On the afternoon of 5 April, after two days and two nights of galloping, the Führer's special train arrived in Spain and witnessed the final outcome of Gibraltar. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Since the beginning of the large-scale German offensive in early March, the fortress of Gibraltar has been the fiercest battlefield, although foreign aid has been cut off, the defenders have not voluntarily laid down their arms and surrendered as Germany and Spain expected, and are still determined to fight to the end.

The attack on Gibraltar was a rare large-scale army operation of the German army on the Western Front after the end of the Western European campaign, and the last time it was the Dieppe anti-landing campaign, and the beautiful results raised the junior Zeitzler to the position of chief of the army staff, so many people were eager to try the position of commander of the Gibraltar campaign. In terms of seniority, the most exalted position on the Western Front was the old marshal Rundstead, but he himself had always been obsessed with studying the tactics of counterattacking and resisting the landing in Western Europe, and did not care about the fortress of Gibraltar.

Since most of the generals of the Wehrmacht were leading troops on the Eastern Front, Hoffman did not want to occupy their energy when selecting commanders, so on the list of commanders reported by Keitel, Senior General Paulus, the former commander of the Sixth Army and the current chief of staff of the Western Front, ranked first. He diligently inspected various construction sites and strongholds in the Atlantic fortress, and did his best to help Rundstead dispatch all kinds of troops and resources, and worked very hard.

This made Hoffman's impression of him much better, perhaps this person should be the chief of the general staff (Paulus served as the deputy chief of the army general staff), and it was not suitable for the Sixth Army to be the commander of the field operations, so Paulus was selected as the commander of the Gibraltar campaign.

Paulus was thrilled by the appointment, and although he still did not understand why the Führer had suddenly moved him back from the post of commander of the Sixth Army, it now seemed that the Führer's trust in him remained the same. He suppressed his joy, played very methodically and patiently, and his movements were not impatient, and the whole offensive line slowly but resolutely moved forward:

On the first day of the offensive, hundreds of artillery pieces opened fire on Spanish territory, smashing to pieces the field fortifications and airfields in the northern sector of Gibraltar, followed by the indiscriminate bombardment of thousands of sorties every day, clearing any visible military targets with bombs. Only half of the pilots were Germans, 35% were Italians, and 15% were Spanish pilots - although Franco did not explicitly declare war on Britain, this did not mean that Spanish pilots could not take to the skies in their individual capacities.

Since Spain's clear attitude to the axis and provide an offensive field, the German side has provided a large number of arms, including BF-109, Stuka, 37mm anti-tank guns are slightly outdated for the German army, but for Spain is still excellent ammunition into the national army, the more advanced BF-219, HE-218, joint attack aircraft, No. 4 tank also armed the elite troops controlled by the Falangist in small batches, and part of the industrial capacity and orders are also transferred to Spain simultaneously, On the whole, Franco made a big profit, and of course Germany did not suffer a loss, not only obtained the right to use the military port and airport in western Spain, but also sent all kinds of Spanish resources to Germany according to the principle of fair pricing.

If the "universal transformation" is the first hidden talent of the Germans, then the second hidden talent is the "fortress Beacon" -- from the beginning of World War I, those world-renowned, known as impregnable, impregnable fortresses collapsed one by one under the attack of the German army, Belgium's Liege Fortress, Eben-Emar Fortress, the Soviet Union's Brest Fortress, Sevastopol Fortress, and Libya's Tobruk Fortress are all annotations of the German army's sharp attack, and the German army has accumulated rich experience through continuous attack. Unfortunately, Gibraltar became the ultimate test for the masters.

In addition to 16 283mmK5 train guns with a range of up to 57 kilometers, the Germans also used four super giant guns, namely the 420mm caliber fixed mortar gun "Gonma", the 610mm self-propelled mortar gun "Carl" and two 800mm cannon kings - train cannon "Gustav" and "Dora".

Paulus's goal was clear: the K5 train guns with a long range, a single bullet weighing 255 kilograms, and a rate of fire of up to 15 rounds per hour provided long-range suppression, and he divided the 16 K5s into 4 groups to ensure that shells fell on the British every minute, and the exposed field fortifications and the remaining anti-aircraft positions were contracted by the K5s, and there were artillery school shooters in the air to provide ballistic references. In just three days, the anti-aircraft positions and general fortifications deployed by the British were all reimbursed.

