In the early morning of September 22, the Plymouth Airport in the southwest of England roared loudly, and more than 70 Wellington bombers lined up on the asphalt runway, the first of which was already soaring into the vast sky. Looking from the tower closely, I only feel that each bomber is so majestic and solemn, full of momentum; There were cheers on the ground, and the ground crews after the end of work took off their hats and waved their hats at the plane, wishing their comrades a smooth victory.

In the cockpit of one of the bombers, the British commander, Major Clark, had a gloomy face. He knew full well what a stupid mission he was on: the fleet needed to fly for more than six hours on a 1,700-kilometer expedition to attack enemy air bases deep inland, and although his spies in Spain could help him with navigation and target guidance, it was still a near-death operation. Because he could not be escorted by fighter jets throughout the whole process, no matter what situation he encountered, he could only rely on the fuselage structure and 6 7.62 mm machine guns to carry it, and Wellington's body was obviously not very strong, and it was even more difficult to use self-defense firepower!

"What the hell is going on, why not reject the stupid idea of a bunch of office politicians in London patting their heads?" Clark complained loudly from the cockpit, drawing in the hearts of the other five crew members. According to British Air Force estimates, the Germans had at least 800 fighters deployed in northern France, and even if the other side sent only a tenth of their strength to Spain, it would be enough to make their lone army suffer heavy losses. You know, counting the return trip, the bomber formation will stay in Spain for 6 hours, and the German fighters have a lot of opportunities to intercept it!

However, no matter how much the heart resists, once the order is given, it can no longer be changed. Clark understands this, too, and his frustration with the London hierarchy is limited to a small group of a few people around him. Today's mission will last more than 11 hours, and if the whole team does not speed up the take-off, then the return and landing will likely be delayed into the night, adding many dangers and uncertainties.

After more than three hours of flying, close to 10 a.m., Clark finally saw the gray continental shelf at the edge of the ocean below. Preliminary positioning, the fleet has reached the northern edge of the Iberian Peninsula, and a few dozen kilometers to the south is the high and continuous Cantabrian Mountains. Clark's expression was full of solemnity, and it was only 6 hours of hell to come. Even if the Germans did not have a radar station, the huge sound of the bombers whistling over them could not be concealed, and during the time they flew over the target in another three hours, they would inevitably be severely tested by enemy fighters.

Leone...... Valladolid ...... Salamanca...... As the fleet flew past the Spanish cities, Clark's anxiety and fear grew stronger, like a traveler walking among the snowy peaks, knowing that an avalanche was bound to happen, but not knowing when the disaster would come. In a trance, another 2 hours were spent with difficulty. It was almost noon, and there was a sudden exclamation from the calm communicator, and Clark suddenly excited, looked up at the sound, and immediately saw about fifty small black dotted flying objects appear in the sky on the left!

"All crews are in combat readiness, and it is important to maintain a queue position. Repeat, be sure to keep the queue position! ”

Clark's response was not incorrect, and the bombers had to maintain a formation in the face of a large number of fighter interceptions in order to offset their maneuverability and firepower disadvantages to the greatest extent. However, the British Air Force, which had just experienced the war, was inexperienced after all, and they had not yet realized the dense box-type formation in the late stage of World War II in history, and there were still obvious gaps between the aircraft. Coupled with the insufficient range of the 7.62 mm aviation machine gun, the British aircraft group seriously lacked effective mutual support, and it was simply impossible to form a dense enough barrage in a single direction.

And the enemy in front of them is the opposite. It was a formidable force that had fought in the skies of Spain since 1936 and had now been thoroughly tempered by the flames of war between Poland and France. After a brief trial, the Germans immediately seized the hole in the defensive line of the British aircraft group and began to use their squads to force the British bombers at the edge of the queue to form an absolute advantage in the local battlefield. Usually, 3~4 German fighters attack 1 British bomber, but the latter can only get weak fire support from nearby friendly planes, and friendly planes farther away can only stare dryly!

In just 10 minutes, 11 Wellingtons turned into meteors and fell from the sky, while only one fighter on the opposite side returned injured and returned home. The German veterans used their experience and superb combat skills to remind the British of the fear of being dominated in the Battle of France: they could not escape the fate of falling to their deaths despite all their might, and were shot down in batches like turkey hunting over the Maas River. And the little self-confidence that the British pilots had finally accumulated in the air battle of Britain was also wiped out with the rapid loss of their own aircraft: the reason why they were able to fight back and forth with the opponent on home soil was entirely because the opponent had fuel restrictions, and now that the opponent was sitting at home, it was not too easy to clean up himself!

