FOREIGN TROOPS IN SPAIN [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
SIR,—While reading the issue of The Spectator dated June 9th, I read on page 982 in the News of the Week, under the head- ing " Unhappy Spain," that " The German contingent [in Spain] numbered 14,000, the Italian 20,000." A little further on, on page 99o, in an article by Rene MacColl, entitled " Germany, Italy and Spain," I read : " The io,000 highly trained Germans . . . the 40,000 or 50,000 Italians . . ."
This discrepancy in my chief source of information is rather
[Any estimate of the number of German and Italian troops in Spain must rest largely on surmise ; but there is no necessary discrepancy between the two sets of figures quoted by different writers in last week's Spectator. The News of the Week para- graph dealt with the batches of German and Italian troops so far repatriated, Mr. Rene MacColl with those estimated to have been fighting in Spain. Mr. MacColl's estimate in the German case seems to have been conservative.—En. The Spectator.]
Previous page
