"General, it looks like those Italians don't believe in our battle plan." A short lieutenant colonel staff officer followed Rommel and expressed his disdain for the Italians.

"Don't believe me?" Rommel, who was walking in front of the lieutenant colonel, turned his head and said to the lieutenant colonel with a smile: "That's because they don't understand our combat effectiveness. The Italians, who only looked at the number of troops and did not pay attention to weapons and equipment and combat training, did not understand that if they could divide the enemy with rapid troops and defeat them one by one, they could cause the entire enemy army to collapse. At that time, one armored unit could defeat ten times more enemy infantry! ”

"As for their so-called famous Italian general....... Rommel snorted coldly: "I will show him the new mode of war, which belongs to our German army!" ”

"General!" The short lieutenant colonel looked at Rommel with a little more admiration: "Then from now on, will we go back and prepare for the next attack?" ”

"Prepare to ......" Rommel smiled and waved his hand: "This is not in a hurry, we still hold our troops first." Let the Italians strike first, and when the Republicans leave, we will charge with a thunderous blow. ”

The short lieutenant colonel was a little worried: "General, we have not been involved in the battle before, and now we are using the Italians to divert the tiger from the mountain....... Will there be some bad explanations afterwards? ”

Rommel didn't raise his eyelids, and said lightly: "We don't need to explain to the Italians, just like their famous general Gabala said, the war looks at the result." Besides, we have already given them a better solution, which they themselves refused. When the time comes, when they encounter trouble, they can only solve it themselves! ”

.........

As the supreme commander of the Comintern column, Moraka was well aware that the Spanish Republican Army in this war had a slim chance of victory. It was only the belief in communism that sustained Moraka and his troops to stay in Spain and fight.

Although the Comintern column has always been one of the main forces relied on by the Spanish Republican Army because of its high fighting spirit and combat effectiveness. However, even after several replenishments, Moraka's forces were only about 2,000 men.

This time, Francisco, the leader of the Spanish Republican Army, personally invited Moraka to attend the internal meeting of the Republican Army, which made Moraca realize the severity of the situation.

During this internal meeting, Moraca heard that Spain's northern front was shrinking, and that the last main force of the Republican Army to remain in the Basque Country was less than half the enemy's number.

Granada, which had been recaptured in the south with great difficulty, was lost again. In the central direction, the German-Spanish Combined Corps, which had not been engaged in battle, also went on the offensive. It is said that those German reconnaissance planes, which rarely appear, have also been frequently spotted recently......

In the end, Moraca volunteered to lead his team to the northern defense line, which was about to be lost, to fight the menacing Italian army in the most dangerous places.

The Comintern column of 2,000 men, plus 10,000 men armed with Gew.98 Mauser rifles, was temporarily drawn from the three lines of defense outside Madrid. These are all the reinforcements sent by the Republican Army to the north. Instead of going directly to the Basque front, they chose to assemble in Burgos, gather the rout, and establish a blocking position. However, what to do when these blocking positions are breached, no one can say yet.

All these disadvantages were seen by Francisco, as commander-in-chief of the Republican Army.

On the battle map, the red arrows representing the Nationalist camp are constantly approaching the blue defensive line of the Republican Army. Republican forces in several areas have lost their numbers and disrupted their formations.

Córdoba, where the Republican Army was bound to win, has now become Franco's rear, and a steady stream of new units of the National Army are being mobilized to the front.

Francisco had already moved two divisions to the southern front to advance the elite of the Republican Army with 30,000 men. Those were regular armies at full strength, but under the blow of Franco's concentrated superior forces, these two divisions had now been reduced to the size of a reinforced regiment. First, the two crippled divisions were merged into one division, and then reduced to one regiment, and if the fighting continued, it was estimated that this batch of troops should be completely reimbursed.

The Portuguese volunteers, the Romanian volunteers, the Moroccan volunteers, Franco's southern front national army have received too much foreign aid. On the other hand, the remaining 2,000 Comintern foreign aid of the Republican Army had to go north to resist the Italian attack.

The 300,000-strong Guard, which was originally left on the outskirts of Madrid, has now been demolished. About 40,000 people have been transferred to various major theaters to fill the loopholes. Together with the 10,000 people who now follow the Comintern column to the Northern Front, the People's Guard in Madrid has been reduced in size by 50,000!

It was not only the southern and northern fronts that gave Francisco a headache, but also the German-Spanish Combined Corps, which was crawling on the central front, constantly challenged Francisco's psychological bottom line. They were just here, not sending a single soldier, but holding back the 250,000 militia guards of the Republican Army plus 30,000 regular troops.

It can't go on like this! Francisco was determined to make some changes, at least, not to let the nearly 300,000 main force sit here and wait.

The reinforcements transferred to the northern front were not a problem at all to rely on gathering the rout and establishing several blocking positions. What worries is the nearly 200,000 Nationalists on the southern front, which is the main force in Franco's hands, and is more concerned about fighting than the Italians and Germans. Once they were allowed to occupy an inch of land, it would mean that the Second Spanish Republic lost an extra inch of land.

Although Francisco knew that the most combat-ready of these enemy units belonged to the German troops under Rommel. After all, the Germans had defeated the French elite in the Ruhr, which was known as the strongest army in Europe. According to literal calculations, the current German army should be the new First Army in Europe.

However, Francisco also got enough information. He had now roughly determined that the German-Spanish Combined Corps deployed in the center would not exceed 100,000 men. Among them, the German army had only one division. Relying on three solid lines of defense west of Madrid, it is entirely possible to fend off the opposition for more than two months.

If you think about it carefully, the 200,000 militia remaining in the three lines of defense can buy more than two months. Using this time, you may be able to win a turnaround.

You have to plan ahead! If the current stalemate cannot be broken, no matter how many troops remain in Madrid, it will be impossible to turn the tables. Instead of sitting back and waiting, it is better to take the initiative. While there is still buffer space, we should quickly mobilize the 50,000 militia in Madrid and cooperate with the 30,000 government troops to defeat Franco's forces on the southern front.

Even if Rommel's German-Spanish Combined Corps took the opportunity to attack Madrid, the People's Guard would be able to rely on twice the strength and geographical advantage of the other side to fight one after another. 2 months! As long as the southbound troops can achieve maximum results within 2 months, they can defeat the national army on the southern front. You will be able to return to Madrid and fight back against the German-Spanish Combined Corps.

At that time, the IRA will be able to regain the initiative!