In Spain in February, the sky is still overcast.

As Matthews, a reporter for the New York Times, put it, half of Spain is dead.

This civil war, which was waged under the slogan "sacrifice half of Spain", was waged in the name of defending the country, both on the left (including socialism and anarchism) and on the right (including monarchists, Carlos and fascism).

The difference is that the left-wing camp defends the Spain of the Second Republic, while the right-wing defends the traditional Spain. The Spanish Civil War was the total outbreak of years of accumulated contradictions, with the right wing mercilessly striking the left wing, and the left wing also treating the right wing cruelly. The judiciary is gone, and the government is powerless. Even Franco, who declared that he wanted to maintain order and restore order in Spain, became powerless. Neither the government on the left nor the armies on the right could cope with the situation. The result of the whole civil government can only be half of the Spaniards against the other half. In areas where the left has the upper hand, right-wing people are relentlessly attacked - they can be killed under any pretext if they are in different camps, without going through any judicial process at all. In areas where the right wing has the upper hand, the same thing happens every day.

The escalating contradictions between the two sides lead to hatred, hatred leads to killing, and the killing exacerbates the contradictions, eventually forming a cycle that can only be stopped by one eliminating the other.

In the eyes of Franco, the representative of fascism, although he did not like fascism at first, only a Spain that maintains order is the real Spain. It is the inevitable guarantee of a strong Spain.

In the eyes of the left-wing forces, the only way to prosperity in Spain was the elimination of the exploiting classes, the elimination of religion, the elimination of the king, and the establishment of proletarian power.

However, in the eyes of Stalin in the Soviet Union, Spain was only an important source of industrial financing for the Soviet Union, and from the very beginning, Stalin was not optimistic about the leftist forces in Spain. During the Spanish Civil War, the left-wing forces of the Republican Army were too chaotic and mixed. There are too many different sounds mixed in. This is one of the important reasons for the final defeat of the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War.

In the left-wing camp, the struggle between the two extreme factions of socialism and anarchism is unimaginably fierce. Among the socialists, there were also pro-Soviet and pro-Trotskyist factions. As for the anarchists. Then there are even more internal factions. Numerous. Historically, even in the final moments of the Battle of Madrid, such factional struggles have never ended. Comparatively. On the contrary, the right-wing camp is more united.

The brothers Wang Dong and Wang An, who came to Spain as volunteers of the "International Column", immediately felt the "difference" between the Spanish Civil War and the Chinese Civil War. Even within the left-wing camp, there was constant civil strife from the very beginning, so much so that the "international friends" who joined the international column could be killed at any time if they did not know their position and camp and accidentally fled to an area where the "internal hostile" camp had the upper hand.

On the side of the Spanish Republican Army, the chaotic situation within the left-wing forces disappointed and confused the Chinese revolutionaries who came to Spain to participate in the support operation, or the volunteers from other countries. Despite the current state of the war, the IRA side still has the upper hand.

A considerable number of the Chinese volunteers were students of Lin Han, who were sent to Spain as "observers" for field trips. Before coming, Lin Han talked about the history of the Spanish Civil War with the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, and analyzed the shape of the situation, even in this distorted historical plane, the Republican Army side received more powerful support, while Franco's side received much weaker support, but after getting the specific situation within the Republican Army side of the Spanish Civil War, even the CCP's top brass was worried about the future of the Republican Army.

Before arriving in Spain, Lin Han himself had taught his students privately and had been vaccinated in advance.

"The tree of freedom needs to be watered by the blood of revolutionaries and tyrants to remain evergreen! In fact, there are two ways to shed the blood of revolutionary aspirants. ”

"A way of shedding blood is a very great sacrifice, a vigorous sacrifice on the battlefield; The other kind of bloodshed is very aggrieved, because of the difference in views and positions, in layman's terms, it is the difference in sides, and they are aggrieved and killed by their own people. ”

"In the course of the just-concluded Chinese Revolution, in fact, such things have already happened, such as in Hunan, the guy named Xia Xi, and a lot of bullshit things that I said in private when I taught you."

