"Shoes Before Surrender"

The greatest advance made by either side since Madrid settled down to bloody siege (TIME, Nov. 9 et seq.) came last week when the defending Red Militia swarmed over the West Park in Madrid's northwest section, where the Whites had strongly entrenched themselves. This followed after three days of downpour had sent millions of gallons roaring down the Guadarrama and Manzanares Rivers, which overflowed into the White trenches. Gun carriages sank into seas of mud. Dripping wet and nipped by freezing cold, the White troops of Generalissimo Francisco Franco withdrew to higher ground, surrendering the waterlogged region to the jubilant Reds with scarcely a shot fired.

So little fighting of any sort was there around Madrid, that correspondents began to hint that the Whites were mainly trying during the bitter winter weather to keep as many Militia in the north as possible while in Spain's sunny south the Generalissimo was rumored quietly preparing a White offensive against Valencia, the seaport to which the Madrid Cabinet long since fled (TIME, Nov. 16). Spunky General Jose Miaja, defender of Spain's erstwhile Capital, was holding out ably last week, issuing such proclamations as "The people of Madrid will eat their shoes before they surrender!" Red beans were what Madrid was mostly eating and General Miaja was cajoling all women to join the 250,000 who have fled Madrid. Every departing mouth meant more beans for his Militia.

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