government, but this gain is no compensation for the Govern- ment's losses in the north. In Madrid, General Miaja, who has returned to his command, is reported to have said that the slogan " They shall not pass " had changed to " We shall pass " ; but in fact the Government forces seem still not to have recovered from the losses of their last offensive.
