The Third Reich in Desperation

Fortunately, these soldiers did not carry weapons, so they had to flee and scatter towards the field.Then Lieutenant Flock wisely climbed back into the tank and entertained the fleeing soldiers with machine guns.

Seeing this, Captain Hoffman put away the binoculars, drilled back into the tank, closed the hatch behind him and said, "Go ahead, go to the intersection where the No. 008 tank is."

At the same time, Hoffman ordered the second lieutenant Karl in the third row to take 4 No. 2 tanks and 8 No. [-] tank destroyers of the Spanish German Machinist to detour to the right side of the village and occupy the flank, so as to cooperate with the frontal attack. hit.

This flanking arrangement turned out to be decisive.While Hoffman led the first and second platoons of tanks to press from the front, the tanks that appeared from the flanks completely destroyed the psychological defense of this group of Spanish Republican infantry.

Then, a total of 300 soldiers of the Northern Front Army of the Republican Army who stayed behind in Lietley Village collectively surrendered to Hoffman's leading company.

Then the "Hoffmann" battle group continued to rush southeast and captured an airfield of a Comintern column. (In fact, there were only two old-fashioned biplanes under maintenance at the airport at the time. Other fighters had already been solved by the Messerschmitt 109E fighter jets)

At the airfield that had apparently served as the High Command, Hoffmann's men happened to find a map showing the divisions of the Republican Army Group Northern Front.And this map will be of great help to the Italian expeditionary force fighting on the northern front.

At the same time, 10 miles north of the village of Trelly, Rommel personally led two German armored battalions, and coordinated with the infantry to break through the heavily fortified Atsa-Desegre defense zone of the Republican Army.

Since then, the German-Spanish United Corps has completed the first strategic goal of oppressing the Spanish Northern Army and the Southern Army at the same time.

Next, Rommel will use the main force of the German-Spanish Combined Corps to develop an attack in the direction of Cerveira, and strive to occupy the front lines of Pons, Cervera, and Tarragona.And the Italian Expeditionary Force, which has obtained a step-by-step map of its troops, is about to launch a new round of general offensive on the northern front.

On April 4, when the situation in the battle deteriorated severely, the Southern Army of the Republican Army, which stayed in the lower reaches of the Ebro River for defense, was forced to begin to shrink towards Barcelona. second stage.

The combined German and Western Corps triumphed all the way, capturing more than 5 Republican soldiers.The IRA's response was limited to sluggish rearguard action and the voluntary abandonment of many positions.

However, the de facto Republican Army did not collapse.Under the suggestion of Francisco, the commander of the Army Group on the Southern Front, the Republican Army tried to build a line of defense along the Llobregat River to prevent the enemy from the rear defense area built along the Llobregat River.

However, this strategic mobilization of the Republican Army was completely shattered due to its poor marching speed and the fact that Rommel quickly dispatched the nearby "Hoffmann" battle group to entangle the retreating Northern Front Army.

On the other hand, Franco's National Army, with the aid of aerial reconnaissance provided by Germany, discovered the weakly defended fighter planes of the Republican Army in the lower reaches of the Ebro River, and launched an operation to cross the river.

Due to the emptiness of troops, the small number of Republican Army Southern Front Army left behind was completely unable to stop Franco's crossing operation.Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events on the southern front, they were unable to bring any strength worth mentioning against this new threat.

Due to the large-scale defeat in the west and the south at the same time, it directly led to the Spanish Republican government announcing the abandonment of Barcelona on the second day of May 1937.

From this moment on, the campaign entered the third and final phase that Rommel had previously predicted.Rommel predicted that once the campaign reached this stage, the Spanish Republican Army would not be able to organize a strong defense no matter how many troops were left.

Judging from the current situation, Rommel obviously predicted exactly the same.Compared with Reinhardt's speculation based on historical foundations, Rommel's perfect prediction purely based on his military literacy is more admirable!

After the German-Spanish United Corps joined forces with the Spanish National Army, the remnants of the Republican Army could only conduct a cover battle while retreating northward, abandoning Belga, Vic, and Girona along the way.