In less than half an hour, the British bomber group completely collapsed. With their lineup more than half shrunk and several still trailing heavy black smoke, Clark had no choice but to abandon the mission and retreat in the face of a nearly intact lineup of German fighters. If we continue to rush forward, everyone will die in the middle of the road, and if we drop the bomb and run for our lives now, maybe a few people will be able to escape. Although the Wellington bomber was nearly 200 miles slower than the German BF-109, the latter was just as notoriously short-legged as his own fighters: after the interception, Clark expected that his opponent would not have much fuel to run another marathon with him.

Clarke, however, missed a bit. German fighters do not need to return to the departure airfield, but can find a flat ground at will and land nearby, and with the current attitude of Spain, they will go to great lengths to rescue and protect it. After settling this concern, the German pilots pursued him with great ferocity, and Clark watched as several deadly Assassins followed him from behind, unleashing deadly glare at him. The plane shuddered violently and began to roll uncontrollably to the right, and in a whirlwind, a fireball completely engulfed the entire cockpit......

"Report, our fighter formation successfully intercepted the British aircraft group, confirmed that 54 enemy planes were shot down, and 5 were damaged by themselves, and they are still chasing and killing the remnants of the enemy at this moment!" Located in the aviation command 70 kilometers north of Gibraltar, Commander Richthofen was the first to receive the exciting news. He let out a long exhale, his face showing a bit of revenge. His men lived up to his promise and brought him back a hearty victory, and now, with the last restraint of air strikes on Gibraltar gone, the 8th Air Force could withdraw its vigilance forces and bombard the few remaining forts in the fort with all its might.

In the afternoon of the same day, German bombers again swarmed out and launched a thunderous air attack on Gibraltar. On average, several bombs fell on the heads of the British troops every minute, stirring up clouds of flames and surging waves. The four surviving forts of the previous day were destroyed one after another, or were completely broken and shattered from the inside by the armor-piercing bombs; Or it was densely pasted with a large amount of high-explosive charges, shattering the bearings and twisting the barrels. As the setting sun slowly dissipated into the western sky, Gibraltar's long-range suppression fire was almost completely extinguished, leaving only a 234mm cannon bolt embedded in the boulder mountain, still guarding the southern minefield and the eastern sea.

"Inform the Army guys that their artillery can be deployed to forward positions." Richthofen carefully analyzed the aerial photographs of the battlefield, and then said to the adjutant. According to the plan, the 28 artillery battalions will be the most direct support for the attacking troops, and they can provide stable and accurate artillery fire at the first time according to the battlefield feedback, which is not comparable to Stuka in terms of timeliness and continuity. Of course, the Army is still an important suppressive force, and in the event of a semi-concealed fort, Stuka will crush any resistance with 500kg armor-piercing aerial bombs.

The night was deep, the stars were shining, and under the cold moonlight, more than 400 guns of various types were dragged and towed, and they were deployed in a predetermined area one after another. Engineers built lookouts and laid telephone lines overnight, while soldiers from the baggage company drove trucks or mules and horses to transport truckloads of ammunition forward. Tomorrow the artillery will carry out a whole day of fire suppression, destroying front-line mines, barbed wire, trenches and other fortifications with steel storms, clearing a way for the infantry to attack. The initial projection of 100,000 rounds of artillery shells posed a rather onerous logistical task.

It is worth mentioning that this astonishing amount of artillery ammunition was not made by Germany, but by French goods. At the beginning, France was bent on using the Maginot Line to consume German troops, and hoarded a large amount of arms on the southern front, but as a result, all of these equipment were captured by Germany, and the logistics efficiency was even better than that of Kaishengong. Due to the difference in equipment, this huge amount of arms was somewhat resembling a chicken rib in the hands of the German army, and this storming of the fortress of Gibraltar was just the right place for the British to taste the iron fist of their former allies.

Time passed, and the first bright colors appeared in the dark sky in the east, and the soldiers in charge of the artillery lookout immediately went into action, setting the firing parameters for the artillery based on the observations. Although it was not a domestic equipment, the German officers and men were still very familiar with it, and the method of using it had long been known from the prisoners of war, and the attitude of cooperation with Germany advocated by Petain benefited the German army in various fields. The Germans were surprised to find that the indicators of the French Schneider gun were even better than their own similar products, and it was a little difficult to believe; This time, they had to test the suitability of the French artillery through actual combat and make a detailed evaluation of it.

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