The war heats up

"Gentlemen, I have to tell you bad news." Manuel Azania frowned and said to the commander of the Republican Army in the General Command of the Republican Army, "Our important one The frontline airport was attacked three hours ago, and the entire airport was bombed and no complete building could be found."

"Air raid?" The officers below were stunned. "When did the rebels have the ability to launch air raids? Didn't their planes be almost wiped out by the Soviet Air Force?"

"It's not a rebel plane." Azania shook his head and said, "It's a German plane!"

"German?" the officer below asked suspiciously, "When did the German send the plane? Why haven't we received any news?"

"No, no, they didn't send an aircraft over, but an aircraft carrier directly. The German aircraft that attacked us took off from that aircraft carrier named Earl Zeppelin," Azania replied.

"What about our fighter jets? What about the Soviet fighter jets?" a Spanish major general asked angrily.

"Are you accusing me?" the leader of the Soviet Volunteer Air Force asked the Spanish major general with a dark face, "We lost 32 fighter jets in this battle! We sacrificed 27 pilots! What right do you have to blame? us?"

As soon as the Soviet officer said this, everyone locked on the Spanish officer with their eyes, as if they wanted to tear him apart with their eyes.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't mean to accuse you." The Spanish officer panicked. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "Soviet friends came from thousands of miles to help us because of the friendship between Suzi and I. How can I accuse you?"

"Yeah, Soviet friends, we didn't mean to accuse you." Azania quickly reassured, "I feel very sorry for the lost Soviet pilots, and then our first priority now is to find a way to solve this trouble together, and Not blaming each other."

"Humph!" Hearing the apology from Spain, the Soviet officer snorted coldly, and his face became a little better.

"On the question this gentleman raised, I would say that we sent fighter jets to intercept German air strikes, but their fighter jet called 'ME109T' was so powerful that it successfully protected their bomber force Not to mention, we shot down 32 of our fighter jets without any casualties!" Azania said with a wry smile.

"God! 0:32? How is this possible?!" The officer below shouted again in surprise.

"A large part of the 32 fighters that were shot down were the inferior I-15M-22 fighters, and the I-16 fighters were still capable of fighting before the German ME109T." The Soviet officer said with a blushing face , after all 0:32 was played by them.

"It's okay to say about the Air Force. The trouble is that both Germany and Italy have directly sent the army to help the rebels." Azania shrugged, "We sent back the news from our eyes in Italy. Three days ago, the Italian Navy had In an unusual move, they sent warships to covertly cover several transport ships to leave the Italian naval port and head towards us."

"President, is there any definite evidence to prove that the transport ship is the German army?" an officer asked with a dark face.

"Our eyeliner saw people in German military uniforms in the military port, and also saw several armored vehicles covered with rain-proof canvas. After the appearance comparison, it should be the No. 3 tank that Germany has equipped in large quantities and the most cutting-edge four. Tank." Azania replied helplessly, "Obviously, this is the German ground force."

Indeed, that was the German ground force, consisting of the 21st Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht and the 11th SS Panzer Division.

Both divisions were recently formed and were not fully staffed, they were armed with a total of 324 tanks.

Among them, the 21st Armored Division of the Wehrmacht is equipped with 150 No. 3 tanks and 62 latest No. 4 tanks, for a total of 212 tanks.

The 11th SS Panzer Division was equipped with 60 Panzer III and 52 Panzer IV, for a total of 112 tanks.

The two armored divisions, with the help of the Italian naval transport, were transported to the ports controlled by the People's Army in three installments at the end of August.

After a short reorganization in the rear of the People's Army, the German-Italian Expeditionary Force, led by Rommel, went directly to the front to help the Spanish People's Army open up the front line from Badajoz to Toledo, in order to be able to divide the divided North and South The two control areas are practiced together.

After half a month of fierce fighting, with the support of the powerful German-Italian coalition, the People's Army successively captured the towns of Badajoz, Cáceres, Talavera, and Toledo, and successfully divided the southern and northern areas. The control area is linked together.

In September, the People's Army captured Irun and San Sebastian in the north, cutting off the IRA north from France.

In October, the People's Army marched into Madrid in four routes, and reached the suburbs of Madrid on November 6. On the same day, the republican military government moved to Valencia, where a regular army of 300,000 troops was formed.

From November 1936 to March 1937, the defenders of Madrid bravely searched and blocked the attack of the People's Army for many times. In the meantime, the People's Army, under the direction of Rommel, launched the Battle of the Harama River in the southeast of Madrid from February 6 to 27, intending to cut off Madrid's line of communication to the southeast.

However, due to the crazy counterattack of the Republican Army, the People's Army did not win the Battle of Harama River.

In order to contain the strength of the Republican Army, the People's Army turned to attack on the southern front lines of Cordoba, Granada, and Gibraltar, and then turned to defense after occupying Montoro and Malaga.

Sure enough, the Republican Army immediately sent a large number of troops to the south after the defeat in the south, in order to regain some important towns in the south.

Seeing that the Republican Army was on the hook, Rommel immediately turned the focus of the attack to the north, in order to attack the Basque and Asturias, the important industrial areas along the Gulf of Biscay.

To this end, the People's Army concentrated 150,000 troops (including 100,000 Italian troops) to attack the Basque capital Bilbao, but was stubbornly resisted by 60,000 Republicans.

Although the Republican Army fought very tenaciously, on June 20, the People's Army captured Bilbao with its superior strength, and then attacked Santander and Gijon.

In order to reduce the pressure on the northern front, in July and September of the same year, the Republican Army launched two offensive campaigns in Brunette northwest of Madrid on the central front and east of Zaragoza on the eastern front, but failed to stop the People's Army from attacking the north. A powerful offensive on the front.

On August 26, Santander fell.

On October 22, Gijon, the last stronghold of the Republican Army in Asturias, fell, and the northern industrial zone was completely occupied.

The fall of the Northern Industrial Zone has dealt a heavy blow to the Republic. On October 28, the government of the Republic moved from Valencia to Barcelona, ​​and with the help of Rommel, the People's Army successfully seized the battlefield initiative.