The Spanish Civil War broke out in March 1936 and lasted for half a year, which means that by September, the situation was still scorching. The Popular Front has taken a foothold and secured the core area with Madrid as the center. The Nationalist Army, on the other hand, was based in Ferrol in the north and Cadiz in the south, and remained under Franco overseas.

After half a year of fierce fighting, both the People's Front and the fascist bandits of the National Army began to understand that this war was not as easy to win as previously imagined, it would be a contest of will and endurance, and only the stronger side could win.

So invariably, both sides began to make further adjustments. For example, after recapturing Gijón, the Popular Front did not continue its offensive against Ferrol, but trained its troops with the help of Soviet "volunteers" headed by Tukhachevsky. In the previous battles, the People's Army, which had no revolutionary enthusiasm, was a ragtag.

As for the National Army, both Franco and Mora are beginning to understand that the Popular Front with the support of the Soviet Union is not a chicken and a dog, and it is not something they can bully casually. To win, they must have more aid.

In September, after some consultations between Mora in the north and Franco in the south, Franco was elected commander-in-chief of the national army and began to plan the overall layout. The first is the expansion of the army, which is not particularly difficult under the armies of Germany and Italy. It is even more efficient than the Popular Front, after all, the National Army has the support of the vast majority of officers, with the help of professional officers, both in terms of expanding and training troops. It's much easier.

And the Popular Front lacks qualified officers. The soldiers' council is performing its command function. And this organization, to be honest, is really a waste, although it can greatly respond to the demands of soldiers, but because it cares too much about the interests of soldiers, it is difficult to guide the expansion and training of the army.

For example, with regard to the training of the army, it stands to reason that it should be rigorously trained to build up combat effectiveness, but the troops of the Popular Front are filled with a large number of anarchists. These people refuse to obey orders, and they are always doing their own thing, and there is a guerrilla habit in the troops.

Another example is the issue of the execution of orders, if you think about the fact that these anarchists are half-hearted about military training, and even more sloppy about fighting wars. Quite a few times, if you want these uncles to obey orders, you have to talk about it, and even know that these guys have promised well, but they encounter a little difficulty in the implementation of orders. The gang immediately chose to give up. And when you confront them, the bunch is poignant about what freedom gives them.

All in all. The armies of the Popular Front were imbued with a liberal and loose atmosphere, and when revolutionary romanticism prevailed, they would be full of passion, and in the event of a setback, their morale would collapse in an instant, and they would turn to pessimism.

Remember those Republic fleets that went north to fight Ferrol? The gang drove to the sea off Ferrol with great enthusiasm and besieged Ferrol indiscriminately, but when Ferrol's fort began to gain power, they immediately chose to retreat.

In Gijón, in Santander, and in Bilbao, the sailors of the Republic forgot their oath before going on the expedition, and one by one they were drunk and dreamed of death with wine bottles. To be honest, when Tukhachevsky saw this, he was quite angry.

Because in the Strait of Gibraltar, the volunteers of the Soviet Air Force fought desperately for the Second Spanish Republic, paying a lot of blood and sacrifice. What are the root causes of these sacrifices? It's not yet the Second Republic's fleet heading north to play soy sauce. Since the northward march proved to be wrong, it was time to withdraw the fleet immediately and continue to blockade the Strait of Gibraltar.

When Tukhachevsky wanted the Admiralty of the Second Republic to make this request, he received a reply that was: "The fleet is in dire need of rest, the sailors are extremely tired, wait a minute!" ”

Tukhachevsky really wanted to scold his mother on the spot, this is the legendary cub who sells Yetian and is not distressed, right! He was so angry at the lazy Spaniards that he sued Trotsky directly.

"What do you think of Tukhachevsky's comments?" Trotsky asked.

Li Xiaofeng laughed secretly in his heart, he had long known that the Spaniards were this ghost virtue, and now he had really become an emperor and a eunuch. Of course, what amused him the most was that when he decided to aid the Second Spanish Republic, he had asked: "Gratuitous aid? Doesn't make sense, does it? We are willing to support the revolutionary struggle of the Spanish people, but the Spanish people must not be left alone, right? Not to mention that if we buy our arms at the market price, we must always give a cost price, right? ”

Neither Trotsky nor Sverdlov seemed to be impressed by the suggestion of a certain immortal "dying for money", and even the retired Lenin, after hearing this, said: "How can you talk about money to support the world revolutionary struggle? If this is spread out, will the great unity of the world proletariat become an empty phrase? I should understand the plight of the Spanish people and provide free support! ”

With Lenin's proposal, as well as the approval of Trotsky and Sverdlov, Li Xiaofeng's opinion was naturally rejected, and the only one who expressed some support for a certain immortal was Stalin (historically, steel was also paid for, and the gold was deducted from the treasury of the Soviet Union from Spain). The arms and supplies spent in the past six months were all free aid. But now after hearing the complaints of Tukhachevsky and Kuznetsov, the Politburo is also very angry - Nima, the Spaniards are taking the Soviet Union as the main culprit!

