Hendaye, Dec. 18, More-than 100,000 troops in. knee-deep snow were engaging in one of the bitterest battles in the Civil War on the Teruel front, This battle might be the turning point of the Spanish conflict, observers said.
Loyalist military authorities asserted that their troops, aided heavy tanks and the "all Spanish" Air Force composed mostly of youths, had penetrated the city from the south-east, and fought with the Moors in hand-to-hand combat at the old cometary are Meanwhile, Loyalist artillery anc serial bombardments, aided three-foot snow, thwarted General Franco's efforts to rush 6,000 Moroccan troops to Teruel from Saragozzs.
Expert observers indicated that if Teruel should fall, It would wipe out General Franco's. threat to starve Madrid by means of the siege, and shake the morale of Nationalist forces comparable to what had previously happened at Guadalajara, 'A column dt Communist Brigade was reported to have reached the Junction of the Tuna and Alfombre Rivers, north-west of Teruel, Aided by tanks, it drove the Insurgents side the' gate, it was reported, Loyalist planes were said to have repulsed Nationalist serial attack, according to Loyalist sources at dawn this morning. Insurgent planes were said to have swept low over the advancing troops of Government forces, Loyalist oMcials claimed that internal dissension. among General Franco's Spanish officers, aggravated by bickering, was responsible for the delay. of the. Insurgents' general offensive—United Press.
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