"The so-called viewpoint position is just an excuse, but the real reason is the conflict of interests. In fact, this kind of thing is not unique to the socialist revolution. Whether it was the bourgeois revolution or the feudal peasant uprisings of the old days, similar fratricidal fighting ran through every corner of the history of human struggle. Specific examples, such as the killing of various factions during the French Revolution, the Tianjing Incident during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in China, and so on. ”

"The so-called revolution is to smash an old world and then redistribute the benefits. Some people take more, others take less, and for the sake of the so-called unfair distribution, these revolutionaries themselves often kill each other, and the reason is often to attack the opponent as a "traitor". In the process, if the revolutionaries fail to produce an iron-fisted strongman capable of overwhelming the whole audience, or a powerful core, unify the chaotic ideas of the middle and lower classes, make them twist into a fist, speak with one voice, act with one thought, and regulate their behavior with one ism, then this kind of revolution will often end up in the tragedy of failure. ”

"In Spain today, the biggest flaw and flaw of the left-wing forces is that this is an extremely chaotic organization, a hodgepodge, and they lack a strong leader who can suppress the whole situation and integrate the entire left-wing forces."

Although they were not optimistic about the prospects of the Spanish Revolution, in the spirit of learning a lesson from the "negative material", both Lin Han and the upper echelons of the CCP sent Chinese international columns to support the Spanish Republican Army.

But after coming to Spain from Chinese thousands of miles away, whether "comrades in China" or comrades from other countries. Neither of them was unhappy with the chaotic internal shape of the IRA.

In the past few years of China's internal and foreign wars, whether civil or foreign, the Chinese communists have officially used these foreign "international column" volunteers, whether from the CPSU, the KPD, or other countries, as technical arms to make up for the lack of cultural level of their own military. In the process, the Red Army learned from these enthusiastic international communists a great deal of valuable knowledge about military and production technology. From 1934, a large number of members of the international column joined the Red Army, and for nearly three years until the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1937, the so-called "volunteers" provided by the Soviet Union and Germany included them. In total, more than 25,000 people served in the Red Army. During the three-year war, more than 600 people died for various reasons, and more than 200 of them were air force pilots on the front line.

The Spanish Civil War was different. As soon as these international columns arrived in Spain, the Republican Army regarded them as "cannon fodder" and organized them into armies in large numbers and sent them to the front to be consumed.

The last two months alone. More than 1,000 members of the international column have died on the battlefield. There were even more wounded. Entered the war for several months. This attitude of the Republican Army toward the international columns has already aroused some dissatisfaction in the hearts of the international columns in various countries.

Compared with being used as a consumable in this kind of rudeness, Wang An and Wang Dong brothers were even more dissatisfied. But it was the Republican Army's "indiscriminate killing of its own people". Quite a number of members of the international column, because of their different positions and viewpoints, were directly shot to death by their own people on the charges of "traitors" and "spies," and the charges they used were often "Trotskyists."

Wang Dong and Wang An, brothers, were sent to Spain as "reporters", and when they left, Lin Han gave them a piece of advice: watch more, reflect more, and talk less.

Of all Lin Han's students, the brothers were his favorite. The two of them can endure hardships at the grassroots level, can connect with the "local spirit", have excellent organizational skills, and are also very sharp in thinking. There are also several people who are favored by him, and they are also given various identities and sent to Spain to participate in this "practice". The process of the Chinese revolution, because of Lin Han's interference, went really "too smoothly" after 1932, and too many mistakes were avoided.

The lack of experience in "making mistakes" is also not a good thing for an organization. It's like a person who never gets sick is actually an "unhealthy" person, because he has not been "sick", and the body's immune system and self-healing ability have not been used or tested.

China's "big things" are now almost settled, and it's time to do Lin Han's own "private affairs". According to the agreement reached in the Soviet zone in 1932, China would help Lin Han establish a predominantly Chinese-based emerging state in Southeast Asia in the next few years, at the appropriate time, and they would provide a large amount of human and material assistance at that time.

Although there is "New China" behind the help, Lin Han is also cultivating his own team. With Lin Han's character, he doesn't like to stand in the foreground to lead a country, it is too troublesome and tiring, he prefers to be in the background as a "spiritual guide". As for returning to China for development, this kind of thing is something he will never think about. In any organization, the power struggle within the upper echelons is very fierce, and Lin Han can now have a transcendent position in the upper echelons of New China, precisely because he is outside the core of power, and he will put forward ideas and opinions, but he never directly participates in the internal power struggle.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the fierce struggle for the line was actually far from being as "simple" as the official public narrative was. There are too many "black histories" that can only be understood, cannot be spoken, can be secretly said in private, and cannot be officially and publicly acknowledged. Even if Lin Han, a traverser, can make the country make fewer mistakes and mistakes in history after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there are some things that cannot be simply explained by "mistakes" and "mistakes", let alone simply put the responsibility on a certain person.

