852.00/5735
The Spanish Chargé (De la Casa) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to transmit to Your Excellency the following information which I have received from my Government.
[Page 329]During the last few days more than one hundred German planes in the service of the rebels have dropped tons of shrapnel (metralla) on the Basque people, bombing the fronts and the villages of that country and continuing the terroristic methods which this same air force used in Durango and Guernica. They threw more than fifty bombs on the Bilbao cemetery, destroying hundreds of graves, scattering the remains of the dead, and causing a horrible spectacle. The Government forces succeeded in bringing down three planes; one [a?] Heinkel bimotor, Model 111, which fell within their lines, causing the death of the crew, who were Germans, as in the case of all the other aviators previously captured on this front.
In compliance with the instructions of my Government, I advise Your Excellency of the facts above stated and also place on record the protest of my Government against the criminal action of the German air force assigned to service with the rebels.
I avail myself [etc.]
- File translation revised.↩