The Third Reich in Desperation

"If one day, I mean if, when the head of state gives us an order that is difficult to fulfill, what will you do, general?" Gauss, the chief of staff of the German-Spanish United Corps, who had long been friends with Rommel, asked half-jokingly.

"I will resolutely implement it!" Rommel said solemnly: "The military literacy of the head of state is far higher than that of ordinary politicians. He is not only a politician who has come out of the army, but also the proud disciple of General Sickert, the commander-in-chief of the National Defense Forces. .For war, the head of state has another understanding. If the head of state asks us to complete an extremely difficult task, it means that this is already a task that has to be done."

Unexpectedly, Rommel, who has always been assertive and extremely arrogant, would say such a thing. Gauss was stunned for a while before he came back to his senses and said: "It seems that we have a good leader, which may make the Italians envious. die."

"Yes, we have one of the best leaders in the world. At least, I think so." Rommel said with reverence, "That is the best gift God gave to Germany."

Although Rommel only praised Reinhard in two short sentences, it already left Gauss dumbfounded.

Has Rommel, who has always been arrogant and conceited, praised others?

Since Gauss knew Rommel, he has never heard of it!Not to mention the reverence and praise in such a tone this time.

Suddenly, a rumor came to Gauss' mind, and he said curiously: "I heard that, General, you once had an unpleasant experience with the Führer. Would you mind telling me about it?"

After a few seconds, Rommel realized what the experience Gauss was talking about. He laughed and said, "I always remember the experience you mentioned. I was still a captain at the time, and the Führer had just been promoted to a second lieutenant. Because There were some disputes in the quarrel, and hands started. Good guy, the head of state didn't have any warning before making a move, and used all the tricks of the next three ways. Can you imagine, a soldier, fighting with a bandit Same, just aim at your lower body."

Gauss had never heard of these details.It is rare to hear it from the client Rommel at this moment, and it made his eyes shine: "And then?"

"Then?" Rommel raised his mouth and said, "Then I beat the Führer to the ground on the spot, and he didn't even know how to fight."

incredible!The general who beat the Führer!This cow is enough for Rommel to brag about for a lifetime.Gauss was a little puzzled, why had he never heard him bring it up?

Rommel, who talked too much on a whim, gave a wry smile.Since then, Reinhardt has called him almost every night to harass him, begging him not to speak out.The most damning thing is that that bitch specially picks the time to call at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning.If you don't pick up, there will be people knocking on the door loudly in the middle of the night to visit.It made Rommel's family restless during that time.After his repeated assurances, Reinhardt stopped this kind of harassment that harmed others and benefited himself.

............................

"The government sent a telegram, ordering us to return to help quickly!" A second lieutenant who rushed into the headquarters rushed to Francisco without even making a report.

"How could it be?!" Francisco, who had just led his army south to Albacete, read the news in the telegram with a frown.

After Francisco read the contents of the telegram, his hand holding the telegram was already soaked with sweat.Madrid's defense line, which he had placed high hopes on, has lost two-thirds of it. Judging from this speed, the last line of defense cannot stop the opponent for too long.

As the planner of this plan, Francisco has done a thousand calculations, accurate to every marching route, and thought of all terrain factors, but he did not expect the terrifying breakthrough ability of the German armored forces.

"The 10-strong army that defeated our two lines of defense is still expanding the results?" Francisco said with a wry smile: "The Germans have such troops, but they can endure it for 3 months without sending a single soldier. Their Commander, you are a little too resilient."

In fact, Francisco, as one of the few far-sighted leaders in Spain, has always maintained vigilance against the German and Western United Corps.However, after maintaining this kind of vigilance for too long, the so-called vigilance is just a feeling of habit.

Not only Francisco, but the entire National Army executives have formed an inertial illusion of the German-Spanish United Corps.It seems that the Desi United Corps is just an empty shelf with no appearance, and it will not make any big disturbances.Otherwise, why would they stand still for a long time?Or maybe their commander, Rommel, was nothing more than a living bag, without the real talents and learning that a general should have.

All kinds of fabricated rumors and illusions caused the National Army to pay a heavy price.Francisco's plan to count on the Madrid defense to contain the Desi United Corps for a month now seems more like a joke, the rhetoric of an ignorant child.

This southward operation planned by him, Francisco, will become a classic case of failure from today.

As the German commander of this classic rapid battle, Rommel's blockbuster after forbearance will become a good story in the history of war.

This battle will be embellished by countless literati and become a legend in the history of modern Spanish warfare, and it will be enough to be included in the textbooks of military academies in various countries!

When he thought that his carefully formulated strategy would be described in the negative textbooks of military academies in the future as a key point that the Republican Army placed high hopes on but led to the accelerated failure and demise of the Republic. When it was repeatedly emphasized, Francisco felt a burst of pain dizziness.

The government of the Second Spanish Republic has moved its capital again, from Valencia to Barcelona, ​​the capital of the Catalan province bordering France.And this legion brought to the south by Francisco was the last hope of the government of the republic, and was requested to bring it back to the province of Catalonia to defend the government of the republic.

"General!" one of Francisco's staff stood up and said: "Now that Madrid is about to fall, our southward strategic goal has been bankrupt. It is better to obey the government's request and go northward to Catalonia. While Madrid still has 10 people People arrived at the German-Spanish Combined Corps, we will speed up to the north, and we can enter Catalonia province through Valencia."

"It's useless." Francisco, with gloomy eyes, said coldly: "The militia in Madrid can't hold out for that long. At the latest when we reach Valencia, the Desi United Corps will be able to cut us off from entering Catalonia. route."

