"This is the last one this morning, Liddell." John spread his palms and said to the little tailless monkey in front of him. The little North African tailless monkey raised its head and looked at the British Army sergeant in front of it ignorantly, this cute cub hesitated slightly, and then carefully stretched out its little paws and grabbed the delicious dried fruit from the other party's outstretched big hand.

"You're such a gluttonous little fellow." The sergeant flipped over his palm and touched the little monkey's head.

"Sergeant, breakfast is ready." Private Hirshion had been busy at the table for more than ten minutes, and finally got his breakfast done. The young Englishman had an old Irish surname, and perhaps his ancestors came from there, but there was no hint of Irish ancestry in his appearance, perhaps because of the relationship that had been slowly diluted by time.

"Okay, I'll come right over." John touched Liddell's head again, checked the clasp of the collar to make sure it was secured, and then turned and walked down the steps of the lookout.

At this time, the morning shift staff of this lookout post was already in place at the table, waiting for him, the commander, to give the order to open the meal.

Sergeant John's observation post is located at the southernmost point of Gibraltar, directly facing the famous Strait of Gibraltar. This place is what the garrison calls the "plain of Europe", because it is a rare piece of flat ground in the small land of Gibraltar. Because it is located at the southernmost tip of the peninsula, it is the first front line in the event of a naval attack, so only a few military facilities have been set up here, and this precious flat land has been idle.

The main mission of this observation post is to monitor the passage of ships in the strait, and at the same time to serve as a warning post for air raids. In fact, its position is not as wide as the two observation posts on the top of the boulder behind it, but with some professional equipment, it can barely assume the responsibility of initial warning.

The reinforced concrete bunker is divided into two levels, most of the structure is below ground level, and there is also an anti-air lookout nest with an armored fence at the top. Behind the fort, nicknamed "Omelette" by the soldiers, was a huge anti-aircraft gun bunker with a full company of Bofors anti-aircraft guns. A hundred meters to the east of the pillbox was a coastal turret with a twin 4.5-inch heavy gun.

The hillside one kilometer behind is even more densely firepowered, from the twenty-five-pounder army gun to the nine-.5-inch naval gun and the three-seven-inch cannon, there are as many as 16 guns in front and back, this is still the firepower of the first line of defense, and the firepower points set on the boulder behind are even more scattered, especially those six-inch twin giant guns with armored turrets, which make people awe-inspiring from a distance.

Sergeant John sat down at the table, and he looked left and right at his men who were seated, and was very pleased with their manners. British troops under any conditions. They must maintain strict discipline and military appearance, and always remember that they are gentlemen in the glorious uniform of the British Empire, and they are no longer dirt buns picking up cow dung in the countryside.

John looked at the table in front of him, today's breakfast was as shabby as ever, after all, it was a difficult time of war, and besides, soldiers should not be focused on appetite.

Unlike its original history, Gibraltar is now in a more precarious position than at any time in history, and the British Empire is already on the verge of extinction. The mainland is already at stake, and there is simply no time or energy to solve the problems of these overseas enclaves.

This peninsula has been operated by the British government for many years, as the throat of the control of the Mediterranean, and the British who attach great importance to sea power do not hesitate to put a lot of effort into it. At the expense of a lot of money and a lot of manpower and material resources, it took almost a hundred years to completely fortress this peninsula.

Franco, as the leader of nationalism, of course, shouted the slogan of the reconquest of Gibraltar. But at that time, the British Empire was the most powerful in the world. Any provocation by Spain would be seen as self-defeating, and how could Franco, the fox, make such a lowly mistake in order to appease the howling bullfighters at home. Franco ordered the blockade of roads around Gibraltar and cut off all contact between Spain and Gibraltar, a way he wanted to show his toughness to the Spanish people.

Franco's quarantine policy helped the British a lot, as he stripped out of Gibraltar a group of residents who remained loyal to Spain, leaving behind a large number of good citizens who were bent on obedience to the British Empire.

Originally, the British didn't care if you blocked the borders or not, the British Empire had a strong sea power, and Gibraltar could get ample supplies from the sea. But the problem is that the situation has now been reversed, the British Empire's maritime superiority has been wiped out, the Mediterranean Sea is full of German submarines, the tonnage of the transports sunk every day has never been lower than five figures, and the situation in the Mediterranean has begun to deteriorate, the strength of the Mediterranean Fleet has been seriously weakened, and now it is not easy for General Cunningham to maintain the battle line, and there is no strength to continuously cross the sphere of influence of Italy and France to support Gibraltar.

Moreover, the situation in Egypt is very complicated, the current British garrison is literally squatting on the crater, and the anti-British sentiment of the local population is growing, which could cause a major explosion at any time. The Arabs were simply unreliable, the Indians were beginning to move, the flag of the British Empire was fluttering desolate in the wind and rain, and countless people waited in the shadows for the moment when the former overlord fell with a bang, and they drooled and stared at the fattest fat on the huge body.

The defenders of Gibraltar were in a difficult situation, although there was still food and ammunition left, but because they believed too much in the strength of the navy, they did not hoard a lot at first, so that the existing food reserves were only enough for everyone on the peninsula for two months, and if the rations were strictly restricted, it might be able to drag on for half a year, but for the defenders, this did not make much sense at all.

