When the thunder exploded in the sky, the sound shook the earth, and the four Italian battleships burst out one after another with dazzling cannon flames, like a fire dragon roaring into the sky. Although Jonas had already seen the magnificence of the Bismarck's volley, he still felt that it was spectacular. He can understand why today, with the rapid development of aviation technology, the fleet factions of the navies of various countries can still hold the power and stand tall - every shot of those large-caliber naval guns can wildly break into the hearts of those who witnessed it from both the audio-visual aspects, and mark a profound mark that is difficult to remove!

About 40 seconds later, heavy shells screeched down from the sky, stirring up thick columns of water and brilliant fire. As Rear Admiral Iris, commander of the Italian fleet, said, they were still somewhat sure of dealing with fixed targets, and although there were still some problems with the range, the angle of maneuver was quite accurate, and the shells landed at a distance of 4 kilometers from the nearest German positions in the north. According to the impact transmitted by the seaplane, the gunnery officer immediately adjusted the parameters of the scope and re-found the target in the field of vision; A few minutes later, a second wave of shells was fired with a deafening explosion.

According to Jonas's plan, the fleet, after a short period of long-range suppression, should advance as soon as possible to within 10 kilometers of the peninsula and open fire. Because even if there are airborne aircraft calibrating the ballistics, there is a noticeable longitudinal dispersion of the landing point of the naval guns themselves. In particular, this Italian-made 1912 305 mm 46 times the diameter of the cannon, the amount of charge is as high as 140kg, and the severe bore ablation makes its shells inaccurate, and more than 700 meters are scattered from 20,000 meters.

Against such a large target as a battleship, the accuracy of this type of artillery is not very prominent, but now they are bombing land fortifications dozens of times smaller, and such a large error is obviously unacceptable!

But when Jonas made this request to Aerys, the latter's head shook like a rattle. The Italians said that at the moment British heavy shore guns could not be confirmed to be completely destroyed, so they had to stay out of range of the opponent, and the threat of British submarines had not been eliminated, and the fleet would only increase the chance of a sneak attack when the fleet approached and fired. With the level of training of the Italian sailors on these battleships, Aerys could not guarantee the effectiveness of the damage after being hit by a torpedo.

Faced with this last powerful and domineering reason, Jonas could only be defeated. He finally got a first taste of the historical suffering of Rommel and Kesselring on the Southern Front: the Italians did not appear to have come to war at all. This is still the navy with the best combat readiness, and the sailors have no way to escape in boats, so they can only carry out the orders from above to fight. Now Jonas can only hope that his luck will be better, otherwise the four battleships will carry a total of 5,200 main gun shells, and if the hit rate is too low, it will not be able to substantially destroy several fortifications.

By dusk, all the ammunition for the main guns was squandered by the losing Italians. In the end, Aerys did not let the fleet get closer to the peninsula than 18 kilometers, and before the seaplanes could complete the recovery, he ordered the flagship to turn around and speed forward due east.

On the battleship Durio, it was a jubilant atmosphere at this time. All Italians were celebrating today's "glorious victory": they successfully shelled the British Empire's centuries-old fortifications, blasting enemy positions into a "sea of fire", while only one of their own sailors was crushed while transporting ammunition. The Royal Italian Navy fully demonstrated its strength and courage in this battle, which is enough to shine in the annals of their war and carry on the future.

Jonas stared at Aerys with a cold look in his eyes, now fully aware of the other man's calculations. The latter showed little interest in attacking the British, and only treated the operation as a real combat exercise; What he did was to minimize the risk of his actions and bring all the ships back safe and sound. Thus, all of Aerys's commanding orders today can be explained. Run out of ammunition as quickly as possible, then let the fleet retreat quickly, minimizing the risk of being exposed to dangerous waters and being attacked by submarines. As for the effect of the shelling, what does it have to do with the Italian Navy? Anyway, the Germans went to attack Gibraltar, and no matter how much they died, they couldn't die on their heads!

"This time I went back, I had to promote the establishment of a joint command of the two navies. Otherwise, in the future, when the Italian fleet enters the Atlantic, there will be no one to restrain them! Jonas thought through gritted teeth. Today, if Aerys had not been, he would have been killed, without the instructions of the Italian naval command; Rao is holding Mussolini's decree, and he can't stop the military leaders below from disobeying the yin and yin, only caring about their own interests and stumbling and obstructing. This operation is really a wake-up call for Jonas that the most violent sledgehammer must be used to deal with the broken drum of Italy.

