At about 5 o'clock in the morning, London was still immersed in pre-dawn darkness, but in the official office at 10 Downing Street, the sharp telephone rang suddenly. Churchill's body moved, and he struggled to get up from his bed, and with a sense of foreboding in his heart, he slowly reached out and grabbed the telephone receiver to his ear.

"Your Excellency, I'm Halifax, and I'm sorry to disturb your sleep. Fifteen minutes ago, the Government of Spain handed my country an ultimatum with a deadline of 24 hours to reply, demanding that Great Britain hand over Gibraltar to them in its entirety. Otherwise, Spain would have been transformed from neutral to non-belligerent, and the northern ports and land borders would be fully opened to the Wehrmacht. Although the voice on the phone was tried to be controlled, it still revealed a panic that was difficult to hide.

Churchill's heart was shaken, and all the tiredness and sleepiness disappeared without a trace in an instant. He lifted the bed and got down to the floor with a snort, still checking again at the earpiece in disbelief. Churchill wondered if Franco was still vacillating in neutrality last month, taking the opportunity to ask for all kinds of financial assistance from him. What kind of ecstasy did Hitler pour into him that made Franco, a treacherous and changeable wallgrass, completely fall to Germany so quickly?

After receiving an affirmative reply, Churchill put down the earpiece as if struck by lightning. But his panic and frustration lasted only a short moment, and in his deep breath, his eyes were replaced by fortitude. Moments later, Churchill called out to his adjutant and demanded an emergency cabinet military meeting at 6:30, and one hour later, all the cabinet members and generals were present, and Churchill waved his hand with a serious face, and went straight to the main focus.

"Everyone knows the news this morning. In the face of the dagger poked by Spain's perfidy, what should we do? Personally, I categorically reject the Spanish ultimatum, and Great Britain will never succumb to any intimidation! They want to take Gibraltar by force, so it's good to come, Great Britain will fight until the last moment, and don't want to get 1 square foot of territory without stepping on us! ”

Churchill shook his fist and roared, drawing the approval of cabinet members and generals. Although they are not as tough as the prime minister, who are often clamoring to fight the Germans to the end on this planet, the pride accumulated by the world hegemon over the past three hundred years is still there, and it is impossible to admit it as easily as a small country. Britain can't beat those reckless Germanic barbarians, so what kind of goods is Spain? If it weren't for the German soldiers, the Royal Air Force would have turned Madrid into a second Guernica in minutes, and let Franco understand why the flowers are so red!

Militarily, Britain had no reason to compromise with Spain, except for political sentiments. For Britain, Gibraltar's greatest value was to block the western exit to the Mediterranean, and to give it to the Spaniards would be to open this crucial door to the axis. Under the coercive influence of Germany, could Spain still say nothing about the opening of the strait? What is the difference between this and the capture of a fortress by Germany?

"Gibraltar is at the heart of the current war, and we must guarantee at all costs that it is not occupied by the enemy. Do you have any ideas? Churchill raised his glass of water and moistened his dry throat and said expectantly.

Everyone in the conference room looked at each other, and it was quiet for a while. Churchill's expression froze on his face, and then a flame of anger suddenly ignited from his heart, and his gaze went straight to Admiral Cyril Newwall on the right, and he said in a gloomy voice: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff of the Air Force, you have just thwarted the attempt of the German Army to destroy our army and inflict heavy casualties on the enemy aircraft, and now, do you not have any plan to defend Gibraltar?"

Admiral Newwall looked helpless and said, "Your Excellency, the defense of England and the defense of Gibraltar are completely two situations. In England our army had enough depth to meet the enemy from all over the place, but Gibraltar was only 2.5 square miles in total, and all surface targets were completely exposed to enemy strikes. Once the battle began, the Germans would be enough to destroy our airfield with artillery alone, and even the number of planes I deployed would not be able to seize air supremacy. ”

"As for sending planes from the mainland, it is also difficult to do so. It was a full 1,000 miles from southwest Wales to Gibraltar, and fighter jets simply couldn't fly that far; The twin-engine Wellington bomber was barely able to reach it, but it had to traverse the entire Iberian Peninsula longitudinally, all while being intercepted by German fighters and anti-aircraft guns. If we had carried out long-range unescorted bombing with Wellington, the losses would have been staggering. Newwall added.

