Dec. 28.
The opening of the insurgent attack along the Catalonian front just prior to Christmas, and the comparative inactivity on the other fronts in Spain indicate that the immediate objective of General Franco and his forces ig the subjugation of that portion of the country at present governed from Barce-Jona, Catalonia has managed for years past to be @ source of inconvenience to any Government which has been in power, and it is apparently hoped by the insurgents that the subjugation of this revolutionary base will ender the final task of reducing the rest of the country all the easier. Consequently some half a million men are engaged in one of the bitterest struggles of a very bitter civil war in conditions which must create a great deal of hardship. the reports emanating from either side do not give a very adequate picture of what has happened up-to-date, there are indications that the claims of the rebels to have made some headway are probably correct. It is often the case that, with the advantage which lies in a properly opened offensive, the opposing side is forced to give way, if
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.