On January 26, 1938, Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, fell under the powerful offensive of the coalition forces.
On February 8, the last IRA stronghold in Catalonia fell, Figueres, and 250,000 IRAs were disarmed after crossing the French border. The next day, the National Army and the Intervention Army reached the French-Spanish border, completely severing the land contact between the Spanish Republican Army and other countries.
On February 11, the entire territory of Catalonia was occupied, and the 46-day Catalan campaign ended with a complete victory for the National Army.
After the fall of Catalonia, the situation of the republican military government deteriorated sharply.
On February 27, Chamberlain and Faraday stood on the podium almost at the same time.
"On behalf of the United Kingdom, I officially recognize the legitimacy of the Franco regime in Spain, and sever diplomatic relations with the republican government. I hope that the warring parties in Spain will return to the negotiating table as soon as possible and bring peace to the Spanish people as soon as possible!"
"We officially recognize the legitimacy of the Franco regime in Spain and have established ambassadorial-level diplomatic relations with it. At the same time, we strongly condemn the interference in other countries' internal affairs by Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union!"
On March 3, the main deck of the cruiser "Liberty" at the Spanish Republican Army Naval Base Cartanach.
"Hey, guys, we can't let those officers who don't command at all command us anymore!" A Spanish navy lieutenant stood on the No. 2 turret of the Liberty, facing the excited sailors below. shouted, "The war is over, they have no reason for us to be buried with the Republicans!"
"That's right! The war is over!" "Let the damn Azania die, I want to go home!" "Let us go back, we've fought for you, and that's righteous enough." Main deck The sailors on board responded in a loud voice.
Inside the bridge, a group of officers locked the hatch and watched nervously at the angry sailors on the deck.
"Captain, what should we do?" the first mate asked the captain with a pale face.
The captain didn't seem to panic at all. He even poured himself a glass of red wine, shook the glass, and said with a sneer, "What should I do? Humph! You, go and give the highest lieutenant a bit of color to that station!"
The first officer shook his head again and again, joking, he was being blocked in the bridge like a rat, now give them some color to see? What's the difference between that and shooting at the powder keg next to you?
"Coward!" The captain glanced at his first mate, then snatched the rifle from a guard beside him, walked to the porthole and aimed at the lieutenant who was still giving a passionate speech.
"Snapped!"
The lieutenant, who was still giving a speech, trembled with the sound of the gunfire. He glanced at his chest in disbelief, and slowly fell on the fort.
"As long as I'm alive, the 'Freedom' will always be loyal to the Republic!" The captain slapped the gun back into the guard's hand.
The sailors below stared blankly at what was happening in front of them, until a sailor's roar pulled them back to reality.
"Go! Avenge the lieutenant!"
The sailor's cry was quickly answered by the other sailors, who raised their rifles and rushed towards the bridge.
"Fire! Fire! The Republican Army doesn't need traitors!" Inside the bridge, the captain drew out his pistol, and while firing through the porthole, he ordered the officers and guards around him who were loyal to the Republican Army.
A melee started. People on both sides shot at each other through the small portholes. Some people fell down and people continued to take over.
Other warships on the side of the cruiser Liberty observed the mutation on the Liberty and wanted to come to help, but they were soon treated the same as Liberty - the sailors on their ships also happened Mutiny.
After all, the sailors who love peace and want to end the war accounted for the majority. Most of the officers on the bridge of the "Freedom" were quickly wiped out, and only a small number remained stubbornly resisted under the leadership of the captain. The first officer huddled behind an iron bench and listened to the bullets flying over his head, which made him terrified. He gritted his teeth and said to himself: "Damn! Damn! I can't die here, I can't die at the end of this war!"
The captain, who used the bridge as a cover, emptied the pistol, and retracted to change the magazine for the pistol. At this time, he found the shivering first officer huddled behind the stool.
While skillfully loading the pistol with a magazine, the captain roared at the first officer, "Bastard! Raise your head, pick up your gun, and shoot!"
After speaking, he raised his body again and fired bullets at the sailors outside.
"I can't die here... I can't die here..." The first officer repeated this sentence mechanically, then to Shoot several times.
"Long live the Republic... Country..." The captain closed his eyes with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.
"Hey! Cease fire! Cease fire! The captain is dead, we don't need to fight anymore!" The first mate who killed the captain shouted and stood up, wanting everyone to cease fire so that he could live.
But neither of his wishes were fulfilled - no ceasefire, and he couldn't survive.
The first mate who stood up was obviously a good target. Almost all the sailors gave up their original target and aimed at him instead.
"Damn..." The first officer stared blankly at the muzzle of countless black holes, muttered a grumble, and then was shot into a sieve by countless bullets and collapsed to the ground - just like the captain who was killed by him. .
The exchange of fire lasted for a long time, and in the end, the renegade sailors, who were outnumbered, were victorious.
After they won the "ownership" of the ship, they still did not forget to help their partners on other warships. After the rebellious officers were breathing, the "Freedom" started the engine and leaned towards the other warships that were still fighting.
The sailors ran to the positions of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns. Under the instructions of the other warship mutiny soldiers, they used the anti-aircraft firepower originally used to deal with enemy aircraft to target the loyal officers and soldiers on their own warships, and then pulled the fire. trigger.
With the fire support of two 47mm anti-aircraft guns and more than a dozen large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns on the "Freedom", the loyal officers and soldiers were quickly wiped out. of various injuries.
An hour later, the victorious mutiny officers and soldiers gathered at the port.
"What should we do next?" Countless sailors were asking this question, and then all turned their attention to the highest-ranking navy colonel among them.
"Gentlemen, we have to leave Spain." The colonel said after thinking for a while, "We want peace, but the current warring parties obviously cannot give us this request. We can only leave Spain and go to the surrounding countries to wait for the war to end. Finish!"
"Mr. Colonel, then which country should we go to?" a sailor asked suspiciously.
"France!" the officer replied, "The Mediterranean Sea is now full of Italian warships. We can't go to the Mediterranean side. We can only go to the Bay of Biscay via the Strait of Gibraltar!"