Churchill's face turned blue and white, and Newwall's words were ostensibly explaining the reason, but in fact he was beating himself for not knowing tactics at all; But Churchill was really right by him, and the difference between Gibraltar and the mainland was not carefully considered at all. Churchill forcibly suppressed the depression in his heart and asked in a deep voice: "Then what do you mean, the air force should completely abandon the operation and let Gibraltar be destroyed by the Germans?" ”

"At present, the Air Force has nearly 900 fighters of various types, and the number of pilots flying them is also 800, and the air supremacy is not inferior to that of Germany, and the key is that there is no front-line base close to the theater of operations." Newwall got up and walked to the map, and poked at the southern Portuguese port of Faro with his whip, "If the army can land here and set up several logistically complete airfields, the air force will be sure to thwart the German attempt at Gibraltar." ”

The Chief of Staff of the Army, John Deere, glanced at Newwall without any emotion, and even Churchill frowned and shook his hand a little irritably. Newwall is only 50 kilometers from the Spanish border, and 150 kilometers further east is Seville, Spain's southern railway hub; The German Panzer Division could arrive from Paris in two days, and on the fourth day, it would be in the city. With the current strength of the British Army, returning to the mainland is completely sending people to death, no matter how much they go, they will be wantonly tortured and killed by the Germans like chopping melons and vegetables!

"It's absolutely not going to work!" Before Admiral Dill could open his mouth to object, First Sea Minister Pound could not sit still. In the face of everyone's gaze, Pound eagerly explained his reasons. Although the establishment of a base in Portugal is the leading role of the army and air force, the early landing is done by the navy; And it was too risky to sail the fleet to the southern coast of Portugal, and the German bombers taking off from Spain would be able to teach the British fleet how to behave in minutes!

“…… The Tejas aircraft carrier will be trained for four months, and it can be considered to have basic combat capabilities, but the Gloucester Sea Fighter she carries is no match for German land-based fighters, and it cannot support reliable air protection at all. If the fleet forced its way to Portugal, God knows how many warships would be sunk? Pound clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, "The Royal Navy has never been afraid of sacrifice, but it must not accept this kind of stupid mission of voluntarily sending people to death. ”

"Marshal, how many capital ships are left in the Navy now?" After a moment of silence, Churchill asked.

Pound's face was sad, and he slowly spoke: "After the Battle of the Danish Strait, the main body of the Royal Navy is only 4 slow battleships (Barham, Revenge, Ramillis, Royal Oak) and 1 fleet aircraft carrier (Brilliant). They and the other 4 heavy cruisers and 10 light cruisers also have to take care of North Atlantic shipping, and their troops are simply stretched. Things will improve slightly next month, and we will get 2 battleships USS George V and HMS Elizabeth, 1 aircraft carrier HMS Dreadnought, and 4 light cruisers, but these warships will need at least a quarter to run-in. ”

Hearing Pound's words, Churchill's heart was desolate and sour, and the idea of landing in Portugal just now was thrown out of the sky by him, and there was not the slightest thought. As the first two Admiralty Ministers, Churchill knew very well how dangerous this force was for Britain; Whether the army and air force are strong or not, the current navy can no longer afford a rash and risky action with no reciprocal results. With a deep sigh, Churchill did not ask Pound how to support the enclave, but turned to Deere to understand the defense of Gibraltar.

To Churchill's hearten, Gibraltar's defence exceeded his expectations. The main garrison of the fortress consisted of 6 battalions, all of which were veteran units from the King's Regiment, Somerset Light Infantry Regiment, Black Guard Regiment, and Devonshire Regiment. In addition, Gibraltar also has one heavy artillery regiment, two antiaircraft artillery regiments, one searchlight company and a large number of engineering and communications units, with a total strength of more than 10,000 troops.

From the day of France's surrender, the British, who had a premonition that Gibraltar would be attacked, began to send supplies desperately, and up to now, Gibraltar had enough food and ammunition to support the defenders for 14 months. Combined with the dense defensive line of the northern isthmus and the maze of majestic and solid mountains in the central boulder, Admiral Dill confidently referred to it as the "European Lushun", indicating that the British had held out long enough to keep pace with the Eastern Fort 36 years earlier.

"Combined with the lessons learned from the rapid loss of the Belgian fortress in early May, we defended Gibraltar with a particularly targeted defence, and the Germans would never happen again with gliders to take control of the surface. If they dare to come, the anti-aircraft machine guns and commandos will destroy them without much effort! "It's just that the homeland should provide all kinds of visible support to the defenders, so as to give them hope of holding on." Otherwise, once the defenders are surrounded and bombarded indiscriminately by countless firepower, even if they still have the strength to hold on, after a long time, they are very likely to choose to surrender out of despair for the future. ”

。 The fastest website for mobile version update: m.