San Sebastian, Apr. 19. FTER a double advance from the north and the south, Gen.
Franco's Nationalist forces have reached the first houses of Tortosa. The main part of the town, however, lies on the opposite bank of the Ebro River and it is considered certain that the Republicans will blow up the bridges.—Reuter.
Hendaye, Apr. 18.
A fleet of Nationalist bombing planes dropped eighty tons of bombs on Cartagena today, sinking one Republican warship in the harbóur as Gen. Francisco Franco's powerful land forces reached the outskirts of Tortosa, Nationalist headquarters at Salamanca reported. Raining a hail of bombs on Cartagena, the Nationalists claimed to have put four warships out of commission in addition to sinking one.
The rapidly encircling movement by the Nationalists in the Ebro River valley resulted in the capture of Cherta, it was reported, Twenty thousand veteran Repub-licens, including many American volunteers of the International Brigades, were trapped against the Ebro River today as the Spanish civil war entered its 22nd month. Nationalist troops were gradually encircling the Republicans within rifle fire of Tortosa. Gen. Francisco Franco's forces extended the breech between northern and southern Spain above 43 miles along the Mediterranean coast beyond Benicarlo.
The Galician Brigade of the Na. tionalist Army, driving northward along the seaboard for the big offend sive into the heart of Catalonia, occupied Amposta and Masdenverge. Amposta is at the mouth of the Ebro River and only seven miles below Tortose, held by the Republicans, Another column of Nationalists cut through and captured Santa Barbara, six miles south of Tortosa, and simultaneously Nationalist forces landed at Vinaroz to aid in the offend sive to capture the entire delta.
The Republicans concentrated the remnants of their armies north, of Gen. Franco's Mediterranean wedge Papal Blessing for
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