26

Baking (1)

The weapons provided to the Nationalists by the Condor Corps that arrived in Spain were renowned for their excellent German-made performance.

However, not all weapons received the same reviews.

-Enemy tanks appear! Shit, it's a T-26!

-Driver back up! No, move forward!

-He's coming this way!

The 1st Tanks, which were running across the front line, fell into panic when a large number of Republican T-26 tanks appeared.

Some brave tanks attempted to attack, but there was no way they could penetrate the tank's armor with machine guns or anything like that.

Flames soon spewed out from the muzzle of the T-26, which was moving forward, easily deflecting bullets.

Tank No. 1, hit by the T-26's 45mm tank gun, became a ball of fire and came to a halt. The tank commander and driver died instantly without any chance of escape.

-Car 3 was hit!

-Damn it, how can you beat that guy!

The T-26's armor was weak, only 15mm at its thickest point, but it was able to easily protect against machine guns.

Above all, the 45mm 20-K tank gun mounted on the turret boasted powerful power, capable of penetrating the frontal armor of the German Army's 1st and 2nd Tanks with one shot at the standard engagement distance.

Fighting the T-26 with Panzer 1 was as reckless as hitting a rock with an egg.

-The fascists are running away!

-Keep shooting! Don't let those pigs escape!

The Republican tankers fired shells leisurely, laughing at the enemies who were busy running away like rabbits that encountered a tiger.

Sniping retreating enemy tanks was as easy as duck hunting.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"

Bullets rained down on the Nationalist tank crew, who was hurriedly escaping from the tank with his entire body engulfed in flames.

The tank soldier who opened the hatch and came out was hit by countless bullets and fell into the street tank.

Soon, Tank No. 1 was completely engulfed in flames and burst into flames, meaningless with the word 'Immortal' written in Spanish on its side.

While two platoons of Tank No. 1 were annihilated, the only damage suffered by the Republicans was one tank stopped due to engine failure.

The battle ended in a complete victory for the Republicans.

***

The next day, the Republicans, encouraged by yesterday's victory, decided to launch a counterattack.

The goal is to recapture the high ground near the village that fell into the hands of the Nationalists a week ago.

T-26 and BT-5 took the lead in the attack, and soldiers with weapons advanced behind the tanks.

The soldiers mobilized for this offensive were amateurs with no combat experience and had only fired a few live rounds during training, but thanks to the presence of Soviet-made tanks, their morale soared.

There was nothing to fear with these steel monsters.

"Those fascist bastards, when they see us, they're going to freak out, right?"

"I might poop my pants."

"Let's finish this quickly and have some food."

An incredibly relaxed attitude for soldiers about to go into battle.

Rather than worrying about being killed or injured, the Republican soldiers' main concern was what to do with the captured enemies.

"All fascists must be killed. "They are not worth keeping alive."

"There is no need to kill them all. "Shouldn't we leave behind someone to clean the bathroom?"

"Xerath, do you think I don't know that you are in charge of cleaning the bathroom this week?"

"You should kill at least three of them as an example."

When one of the female soldiers who took part in this attack said that they would pull down the pants of the prisoners and kick them out, laughter poured out from left and right.

Then, suddenly, the attack began.

I thought I could hear the sharp sound of metal colliding with steel, and then the T-26, which had been rattling and rolling in the lead, was suddenly engulfed in flames.

"Aaaah!!!"

A tanker with his right leg cut off crawled out of the hatch screaming, and countless bullets rained down on him.

"It's a surprise attack!"

"Get down!"

The Republican soldiers, who had been laughing and chatting just a moment ago, fell like leaves in a cold wind due to the sudden surprise attack of the Nationalists.

The soldiers who were lucky enough to bow down in time survived, but those who were slow to move were already turned into hives and collapsed.

A female soldier who was shouting that she would kick the prisoners out of their misfortune also fell with a bullet lodged in her temple.

The Kar98k and MG34 provided by Germany opened fire in succession, and the PaK 36 anti-tank gun fired shells.

The T-26, which could easily deflect bullets but could not protect against weapons that went beyond that, was destroyed by a single 37mm armor-piercing round.

Unlike the T-26, even the BT-5, which had a sloping front, was powerless in front of German anti-tank guns. Two tanks had already been destroyed and were burning brightly.

"T-26 at 11 o'clock! Distance 400, fire!"

While the Nationalist soldiers fired hard, the Wehrmacht soldiers of the Condor Legion operated anti-tank guns and destroyed the Republican tanks one by one.

Thanks to thorough camouflage, the Republicans could not even figure out where the shells were coming from.

"Xerath! Xerath! Damn it, Xerath is dead!"

"mom! dad! help me!"

"Fire back! "Fuck it, fire back!"

Nationalist tanks rushed toward the confused Republicans.

The tank soldiers, who were preparing to avenge yesterday, fired bullets indiscriminately at all visible enemies.

"Fernando, turn the turret! "The enemy is on the left!"

"Uh, where are you?"

"2 o'clock! hurry! Raoul, load your armor-piercing rounds!"

"All right!"

One T-26 was destroyed after being hit by an armor-piercing shell flying in from the front as it hurriedly turned its turret.

Another T-26 next to it was destroyed under heavy fire from Tank 2's 20mm cannon. Smoke leaked out from the hole that the cannonball had passed through.

Republican tanks also counterattacked and hit Tank No. 2. Because he was hit at the bottom of the hull, the driver was killed, and only the tank commander and ammunition operator survived.