This is a pool of muddy water, unfathomable inside, Lin Han knew that he could not wade, so when he was in the Soviet area, Lin Han stated from the beginning that once the whole country was liberated, he would leave China, and maintained this "detached" identity in the way of self-exile.

On February 25, the two brothers, Wang An and Wang Dong, were on the front line of Cordoba as journalists. It is now the focal point of contention between the Republican Army and the National Army.

After more than 60 new fighter planes "aided" by Germany landed on the battlefield in Spain in February, air supremacy changed hands last month because of the appearance of Hurricane fighters. It was returned to the same running line.

In terms of performance, the Hurricane and the BF109B, or the HE112B, which has just arrived, have their own strengths and are on par. However, in the sky of Córdoba, due to the emergence of Li Huamei's super trump card, in the past two weeks, the sky in this area of Córdoba belongs to the Republican Army.

In the past ten days, Li Huamei alone has shot down 11 fighters in the airspace of Córdoba, and the BF109 fleet she led is dominated by German volunteer pilots who have participated in air battles in China. The total result was forty-five aircraft. And he lost only eighteen planes, half of which were still damaged by the opponent's anti-aircraft artillery. For Franco, who had only three or four hundred aircraft, the loss was enormous. Due to the loss of air supremacy, the attack on Córdoba on the side of the Franco National was thwarted. If it hadn't been for the help of 30,000 Italian reinforcements. It has long been repulsed to tens of kilometers away.

One thing that makes Wang Dong and Wang An's brothers unbearable is that. As in the old days, the pilots of the Franco National Army who were shot down were captured. The local Republican Army was shot outright, and the same happened to the National Army. This made the two brothers, who were accustomed to the PLA's "priority prisoner" policy, look very unpleasant, and they even expressed disagreement with this approach, including Li Huamei, but the Republican Army ostensibly agreed not to kill the captured pilot, but after the people below were caught, they were shot directly as soon as possible, and nothing changed in the end.

This is true of the captured pilot, as well as of the ordinary soldiers of the captured opposing side.

"Half of Spain, killed the other half of Spain."

This is the sad state of the Spanish Civil War now. If it weren't for the fact that Lin Han had given the two brothers a "preventive shot" in advance before coming to Spain, and "foreseen" the shape of this place in advance, the two brothers' worldview would have almost collapsed.

"It's so chaotic here!"

"A country must have only one voice, one thought, one voice This country has become like this, that is, the thinking is too chaotic and too extreme. In order to unify the mind, the method of slaughtering the other half of the voice is too much, and it will not achieve the goal of turning the enemy into a friend, which will only force the opponent to fight to the death. Or is it better for our Red Army to take prisoners in the past, when we didn't understand why our superiors let go of those captured enemies so lightly, and even gave them medical treatment, and now we understand"

Although the Republican Army still has the upper hand, the brothers Wang An and Wang Dong are also not optimistic about the Republican Army. Relative to the left-wing IRA, which was a mess of the interior, Franco's National Ministry was much more united. And the Republican Army's way of competing with its opponents will only boost the morale of the Fran Army. Although the republican troops on the front line are now fighting very bravely, the two brothers who have been running around at both ends of the front line for more than 20 days have clearly seen that the biggest problem of the republican army is the lack of stamina.

A large and chaotic force composed of anarchist masters in the rear, "not very interested" in going to the front to resist Franco, infighting, fighting for power, biting people, engaging in sabotage, dragging his feet and pit his teammates, but he is a master.

On the side of the socialists, there are also many factions inside, and they have also done a lot of bullshit and nonsense, and they are also bastards who are experts in internal fighting and outsiders. Now the Republican Army can fight like this and gain the upper hand in the war because a large number of international columns that have participated in the war in China have joined the pillar and supported the front line. However, after all, the number of people in the international column is limited, and as soon as the war is exhausted, the balance of victory and defeat will slowly be reversed.

In the eyes of the two brothers who had personally experienced the construction of the Red Army's rural base areas, the mobilization and organizational capabilities of the Republican Army could simply be called "shit-like." When they were sent to Spain, Lin Han reminded them to observe the difference between the urban revolution in the more developed countries of Europe and the rural revolution in China.

