If Jonas had heard Admiral Diel's words, he would have praised him for his vision. Historically, the British Army's will to fight is really lackluster, as long as the strategic trend has gone, then no matter how many troops and weapons it still has, it will "surrender honorably" to the opponent without any reluctance.

In the Battle of Singapore in early 1942, 85,000 British troops unarmed the enemy en masse with less than a fraction of the casualties and only seven days of fighting. And the total number of troops facing them is only 36,000! Crucially, the defenders of Singapore were not indiscriminate Indian weaker brigades, but were mostly British and Australian troops with strong roots. When they learned that the fleet was finished, and that there was no hope of defending the lonely city on their own, their will to fight was completely broken.

Just a few months later, the British staged another drama of surrender in North Africa. After 4 days of fighting, the 35,000 Tobruk defenders raised the white flag with almost complete men and horses and enough supplies to use for one quarter. Even if the British made a major mistake in tactical deployment, it was by no means a reason to surrender so quickly! Compared with the fighting spirit of the Russians and the Poles in the face of adversity, the British Army was completely a scumbag, and they were not even as good as the Americans, at least the latter had a brilliant performance in the Battle of the Bulge at the end of 1944.

Churchill frowned when he heard this, the army's request to reinforce the defenders of Gibraltar was certainly right, but how could it be implemented at the specific tactical level? Pound has made it clear that the main force of the Navy will never act, which is tantamount to giving up on the rescue of Gibraltar fundamentally. After a long silence, Churchill looked at Dill and slowly spoke: "The naval and air forces have made great sacrifices to defend Britain. The Army should also uphold the spirit of the Duke of Wellington and fight for the country and the people until the last moment! Now is the critical juncture of Britain's life and death for 300 years, and all soldiers must completely change their mindset, and no one can not be sacrificed for the sake of the country and for the sake of victory. ”

"Then ask the Air Force to send a group of air-bombing planes that cover the sky and the sun to give a head-on blow when the Germans attack the fortress! Why is it that every time the army is sent to death, the air force can stay on the other side of the island and watch the fire, is it because of the word royal? To Churchill's surprise, Dill suddenly exploded. He slammed his palm on the conference table, and the roaring decibel almost shattered the window: "In the land battle in May this year, who held at least 500 fighters and 300 bombers on the ground and sat back and watched the defeat of the expeditionary force?" If this force had entered the war at the first opportunity, the expeditionary force would never have been wiped out in Belgium, even if it could not prevent the German army from sweeping through France! ”

Churchill's face turned red and he was choked so that he couldn't say a word for a long time, and Newwall, the chief of staff of the Air Force, wanted to argue a few words, but after seeing Diere's angry and gnashing teeth, he gradually lost his confidence and retreated. Present at this meeting today are all British core high-level leaders, who know all kinds of bad things: at the beginning, out of an extremely narrow self-preservation mentality, the Royal Air Force detained most of its forces on the mainland, which led to the fact that when the situation on land took a sharp turn for the worse, the small number of aircraft of the Air Force could not remedy it.

In order to make up for the loss of sheep and send more troops, the British high-level people were worried that it would be too late, lest the troops not only fail to save the defeated coalition forces when they arrived in France, but also put themselves into it. After all, going to France to participate in the war in the air is by no means just sending planes, and auxiliary groups such as ground crew, command, and supply must keep up. After hesitating and patrolling, the most precious opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of expeditionary troops slipped away in vain. Now that the bitter master Dill has uncovered the inside story and asked the guilt, where can the parties be allowed to launder and deny?

Although Churchill felt that he was quite aggrieved, and when he learned that the situation on land was unfavorable, he immediately asked the cabinet to send more planes, but he now knew very well that the gap between the army and the air force could not be allowed to continue to widen. In any case, the Air Force must say something about defending Gibraltar, otherwise he, the wartime prime minister, will most likely lose the support of the army and face resignation due to the discord between the branches of the army. With the British constitutional system, no one is irreplaceable, Aiden, Adley, Halifax and others have enough qualifications to form a cabinet!

"How many Wellington bombers are available in the Air Force right now?" Churchill asked as he turned to Newwall.