They have basically cut off communication with the outside world, and it is not known which side is responsible for cutting off the submarine cable from the peninsula to the outside world. Afterwards, the British repeatedly speculated, feeling that they would do such a thing, as if it was possible in the surrounding countries, which shows how bad their living environment is now, and the circle around them is full of enemies.

At present, the Governor's Palace can only rely on radio stations to communicate with the mainland, and in the event of weather conditions or deliberate interference by the German army, it is even unable to receive orders and intelligence from London for several days in a row. Radio in Spain may have been a source of information, but the soldiers soon found out. It's basically nonsense. The Germans' radio stations are the same every day, with the Führer being the best, the Führer being the highest, and the Führer being the top.

The French news was accurate at first, but from a week ago there had been a sudden change in their winds, and now they were now preaching a daily enmity with the British, from the Hundred Years' War to Waterloo, and counting every blood debt owed by the British. The French seem to have changed to a very tough writer, sneering and repeatedly slapping the British in the face, and quoting a large number of so-called historical documents, many of which have long been proven by British experts to be malicious. But now in those broadcast scripts, it has been revised seamlessly, as if that is the real historical reenactment.

However, for the British soldiers, it was completely a show for the blind, most of them did not understand French, and they could only listen to some military school bully translators to understand the current situation in the outside world. The reason why Xueba is called Xueba, of course, is that he has more eyes than ordinary people, in order to keep the precious radio. Selective translation is a must-have skill. The French radio station was more reliable than the Spanish, and even when it was laughing and scolding, it was mixed with some substance, such as the fact that Germany had gathered a huge force of more than 600,000 men, and was ready to launch a final attack on Britain at any time.

The radio listening station is constantly listening to the communication of ships in the vicinity. From time to time, you can hear some gossip from there. As a result, they heard some communications that Germany had hit the British mainland, and a few people who couldn't keep their mouths shut immediately began to relay it to their fellow villagers, and this astonishing news caused great panic within the garrison, and the Governor's Office issued four or five successive instructions to refute the rumors before pressing down this undercurrent. For this reason, quite a few guys were put in confinement. However, many officers thought that this news might not be groundless, because London had not been contacted for three days, and perhaps the Germans had really set foot on British soil at this moment.

However, there were also those in the garrison who were dismissive of these rumors. Sergeant Major John is a typical one, a British gentleman who is full of self-esteem and pride in his bones, and climbed to the position of post commander by relying entirely on personal qualities and solid military skills. In his view, any news unfavorable to Britain was a conspiracy of the enemy to undermine the confidence and morale of the defenders of the Empire, and only a few cowardly cowards would listen to the news of the enemy, who should be sent to dig a pit in the desert of North Africa and die there.

"Let's pray now." Sergeant John stretched out his hands to either side and shook hands with his men at the table.

"Our Father in heaven ......" John reverently recited the prayer with his eyes closed, and the soldiers echoed in whispers.

After praying, Hirsheen began to distribute the food, he took the frying pan and added a spoonful of scrambled eggs to the plate in front of everyone, while each person was given a slice of bacon.

"These are the last six eggs we have left, and Aunt Fili says you'll need to pay for them next time."

"Add as much as you want." John picked up a fork and put an egg in his mouth, then picked up a piece of military bread from the bread basket.

"Twenty pence, sergeant."

"Give it to her, the situation in the city is also bad now, by the way, give her some of our excess bean flour, maybe she can exchange it for a little money." John sliced hard through the hard bread with his knife, a supply as solid and reliable as its name.

The city in Sergeant John's mouth is actually a small town on the edge of the rock, inhabited by British immigrants and relatives of the garrison, who should have been evacuated to other safe colonies, such as North America and Asia, but due to the sudden change of the situation, the whole plan has become a dead letter, and everyone can only be trapped on this small peninsula, at the mercy of fate.

This has led to a lower morale among the military, as they simply don't have that much space to house these civilians. Due to a shortage of tools and materials, the emergency excavation of the tunnel bunker has been stalled for several weeks. The blind self-confidence of the British army tasted the bitter fruit at this time, they had never imagined that there would be a siege before, so the existing bunkers and fortifications could only hold a third of the population, including garrisons and government agencies.

The Governor's Office has repeatedly asked London for help, no matter what, to get the civilians out of this area that has become very dangerous, but London's feedback again and again is powerless, and now it is difficult to even protect the transportation of local materials, and they simply cannot use so much capacity and escort force to transport these civilians to safety.

"Sergeant, come and see, fleet! Our fleet! Suddenly, there was an exclamation from the lookout post overhead. John hurriedly threw down the items in his hand, stood up and quickly climbed the spiral iron ladder in the middle of the bunker.

"It's Queen Elizabeth, and it's Nelson, God, I thought they wouldn't care about us anymore." The sentry excitedly handed the telescope to the sergeant, stretched out his right hand and kept drawing a cross on his chest.

Continue to ask for a monthly pass, don't forget to vote for this book after reading this chapter, if you want to go further in the ranking, this needs everyone's support and help, thank you for your support. Let's vote for a monthly ticket. (To be continued......)