Spain, Catalan theater of operations

On the Southern Front, General Francisco led the 6th and 7th Cavalry Divisions to the south, forcing Franco's corps to stop along the Ebro River.

Rommel seized the opportunity of the Republican Army's empty forces in the northwest direction, and led the German-Spanish Combined Corps to break into the junction of the Spanish Army Group on the Northern Front and Army Group on the Southern Front, and enter Catalonia.

On 14 April, Rommel's 1st Panzer Regiment led a Spanish Panzer Regiment of the German Panzer Division, forming the vanguard of the German 7th Panzer Division.

They were followed by two Spanish German infantry divisions of the German-Spanish Combined Corps, which formed two powerful attack arrows and posed a threat to the Republican stronghold of Visca.

In their rear, the echelons were equipped with 3 Spanish infantry divisions of the German-Spanish Combined Corps with poor mobility.

by German von. The vanguard company led by Captain Hoffman was now being reinforced by a Spanish armored battalion of the German-Spanish Combined Corps to form the "Hoffman" battle group, which was ready to go at the crossroads north of the village of Letley.

Hoffman leaned out of the turret of his tank number 007 and held up his captain's telescope.

Through the telescope, Hoffman saw Tank 008, which had entered the village first, machine-gun fire on a suspicious field. Then, soon about 20 Republican soldiers raised their hands and slowly walked out of the field.

Just as the Republican soldiers were about to approach Tank 008, they suddenly accelerated and ran towards Tank 008.

Ensign Flock, leaning out of the turret of tank 008, subconsciously raised his gun to shoot, but judging by what Hoffman saw through the telescope, his pistol seemed to be jammed.

Just as several fast Republican soldiers were about to rush in front of Tank 008, Second Lieutenant Flock quickly grabbed the axe hanging from the track guard, and jumped out of the tank and swung the axe at the soldiers.

Fortunately, the soldiers were unarmed, so they fled and scattered in the direction of the fields. Then Second Lieutenant Flock wisely climbed back into the tank and machine-gunned the fleeing soldiers.

Seeing this, Captain Hoffman put away the binoculars, got back into the tank, closed the hatch behind him and said, "Go ahead, go to the intersection where tank 008 is located." ”

At the same time, Hoffmann ordered Ensign Karl of the third platoon to take four No. 2 tanks and eight No. 1 destroyers of the Spanish German Division to take up positions on the right side of the village and occupy the flanks in order to cooperate with the frontal attack.

As a result, this flanking arrangement played a decisive role. While Hoffman led the first and second platoons of tanks to press from the front, the tanks that appeared on the flanks completely destroyed the psychological defense of this group of Spanish Republican infantry.

Then, a total of 300 soldiers of the Republican Army Group on the Northern Front who remained in the village of Lietley surrendered to the Hoffmann Vanguard Company.

Then the "Hoffman" battle group continued to advance to the southeast and captured an airfield of the Comintern column. (In fact, there were only two old biplanes in service at the airport.) Other fighters have long been solved by the Messerschmidt 109E fighter)

At the airfield, which apparently had served as a high command, Hoffman's soldiers coincidentally found a map showing the division of the IRA's Northern Front forces. This map will be of great help to the Italian Expeditionary Force on the Northern Front.

At the same time, 10 miles north of the village of Treley, Rommel personally led two German armored battalions, which, together with the infantry, broke through the heavily fortified Atessa-de-Segre defense zone of the Republican Army.

Since then, the German-Spanish Combined Corps has completed the first strategic goal of simultaneously suppressing the Spanish Army Group on the Northern Front and Army Group South.

Next, Rommel will use the main force of the German-Spanish Combined Corps to develop an offensive in the direction of Servela, and strive to occupy the line of Pontes, Servera, and Tarragona. And the Italian Expeditionary Force, which had obtained a step-by-step map of its forces, was about to launch a new round of general offensive on the Northern Front.

On 28 April, the Republican Army on the Southern Front, which remained on the defence of the lower Ebro River, was forced to begin to shrink towards Barcelona amid a severe deterioration in the fighting situation, and the Catalan campaign entered its second phase, as Rommel had predicted.

The German-Spanish Corps marched along the way, capturing more than 50,000 Republican soldiers. The IRA's response was limited to the sluggish movement of the rearguard and the voluntary abandonment of many positions.

However, the de facto Republican Army did not run to the top. At the suggestion of the commander of Army Group South, Francisco, the Republican Army tried to build a defensive line along the Leovregat River and stop the enemy in the area of the rear defense built along the Leopregat River.

However, this strategic movement of the Republican Army was completely shattered due to the poor speed of its advance and the fact that Rommel quickly transferred the nearby "Hoffmann" battle group to entangle the retreating Northern Front Army.

On the other hand, Franco's Nationalist Army, with the assistance of German aerial reconnaissance, spotted the weakly defended Republican fighters in the lower Ebro River and launched a river crossing operation.

Due to the lack of troops, the small number of Republican Army armies on the southern front that remained were completely unable to stop Franco's crossing of the river. They were caught off guard by the sudden turn of events on the southern front, and could not come up with any forces worth mentioning to deal with this new threat.

The simultaneous massive defeat in the west and south led directly to the Spanish republican government's announcement of the abandonment of Barcelona on the second day of May 1937.

From this moment on, the campaign entered the third and final phase predicted by Rommel. Rommel had predicted that once the campaign had reached this stage, the Spanish Republican Army, no matter how many troops it had left, would not be able to organize a strong defense.

Judging from the current situation, it is clear that Rommel's prediction was not bad. Compared with Reinhardt's speculation based on historical foundations, Rommel's perfect prediction based purely on his own military qualities is more worthy of admiration!

After the German-Spanish Combined Corps joined forces with the Spanish National Army, the remnants of the Republican Army could only cover the battle on the one hand, and retreat northward on the other, abandoning Berga, Bique, and Girona along the way.

On 17 May, Figueres, the last stronghold of the Republican Army, was finally captured by Gambara's Italian Expeditionary Force. The Italian Expeditionary Force, the German-Spanish Combined Corps and the Spanish National Army successfully joined forces.

Under the joint pursuit of the German-Spanish Combined Corps and the Republican Army, the remnants of the Republican Army, which had fled all the way to Figueres, had to cover the retreat of the scattered personnel with combat operations.

On 18 May, 250,000 Republican officers and soldiers crossed the border into French territory and were disarmed by the French authorities.

On 19 May, the IRA stepped in to take control of and close the Franco-Spanish border.

In the whole of Spain, in addition to the 1,000-strong Republican Militia on the 668-square-kilometer island of Menorca, there is also the main force of the Republican Army of nearly 8,000 on the 728-square-kilometer island of La Palma. The rest of Spain, including the Spanish Peninsula, was under Franco's government.