Newwall's face changed drastically, and the finger pointing at Churchill trembled a little: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, you don't really want the Air Force to go to Gibraltar to carry out a bombing mission, do you?" That's 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers)! Churchill felt a little unbearable, but when he saw the cold gaze of the two military chiefs of the sea and land, he was immediately replaced by firm indifference: "The current task of the air force is to fight for air supremacy over the Channel and southern Britain, and to disrupt the German landing fleet build-up. And these two things are enough to do with fighters and single-engine bombers. Now that Gibraltar was in crisis, it was time for twin-engine long-range bombers to realize their value. ”

“…… The Air Force has 14 squadrons of Wellington and three reserve squadrons, totaling about 200 aircraft. In fact, the total number of Wellingtons received by the Air Force is much more than that, with nearly 600 aircraft of all models combined, but now the crew is limited and can only maintain a small number of sorties. Seeing that the prime minister had made up his mind, Newwall knew that the Air Force couldn't hide this time, so he had to cry and shake out his own family background, "I can still accept the loss of the plane, but what should the pilot do?" Once a few sorties like this, no one will be able to drive the remaining twin-engine bombers at the base. ”

Pound and Dill glanced at each other, and the latter nodded slightly, "Please rest assured of this." The defenders of Gibraltar had recently opened a new miniature underground submarine cavern that could transport small amounts of personnel and supplies. As long as the air force pilots parachute into our controlled area, the navy can transport them back to China by submarine. ”

Newwall couldn't hide the look of surprise in his eyes, and then he scolded the army in his heart for being brazen. What was the original intention of this underground cavern? Isn't it for some commanders to run for their lives? I thought that if Gibraltar did not establish an airport in depth, the army would no longer be able to grease the soles of its feet, so it could only defend it, who would have thought that those commanders would be afraid of death, and they could come up with such a cunning trick! Thinking of the expeditionary force's previous shameful act of throwing away its allies in Belgium and only caring for its own runaway, Newwall could only have deep contempt: such a bastard army still wanted to win against the Germans? No wonder the mainstay of the German army is now the Royal Air Force!

Churchill did not feel anything wrong, but was overjoyed, and praised the defenders of the fort for their adaptation to local conditions. Churchill regained considerable confidence in holding on to this strategic location. He gave a boost to several of his military commanders, saying that Britain had made significant progress in relations with the United States, and that as long as Gibraltar held out for four to six months, the United States would complete its preparations for war and return to Europe with decisive force.

Hearing Churchill's optimistic description of the situation after the United States entered the war, Foreign Secretary Halifax, who had been silent, quietly frowned. According to what he has learned, the attitude of the United States towards the war is far less optimistic than Churchill described, and now, with the exception of Roosevelt and a few oligarchs of capital who had huge interests in Europe before the war, the vast majority of the people are strictly neutral, and the United States must no longer be allowed to stir up for Britain. If there is no fundamental change, the possibility of the United States personally ending up is almost zero, is Churchill's statement his true thoughts, or is it a fabricated picture just to stabilize the military generals?

"It's time to think about retreat." Halifax's eyes flickered, and he thought quietly.

In order to stall for time, the British government waited until 10 minutes before the ultimatum expired to make an official reply. Despite gritting his teeth at Franco, Churchill resisted the urge to declare war and expressed regret only for Spain's choice. It's not just a year ago, and the environment in which Britain can push a third-rate country against itself without any scruples is gone. Since Franco was unwilling to completely tear his face apart, Churchill had no choice but to continue to make false promises with the other party, so that at least he could have a slightly decent account for the parliament and the people at home.

In the meantime, Admiral Deere had ordered the defenders of Gibraltar to be put on first level of combat readiness, and the units were put into the assault phase of fortifications, ready to meet the invading enemy from all directions. At the same time, more than a dozen British submarines began to assemble towards the Iberian Basin, and their goal was to enter the Strait of Gibraltar to prepare for the arrival of the Axis fleet from the east. Despite Marshal Pound's clear statement that he would not send a fleet to support, the submarines were clearly not among them. Compared to the incomplete surface fleet, they were the only complete member of the British Navy.

In fact, this little trick played by the British did not buy them much effort. Because the German army had amassed a large number of men and supplies, it would have taken more than 10 days to fully transport them from France to Spain. With the roar of the locomotive, the whole train of shells, explosives, and baggage rumbled over the Pyrenees, day and night; The German planes roared and quickly moved around, and the ground crews were busy counting the fuel and various spare parts that had been transported from the rear. Positions were built, airfields were built, and Spain, a nominally neutral country, soon sprung up everywhere, and countless German barracks and depots and supply depots quickly sprung up.

In preparation for the operation, the German Army prepared up to 500,000 rounds of artillery shells and 15,000 tons of aerial bombs, which was already even more exaggerated than during the attack on the fortress of Verdun in 1916, taking into account the difference in the caliber of the artillery.

Without waiting for the main attacking forces on the ground to arrive, the German aviation forces took the lead in the attack. On 21 September, a cluster of 130 Do-17 and He-111 bombed Gibraltar, which, despite the unflattering accuracy of their bombing, succeeded in blowing up the southern surface of Gibraltar and depriving it of its status as an airfield.

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