In the course of the Chinese revolution, in each base area, the militia armed forces, district squads, county brigades, and regular troops with villages as units were organized and hierarchically organized at each level, and their respective tasks and objectives were clear. When the foreign enemy invades, the regular army responds to the enemy head-on, the district squad and the villager guerrillas organize the civilian retreat, and the county brigade opens the guerrilla sabotage operation behind the enemy and cooperates with each other, and the front line and the enemy are all wars. Both the Japanese and the British suffered in this sea of people's war.

In Spain, however, what they saw was the chaotic organizational capacity of the left-wing IRA. There is more destruction and not enough construction. Rural bases? What is this, is there such a thing here? In the city, you can only see a group of "blind movers" who seem to be "fanatical", and they do not have good military training in peacetime. In the past, when the two brothers were in the base areas, even if it was the lowest rural militia, the village cadres would organize the village militia self-defense unit to conduct all kinds of military training, and the large-scale military training and competition during the winter slack was an annual "customary."

On the Republican side, the two brothers have been in Spain for more than three months. Except for the regular army. There is no decent military training to be seen at all. The so-called second-line troops, the reserve forces, and the various cities have a lot of armed personnel such as the so-called "Red Guards", but they are like regular military training. The two brothers had never seen each other in March.

Whenever Franco called. These second-line personnel who "have a strong taste of the rabble" were so directly mobilized and sent to the front. Then go head-to-head like a clumsy rider on the front line against your opponent. Although thanks to the help of Soviet military personnel, the fight on the battlefield also seemed impressive, but on the scene. But he played very rough and unintelligent. As for the war behind enemy lines, guerrillas behind enemy lines, it is a fantasy for them. Fortunately, the Franco National Army on the opposite side also played very rough and lacked artistry, and everyone was fighting badly.

"As Mr. foresaw, this is a worse war."

This is what the two brothers had to say about the Spanish Civil War.

After China saw the CCP's ability to organize and mobilize from the top to the bottom to the grassroots level, the Spanish Republican Army's terrible mobilization and organization ability was simply not enough in the eyes of the two brothers.

"I understand what the gentleman asked us to come here to see. After returning to Nanyang, when we set up our Chinese organization and army, we must not be like them. ”

"I agree with you, there is another point, our organization, from the very beginning, must first unify our thinking, and we must not have so many messy things mixed in."

"Don't you create a united front?"

"Who is our friend and who is our enemy, this is the first question of the revolution. In the united front, we must first clearly distinguish who is likely to be unified and who cannot be united. ”

"Well, I couldn't agree more! On the Nanyang side, the Li family, the Wang family, those big businessmen and big capitalists, and those white-skinned guys who hooked up deeply, when the revolution begins, we must deal with them first! Even if they want to speculate on our side, not only will we not be able to accept them, but we will attack them and destroy them at the first opportunity. ”

"Yes, we only need one voice, one thought, one leader!"

"Who is the leader?"

"Of course sir, who else can lead us?"

"Well, that's no problem, but, brother, your idea is fascist!"

"Well, Comrade Stalin of the USSR, isn't this being done now?"

Spit on each other, and the two brothers shut up. As Lin Han's two most favored disciples, Lin Han taught them a lot of things, including the detours and black history taken by China and the Soviet Union in the revolutionary process, and even the great purge that the Soviet Union is currently underway.

The national conditions of Nanyang are different from those of China, where the Chinese are mostly middle-class, and the contradictions here are equally complex. It is certainly not possible to try to rigidly apply the experience of the Chinese revolution, so Lin Han sent his students to Spain to "practice" and learn from the experience.

History has developed to the present, and it has long been unrecognizable. However, one thing Lin Han can be sure of is that the collapse of the British Empire's colonial system in Asia was inevitable once Germany started a world war. At that time, the tide of independence will inevitably rise in that part of Southeast Asia.

The future has always belonged to those who are prepared, and Lin Han still has several years to prepare. Although history is now unrecognizable, but Lin Han's hole cards in his hand today are not what they used to be, backed by the two big countries of China and Germany, if it is operated well, even the Soviet Union can be pulled here in the future. (To be continued......)

PS: That's it for the Spanish War, it's not the point here after all, and after a chapter or two, I'll skip to the meeting with Stalin.

I'll update it first, and I'll proofread it when I get back