On May 5, Figueres, the last stronghold controlled by the Republican Army, was finally captured by Gambara's Italian expeditionary force.The Italian Expeditionary Force, the German-Spanish Combined Corps and the Spanish National Army joined forces smoothly.

Under the joint pursuit of the German-Spanish Combined Corps and the Republican Army, the remnants of the Republican Army who had fled all the way to Figueres had to use combat operations to cover the retreat of the dispersed personnel to the north.

On May 5, 18 Republican soldiers crossed the border into France and were disarmed by the French authorities.

On May 5, the Republican Army came forward to control and close the French-Spanish border.

Throughout Spain, apart from the 668 Republican People's Guard on the 1000-square-kilometer Menorca Island, there are nearly 728 Republican main forces on the 8000-square-kilometer La Palma Island.The rest of the Spanish land, including the Spanish peninsula, has all been under the rule of the Franco government.

Body 1 Chapter Twenty Bloody Ideals

For the lingering Spanish Republican Army, the situation of the war has become extremely severe.With the National Army working with German and Italian forces to drive the Republicans off the mainland, there was little room for maneuver left for the Republicans.

At this time, Franco's troops not only controlled the major ports on the Spanish peninsula, but also had an elite army of more than 15 who had experienced war.In addition, even the Spanish Navy branch, which was originally inclined to the Republican Army, announced the change of flag to the National Army.

The "Alcedo" and "La Saga", which assisted the Republican Army in capturing La Palma Island, have now joined the fleet in Franco's hands.Prior to this, the three "Elcedo" class destroyers built with reference to the British Hawthorne-type M-class destroyer had only one "Velasco" in the hands of the National Army.

加上意大利处于政治考量在1937年出售给西班牙国民军的意大利3艘天鹰座驱逐舰：梅利利亚1号，梅利利亚2号，休达号。以及共和军改造意大利亚历山德罗.皮埃里奥级驱逐舰而重塑的2艘韦斯卡级驱逐舰：特鲁埃尔号和韦斯卡号。如今的国民军在海军力量上已经对共和军形成了绝对优势。

Although the Spanish National Army has no battleships today, the small number of six cruisers is only enough to maintain its colonial rule.However, in terms of the number of destroyers, it still maintains an absolute suppression of 17 to 0 with the Republican Army, even though 10 of them are old-fashioned destroyers that have long lagged behind.

In contrast, the so-called Republican Navy has only 3 gunboats and 15 armed merchant ships.Not even a capital ship!

回想刚开战时，共和军拥有西班牙近四分之三的舰队：1艘战列舰、3艘巡洋舰、11艘驱逐舰以及全部潜艇。而国民军仅拥有四分之一1艘战列舰、4艘巡洋舰、2艘驱逐舰、其中只有一艘巡洋舰是现役其他在建造阶段。

At that time, the leaders of the Republican Army never thought that the war would come to this point.

On land, they beat the national army to the ground.On the water, the fleet of the National Army was defeated in every battle.Everything is so perfect.

It's a pity that since the Germans took action, all the good situations have collapsed.

With less than half the strength of the defenders in Madrid, Rommel defeated all the defenders in Madrid with lightning, and pursued and captured more than [-] people.

Immediately afterwards, the Italians followed suit, although their record on land was mediocre.However, the Italian Navy cooperated with the National Army to sink the only battleship of the Republican Army, causing the Republican Army to lose its morale.

Although the Republican Navy later relied on its numerical superiority to sink a battleship of the National Army.But news of the failure on land spread quickly, affecting the confidence of the navy.In the end, when Barcelona fell, the Republican naval fleet finally wavered and gradually surrendered to the National Army.

The main cities of the Spanish colonies put on the flag of their national army.Factories that produced weapons one by one began to transfuse blood for the national army.

By the time the Spanish Republican government reacted, they had lost the last bargaining chip.The only remaining two islands are like the "underpants" of the Republican Army.If the gamble continues, the Republican Army will lose without even underwear left.