A BT-5 attacked Tank 2 first, but because it aimed for the track, it was counterattacked by a 20mm cannon and destroyed.

When all their tanks were destroyed, the Republicans canceled their attack plan and retreated. However, there was no way the hunter would release the game he had caught so long ago.

Tanks 1 and 2 pursued the fleeing Republicans and fired until they ran out of ammunition.

The field where the battle ended was full of corpses that were cut into pieces and had holes in them.

The acrid smell of gunpowder, blood, and burning flesh made my nose rot.

Flies and crows gathered after smelling the corpse's blood.

Wherever a battle took place, they would always appear and fill their stomachs by tearing at the flesh of the corpses and drinking the blood that pooled on the ground.

The smell of death lingered long after the corpse's flesh had rotted away and only the white bones remained.

***

"Tsk tsk tsk. "I knew it would end up like this."

The reports regularly sent by the Condor Legion fighting in Spain were full of valuable information.

As expected, Tank No. 1 was not of much help on the battlefield.

It was better than nothing, but when something that was supposed to be used only for reconnaissance was proudly sent to the front line, it was often defeated by the Soviet-made T-26 and BT-5.

In the case of Tank No. 2, although it was much more useful than Tank No. 1, the majority opinion was that it was impossible to fight 1:1 with Soviet-made tanks.

Among the tanks owned by the Nationalists, there was no tank that could protect against the 20mm cannon of the No. 2 tank from the front, so its firepower could be said to be not bad, but it had the disadvantage that it was difficult to suppress the enemy position with one shot due to the lack of a tank gun.

In addition, its armor was thicker than that of Tank 1, but it was equally powerless against the 45mm tank gun.

"Do you have anything to say? "If you have any objections, please speak up at any time."

"······."

The generals who had been shouting that Tank No. 1 alone was sufficient immediately burrowed when I showed them the report on the Condor Corps.

If you made a lame excuse, I was planning to brush it off like a dog, but you at least have some sense.

"Do you know what Colonel Thomas wrote? He wrote, 'The most powerful tanks our military currently has are the T-26 and BT-5 tanks made by the Russians.' What did you guys say to me before? "Didn't you say that there was no need to send Panzer No. 2 because Tank No. 1 was sufficient?"

"S-sorry..."

"We were short-thinking."

Seeing the guys who used to make a fuss about being generals now calm down, I feel like my heart is being purified.

They must be embarrassed to have been proven wrong after frequently shouting opposition.

Well, I guess I'll just leave it at that and do my job.

Since this is a result obtained with the blood of soldiers, it should not be used vainly.

Wouldn't that be the only way to have the dignity to look at the dead soldiers?

"Not only the 1st Panzer, but also the 2nd Panzer has been proven to be weak, so the only thing left for us is to focus all our efforts on developing the 4th Panzer. Until 1939 at the latest, Panzer No. 4 should be the main force, and Panzer No. 1 and No. 2 should be moved to the rear or second-tier tanks. "Please keep my words in mind."

A more powerful, high-performance weapon was needed.

To do that, I still needed money.

Spending money recklessly won't solve everything, but without money, nothing can be done. That's how precious money really is.

I found the answer in China.

China's Chiang Kai-shek regime, which had established military cooperation with the Soviet Union until 1927, ended its relationship with the Soviet Union due to the collapse of the Chinese Communist Party and the Guangzhou riots caused by the Chinese Communist Party and was looking for a new partner for cooperation.

The new cooperation target that Chiang Kai-shek paid attention to was Germany.

In 1928, German-Chinese military cooperation began when Ludendorff's most trusted advisor, Colonel Max Bauer, who had served as a military advisor in many countries around the world, led a military advisory group to China.

However, when Bauer died of smallpox in 1929, Hermann Kriebel, a reserve lieutenant colonel and senior member of the Nazi Party who had participated in the Beer Hall Putsch, took over as acting head of the advisory group.

He soon gave up his position to Lieutenant General Georg Wetzel and returned to Germany.

Next to Wetzel was Hans von Seckt, one of Germany's greatest generals.

However, Sekt's health deteriorated and he returned to his home country in 1935, and as of 1936, the head of the German military advisory group in China was Alexander von Falkenhausen.

For reference, Kriebel went to China again two years ago and is serving as German Consul General in Shanghai and head of the Nazi Party's Far East branch.

Thus, the relationship between Germany and China was very amicable.

However, the Sino-Japanese War began, and Hitler, seeing the Japanese army continuing its winning streak, decided to join hands with Japan instead of China, breaking up the German-Chinese relationship.

Historians estimate that history would have been very different if Hitler had not broken off with China.

If Germany had maintained friendly relations with China instead of Japan, it would not have followed Japan's lead in attacking Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States, and the United States would not have intervened in the war in Europe.

Although there are no ifs in history, it is a very interesting assumption.

Knowing that Japan will wage war against Britain and the United States in the future, I plan to maintain friendly relations with China for a long time.

Above all, China is a country that purchased a significant amount of weapons from Germany and exported resources to Germany until relations with Germany deteriorated.

Thanks to China, Germany was able to not only make good profits but also stockpile various resources essential for the war effort.

Sell weapons to make money and get the resources you need. Isn't this killing two birds with one stone?

By the way, what day is today? It's November 22nd.

Soon, 'the incident' will occur in China.

"I guess I'll have to talk to Chiang Kai-shek soon."