Ignoring the disappointment on the staff's face, Francisco continued: "The troops on the southern front cannot withdraw with us, otherwise we will be bitten by Franco's National Army. But the Comintern column on the northern front can bring some People's Guards The team went south to Guadalajara to buy time for us to enter the province of Catalonia. As long as we enter Catalonia, we can rely on neutral France and rely on the Ebro River for defense. This game Chess, we still can't lose!"

Text Chapter 99 Add more Subscription

Franco let out a long sigh of relief. The Republican Army's crazy attack in the past few days finally stopped.

The national army's defense line has reached the critical point of collapse.Perhaps even if the Republican Army conducts another round of charge, it will be able to cause breakthroughs in several nodes.

Volunteers from Ireland, Romania, and Portugal have long lost their combat effectiveness in high-intensity combat, and the severely reduced Moroccan Foreign Legion can only perform some defensive tasks.

More importantly, the Spanish National Army in Franco's hands has less than 6 people left, and the organizational system has long been disrupted.

Fortunately, the Republican Army retreated "in time", otherwise, it would be his Franco's army that should be retreating at this moment!

"General Franco!" A major general of the National Army said with unconcealed joy: "According to our intelligence, Francisco's troops were urgently recalled by the Republicans. They were afraid that Rommel's corps would take Madrid in one go." , and then took advantage of the victory to pursue. Therefore, they mobilized all the troops that could be twitched to return to support."

Rommel's Corps?Franco smiled wryly.Indeed, he had won, the match that belonged to him and Francisco.But it was not his National Army, but a mere division sent by the Germans.

However, Franco didn't worry too much about who led the victory. Anyway, he was the winning side, and that was enough!

"Send a report to General Rommel for me, and thank him for his contribution to the overall situation. Our army will immediately prepare to go north to join the actions of the German-Spanish Combined Corps," Franco concluded happily.

"General Franco." The major general of the National Army as the frontline commander worried: "Our troops are already exhausted. At this time, if we go north to pursue the Republican Army, it is very likely that..."

"Pursuit?" Franco said with a knowing smile, "I didn't say we were going to pursue the enemy. The national army will go north, but the time has not been determined yet. Do you understand?"

After hearing these words, the major general looked at Franco reverently: "I understand, general. You are really a wise leader."

Patting the major general on the shoulder in satisfaction, Franco laughed and said, "It's not wise or not, I just made a simple judgment question. Since the Germans are so good at fighting, let them fight enough." .As for us, we just need to tighten their pace."

....................

In contrast to the national army on the southern front that finally stabilized its line of defense, the Italian expeditionary force on the northern front has also made breakthroughs.

The retreat of the Communist International column took away more than 2000 elite and tenacious volunteers and more than 5000 People's Guard soldiers equipped with Mauser rifles.This gave the Italian Expeditionary Force a huge opportunity, a fighter to break the stalemate!

As the commander of the Italian Expeditionary Force, Gambala can also be regarded as an excellent infantry commander.He decisively invested all the main force of the Italian expeditionary force, overwhelming the only reserve team of Spanish German armorers.Coordinated deployment of four dissatisfied Spanish German armorers in the south launched a spare no effort attack on Bilbao.

After five hours of continuous attacks, the Italian Expeditionary Force, which had been stagnant in Bilbao for nearly a month, finally completely captured the city of Bilbao, the capital of the Spanish province of Varas.

Thereafter, the advance of the Italian Expeditionary Force continued unimpeded.In the entire province of Barras, there is no longer any force that can compete with the Italian expeditionary force.

When the Italian Expeditionary Army diverged and advanced under the command of Gambara, the small remnants of the Republican Army in northern Spain broke up and fled, and then surrendered and were captured.

Everyone can see that the province of Barras has become an enclave in the north of the republic.With no reinforcements and no retreat, the fall of Bilbao was a precursor to the fall of Barras Province.At this time, the troops who did not follow the international column to the south were all abandoned.The most they can do is to run out of bullets and surrender.

Looking at the combat schematic diagram, the blue arrow representing the Italian expeditionary force rushed forward, and Gambala, the commander of the expeditionary force, finally let go.

For a month, the Italian Expeditionary Force, which took the lead in launching the campaign, has been unable to open up the situation in Bilbao.Facing the international column of the Republican Army going north, the soldiers of the Italian Expeditionary Force were obviously powerless.

Counting from the launch of the attack on Bilbao on the first day, the Italian expeditionary force has spent 25 days.To put it bluntly, the expeditionary force has occupied 3/4 of Bilbao's area by relying on tenacious fighting for nearly a month.To put it bluntly, the expeditionary force was dragged in Bilbao for 25 days without moving an inch!

If it weren't for Rommel, who was relying on the middle road, to lead an army to attack Madrid strongly, quickly threatening the bottom line of the Republican Army and forcing the Republican Army to call back troops.This long-awaited breakthrough by the Italian expeditionary force may come much later.

Such a victory is really too embarrassing for Gambala, who claims to be a famous Italian general.

As one of the best generals in the Italian Army, Gambara's command is fearless and in place.From the three-way oppression of Bilbao to the initial centripetal penetration, every step showed Gambala's profound commanding skills.

However, the Italian army, which relied on poisonous gas even to attack Ethiopia, would inevitably appear a little strenuous in this head-to-head trench warfare.

The Italian Expeditionary Force is already an elite division used to support the scene in the country, and it is still fighting so hard.The low-level military officers called for support from the few fighter planes again and again, which revealed the fatigue of the expeditionary force.