The hasty departure of the Italian fleet did not affect the established offensive plans of the German army. In the early morning of 24 September, the first mountain infantry appeared on the edge of Spain's southern border. They tentatively touched the front along the passage that had been blown up by their own artillery fire, while the soldiers with field communicators on their backs were obscene in the rear, ready to call for artillery support at any time. At the same time, dozens of German Army Airlines flew back and forth over the war zone, and they also established good communication with the ground, and were able to respond immediately in a matter of minutes.

"Whew! ...... "Bullets rained down intensively, the guns were like cracks and piercing, and the hidden firing points carefully constructed by the British were finally no longer silent, and countless whirling deadly metals were fired. The German soldiers were swept down in pieces, scarlet blood soaked the ground, and many more quickly crawled to cover up, suppressing the counterattack with various weapons. Soon, the German heavy artillery at the rear of the battlefield opened fire again, and the British firepower point in the exposed position was again caught in the heavy fire wave generated by the explosion. Some of them were directly destroyed, and the rest lost their resistance in the continuous artillery suppression.

“…… Enemy artillery fire was exceptionally accurate, covering almost every defensive fulcrum I knew. Less than 5 minutes after a machine gun bunker fired, three shells fell near it, and none of its craters were less than 15 feet in diameter, which must have been a 6-inch heavy gun! Enemy planes in the air strafed the ground back and forth, with such braze, that the soldiers could not hide the slightest time, and they would immediately be beaten to pieces by large-caliber machine guns. It soon became clear that my sighting had lost its meaning, as the rear mortar position was suddenly terminated by aerial bombs, and a whole platoon was killed. Can anyone tell me how this battle should be fought? A British lookout soldier recalled after the war.

In the face of the thunderous and lightning-like open space and dense fire of the German army, the British commander James was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, but he was at a loss. Gibraltar's most critical defense against land invasion was the artillery batteries equipped with cannons on the mountain, but now these fortifications have been completely destroyed, and the fortress has lost its long-range strike capability, and can only be beaten in the face by the Germans with heavy artillery in front of the house. In this case, the other fortifications, no matter how well they were built, would not last long: a few aerial bombs were enough to paralyze any fortress.

In just nine hours, James was forced to give the order to abandon his northern position and withdraw his entire army into the Great Rock Mountain in the middle of the peninsula. The battle reports from the front were simply shocking, and the casualties of the troops were far beyond what he could accept: the fortress hospital was quickly filled, and many wounded soldiers covered in blood could only lie in the aisles, panting and groaning in pain. If you hold on to those positions and send your reserves to the front line for reinforcements, it will be tantamount to pushing people to death under German artillery fire, and retreating to the interior of the mountain to resist will have a higher survival rate!

"Even if our army has a geographical advantage, it is difficult to hold out for more than 1 week. With no reinforcements and no hope of breaking the siege, how many soldiers are willing to stay in this huge mountain coffin and wait for death in vain? "A major battalion commander was full of apprehension in his report to James. Just one hour ago, the retreat tunnel of the No. 9 defense area of the front line was blown up, and as a result, more than 20 defenders in the three bunkers quickly surrendered collectively with white flags, handing over this area with a wide line of fire. On the same day, James sent three more telegrams to London, each with more and more intense wording, demanding that he must receive effective support to boost morale and defeat the enemy.

"Damn, the Air Force will never make such a senseless sacrifice again. Could it be that if the army defenders can't hold on, they must be accompanied by the air force to their deaths? "At the London military conference, the Chief of Staff of the British Air Force, Newwall, broke out directly. He roared and squirted a spit star, his eyes red and staring at Dill and Churchill. The sortie a few days ago cost him a quarter of his twin-engine bomber crew, and now that the Army is going to call someone to block their guns, how can Newwall continue to be silent?

Looking at Newwall, who was almost violent and about to flip the table without saying a word, Churchill's expression was painful, and the fat on his face was tightly squeezed together. Judging from the actions of the day before yesterday, the long-distance bombing of targets 1,600 kilometers away was indeed too reluctant for the air force, but this was the only way that Britain could support the defenders of Gibraltar at present, and the reinforcement with submarines was simply a drop in the bucket and did not play any role in the war situation.

Is Gibraltar really going to be lost in the coming days? Thinking of this nightmarish situation, Churchill panicked for the first time in the face of the bloody facts. But after a few moments, Churchill had already calmed down. No matter how difficult and dangerous the road ahead is, he, the representative of the main battle faction, must not have any fear, otherwise the British resistance may really loosen and collapse from the inside out!

After a moment of silence, Churchill slowly said, "Please start working out a battle plan against the Italian fleet." The German and Italian navies will inevitably have discord in command and will not be able to cooperate thoroughly, but we still have the confidence to persevere. As long as we persevere, we will definitely find an opportunity for victory! ”