the city called Cuatro Caminos. This is a districtsome miles behind
the front line, inhabited by thepoorest people living in one or two-
story mud and brick dwellings. The massacred victims were mainly
women, children and old people. A y ‘

Standing in a doorway as these huge machines flew slowly over-
head, each one heavily loaded with bombs, I glanced up and down the
streets. People hurried to “refugios”;' a hush fell over the c1ty-——1t

i was a hunted animal crouched down in the grass, quiet and apprehen-

sive. There is no escape, so be still. Then in the dead silence of the
streets the songs of birds came startlingly clear in the bright Winter
air.

Devastation and Destruction %

What is the object of these bombings of lowly civilian habitations?
Is it to produce panic in the city? Because, if so, it is a «completely
cruel, useless and wanton endeavour. This people cannot be terrified.
They are being treated by the Fascists as if they were soldiers bearing
offensive arms. This is murder of defenseless civilians.

No onecan realize what utter helplessness one feels when these
huge death-ships are overhead. It is practically useless to go into a
building-—even pa ten-storey building. The bombs tear through the
roof, throughevery floor in the building and explode in the basement
bringing down concrete buildings as if they were made of matchwood.

It is not much safer to be in the basement of the lower floors, than
in the upper stories. One takes shelter in doorways to be out of the
way of falling masonry, huge pieces of facade and stone work. If the
building you happen to be in is hit, you will be killed. or wounded. If
it is not hit, you will not be killed or wounded. One place is really as
good as another. ‘

After the bombs fall--—-and you can see them! falling like great
black pears-——~there is a thunderous roar. Clouds of dust and explosive
fumes fill the air, whole sides of houses fall into the street. From
heaps of huddled clothes on the cobblestones blood begins to flow-——~
these were once live women and children.  

Many are buried alive in the ruins. one hears their cries-—-—they
cannot be reached. Burst water and gas mains add to the danger.
Ambulances arrive. The blackened and crumpled bodies of the still-
alive are carried away.

Psychological Effects

New observe the faces of, not the dead, but those who still live.
Because it is the wished-for effect on them which is the motive for
these massacres, not just the killing of a few hundred innocent civilians
and the destruction of property, but the terroriz.ing of hundreds of
thousands who escaped this death. They stand and watch or work
themselves at the rescue. Their lips are set and cold. They don’t
shout or gesticulate. They look at each other sorrowfully, and when
they talk of the fascist assassins, their faces express fortitude, dignity
and contempt.  

These people have endured from the arrogance of wealth, the
greed of the church, the poverty and oppression of centuries. This is
just one more blow, one more lash of the whip. They have stood these
blows, these lashes before and they will stand them to the end. They
cannot be shaken. T   o