The K5 also had a target to gnaw on, and on the windmill platform in the northern section of the Rock Peak of the Gibraltar fortress, the British built three very strong batteries and deployed many 6-inch cannons, because these guns had a long range, Gustav and Dora would be threatened if they were to fight, so Paulus used a second weapon, the KG-300 Special Bombardment Group.

They are all equipped with Ju-188 bombers and mounted on the "Drillers" that have been successfully used in Malta - SC2500+ giant bombs, the Drillers have a hard reinforced steel shell and a hard head cone made of tungsten steel, which can ensure the penetration effect to the maximum extent and ensure that the projectile body is basically not deformed after penetration, and also has a remote control function, with extremely high-precision bombing effect, after the early suppressive coverage of the anti-aircraft gun position, no defenders can interfere with the actions of the German aircraft, This provides great convenience for the burrowers to throw.

Plane after plane flew over the rocky peak of the fortress of Gibraltar, which was only 100 meters above sea level, and threw the 2.5-ton driller down, and in just three days, the British fort was blown into rubble - all but a few lucky men and men who served in the fort were wiped out.

On 15 March, the focus of the German attack shifted to the southern part of the southern part of the Wind Mill Plateau, near the edge of the Mediterranean, on which there were four large armored batteries, each of which was equipped with twin 233mm caliber coastal defense guns.

There were more than 2,000 people serving Gustav and Dora, and a large number of very valuable engineers and technicians were occupied, but the power of the artillery was truly extraordinary, two 800mm caliber cannons alternately fired 7.1 tons of armor-piercing shells, penetrating the protective layer more than 7 meters thick, made of reinforced concrete and armor steel, causing a large explosion that shook the entire fortress, and after solving the first turret, the two cannons turned south along the improvised large railroad tracks, attacking the other three turrets one by one, until March 20, all the shore defense guns were destroyed by the Germans one by one. Throughout the process, the German infantry advanced simultaneously, using assault rifles, flamethrowers, iron fists, etc., to eliminate the British troops who were still stubbornly resisting in the rubble and wreckage.

The two sides fought each other, and even concealed British soldiers attempted to launch a surprise attack on the train, but this effort was undoubtedly thwarted. Kettle, who watched the game from the front, commented: "...... In them saw in them a courage that British officers and soldiers in North Africa and the Middle East did not have. ”

After resolving the batteries in the Wind Mill Plateau, the Germans continued their advance to the Europa Plateau to the south, and there was a small valley between the two platforms, in which four batteries were built, three of which were equipped with 233mm shore defense guns and one with 6-inch cannons. It took three weeks to conquer the batteries in front of them, and more than a week to build a specialized railway line to attack the last battery, the rugged and mountainous terrain caused great hardship for the Germans, and the small firing range made it impossible for Gustav and Dora to deploy, and Paulus ordered the use of other equipment.

At this time, "Karl", known as "Thor's Hammer", appeared. In order to suppress the British artillery counterattack, the 420mm caliber "Gangma" carried out carpet bombardment around the artillery position, and the 1-ton shells rained down, smashing all the roads and positions around the battery, and tearing the 6-inch howitzers and anti-aircraft guns that were maneuverably arranged into pieces. The air force was simultaneously dispatched to carry out more than 1,000 bombing sorties a day, and this time they used incendiary bombs, and the flames and scorching air turned the entire valley into a near-hell.

"Hooray!"

When the swastikat flag of the Third Reich was finally raised high above the ruins of the southernmost battery, not only all the German, Italian, and Spanish officers and men burst into shouts, but even the officers and men of the Japanese Combined Fleet who were watching the battle from a distance burst into cheers.

"Sir, the Germans have taken Gibraltar."

"Very well, go with the ships of the German Navy!"

Waiting in the distance, merchant ships after merchant ships struggled to cross the strait, laden with stones, and the German navy did not have time to slowly clear the mines, and finally resorted to the simplest and most brutal method - directly by boat.

With a "boom", an old Spanish transport ship triggered a mine, a large hole was blown out of the bottom of the ship, and the whole ship sank quickly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the crew climbed into the lifeboat with all hands and feet, and then watched the other ships continue to advance in columns.

At the cost of 17 ships, the central channel of the Strait of Gibraltar was emptied, and the Combined Fleet sailed out of the Strait and joined the German North Sea Fleet, which had been waiting for a long time, and entered the Atlantic...... (To be continued.) )