In the past two years, Spain, a former European power, has experienced the greatest disaster in history.Not only has it weakened the little naval foundation that it has managed to preserve, but it has also lost more than 2 elite and heroic troops.The two factions fight back and forth, you come and go, and the long-term scuffle has caused the people to live in dire straits and the national strength to wither.

Especially in the past year, people from all over the world have engaged in a huge international power and ideological confrontation on the territory of Spain.And every one of their bombs fell on the land of Spain, leaving devastated and countless bones.

No one knows exactly how many Spaniards died in the war between July 1936 and today.But the words of the American reporter Matthews resonated a lot-this war killed half of Spain.

As the military leader of the Republican government, Francisco was forcibly taken to La Palma by his subordinates. At this moment, he is arguing with the Provisional Government of the Second Spanish Republic on a shameful topic-whether it is time to surrender.

As a soldier, Francisco should have killed himself to defend the dignity of the country.Unfortunately, the price of this dignity is too high. Two years of experience had turned the proud general into a capitulator.

"We've already lost!" Francisco's voice lingered in the large conference room on the second floor of the Lapal Hotel, which is a temporary government building on La Palma Island: "Our total strength is less than 2! The navy is even more incapable of stopping the landing of the Republican Army! The current strength of the Republican Army is not even enough to protect itself, let alone counterattack. I don't understand, why should we continue to fight and meet a doomed ending!"

An older official shook his head in dissatisfaction, stood up and faced Francisco and said, "General Francisco, isn't it also your responsibility to explain why the war has ended like this? If you hadn't retreated steadily and lost Without Madrid, we can’t defend Catalonia, how can we be reduced to this point?”

Hearing this, Francisco's anger came up all of a sudden, pointed at the official's nose, and cursed out of composure: "What the hell are you, dare to order me!?"

The official was startled by Francisco's sudden anger, and hastily suppressed a lot of prepared taunts.

"At the beginning, if you hadn't dragged the army back and interfered with our command many times, maybe the generals and I would have driven the National Army back to the sea to feed the fish. Later, you fell into the conspiracy of the German Chancellor, Lost more than 500 tons of gold accumulated by successive Spanish governments for hundreds of years, and exchanged a batch of junk weapons. If you say you are negligent, I think you politicians are the culprits!"

Although Francisco's words were harsh, they also resonated with most officials present.Before the Germans and Italians intervened, Francisco's record was obvious to all.At that time, he had beaten the mighty Franco Legion to the ground, looking like it was going to collapse.

If it weren't for the fact that the Republican government distributed a lot of equipment that should be shipped to the front-line troops to the Comintern Column and the People's Guard for international support, the front-line ammunition was insufficient and the offensive slowed down.Maybe, the National Army has long been wiped out by Francisco's entire army!

And those stupid politicians in the Republican government, who didn't know what was wrong at the time, asked Germany to sell weapons and were asked to pay all in gold. (Historically, the Spanish Republican government also got its head kicked by a donkey and asked the Soviet Union to buy weapons at high prices).

We must know that the biggest advantage of the CCP and the government during the civil war was that the national gold reserves were in their hands, and Spain was the sixth largest gold reserve country in the world.The result was under the flicker of the German head of state Reinhardt.The Republican government delivered 500 million tons of gold to Germany in one go. On the one hand, it bought weapons, and on the other hand, it also meant to entrust it for safekeeping during the war.

After entrusting the compensation, the poor and white Germans helped keep the gold?What year is this a joke!

Main text Chapter 121 Bloody Ideal

Francisco justly pointed out the mistakes of the Republican government in the past two years, which made all the officials of the Republican government speechless.

After all, their accusations against Francisco were biased.Replacing any one person may not be able to reverse the situation in Francisco's environment at the time.In other words, Francisco's failure was caused by objective reasons, not subjective mistakes.

And every mistake the republican government has made since it went to war has been an act of nervous folly.It can be said to be an insult to the frontline generals!