General Franco's Advance In the last week the Spanish insurgents
have occupied z,000 miles of Government territory in Aragon, and trans- formed the Government's salient at Belchite into an insurgent salient at Alcafiiz, only forty miles from the Mediterranean and twenty from the nearest point of the Catalan frontier. It seems now within their power to divide Catalonia from Government Spain, crush Catalonia, and advance to the Pyrenees. The Government is certainly nearer to defeat even than during the attack on Madrid in the first months of the year. The manner and the rapidity of General Franco's advance may seem to confirm the Republican reports that in recent weeks he has received heavy reinforceihents of troops, aeroplanes, and guns from his foreign allies ; but an alternative explanation is that the insurgents' northern army, after delaying to reconquer Teruel, has now been thrown into the scale effectively. For the moment the advance has been checked, but unless the Government receives aid from France it seems probable that he will carry it to a successful conclusion. General Franco's success is of an importance which is certainly not confined to Spain. It constitutes a threat of the gravest kind to France's security, and may overthrow the present French Government. Our own Government appears to have submitted to delays in the Non-Intervention Committee sufficient to allow the Italians in Spain to finish their work before any practical measures for their withdrawal are taken.
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