Coupled with Li Xiaofeng's "blowing wind and lighting ghost fires" on the side, the Politburo soon changed its tone, and from September onwards, the strategy of free aid will no longer be implemented, and the government of the Second Spanish Republic must buy arms at factory prices!

At this time, the Spanish trolls were dumbfounded, and tried several times to get the Soviet side to withdraw the resolution, but they were all forcefully refused, and in desperation, they could only untie their pockets and buy arms with real gold and platinum.

The first batch of arms "sold" to the Popular Front consisted of 100,000 rifles (Mosinaghan), 1,000 machine guns (Maxin) and 100 mortars, as well as 100,000 rounds of artillery shells. This is on the Army side. As for the Air Force, it includes 100 Il-15s and 40 Il-16s. Twenty-four SB-2 bombers were also bought.

This batch of aircraft was no longer piloted by Soviet pilots for war. Rather, it was driven by the Spaniards themselves. The Soviet Union simply sent instructors free of charge to provide training, as well as a full set of logistical support.

Truth be told, the latter point is especially important, because the fighter planes given by the people of the Second Spanish Republic in other parts of the world do not have a supporting logistics system, and basically after a few uses, these fighters can only be thrown aside as garbage. With the support of the logistics system, the Soviet fighters were able to hold out for a long time (as in history).

Of course. Beginning in September and continuing until January of the following year, this period was a period of adjustment in which the two sides were accumulating strength, during which large-scale battles, whether naval or airborne, were largely extinguished, except for small-scale clashes.

During this period, the Red Navy and the Air Force of the International Column that went to Spain to fight carried out a series of rotations, such as the return of the aircraft carriers Moskva and Leningrad to the factory for maintenance. The Red Kharkov and Red Samara battlecruisers were also replaced by the Red Orenburg and Red Caucasus. Of particular note is the fact that the lead ship of the Type 33 destroyer, the Excellence, was declared commissioned after intense construction and assault sea trials. And her first deployment after joining the Red Navy was Spain. There she will be put to the test by the flames of war.

From September 1936 to January 1937, of course. Although there were relatively few hot wars, there were quite a lot of cold wars, and a big debate broke out in the international community around the issue of the Spanish Civil War.

Among them, the British, who had been very bad before, were the most active. After some adjustments, the British were ready to treat Spain as a big quagmire, ready to pit to death in one fell swoop, Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, the three main culprits that undermined the stability and order of Europe.

For example, he falsely condemned the smuggling of arms from Germany and Italy in support of the Nationalist Army, and pretended to warn Germany and Italy, but before he could say anything, he began to strongly criticize the Soviet Union.

"Over the past six months, the Soviet government has ignored the strong appeals of the international community, turned a deaf ear to the call for peace, and has been exporting arms to Spain on a large scale in violation of the restrictions of international conventions. This kind of behavior has greatly undermined regional peace and caused innocent Spanish people to suffer from the flames of war, and such behavior will never be tolerated! ”

"We once again strongly appeal to the Soviet Government to immediately stop its unilateral acts and to stop exporting arms!"

It seems that this is still a mouth cannon, but everyone must know that these mouth cannons are actually used to build momentum, and they are paved by the British for what they want to say later, so where do the British really want to make a fuss?

Bosporus!

That is, the Soviet Union made a fuss about the throat of the Mediterranean Sea from the direction of the Black Sea. And this Bosphorus problem, it's a long time to talk about. That has to start with the defeat of Turkey in World War I.

Turkey paid a heavy price as a defeated power, and under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres (part of the treaty signed at the Paris Peace Conference), the Ottoman Empire was to cede a large amount of territory, and the "strait area" on both sides of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus was to be designated as a demilitarized zone, and the Allies had the right to take military action in the area.

Not only that, but also the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia formed a "strait management committee" to be responsible for shipping, lighthouse management, and navigation in the region. In addition, the Ottomans must abolish conscription, and the number of troops in the country must not exceed 45,000, and they must not have heavy weapons, air force, navy, or large merchant ships.

Let's put it this way, Ottoman Turkey was almost hollowed out by the Entente, and the actual control of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus fell into the hands of the six-nation "Straits Management Council".

However, it is known that not long after the Ottoman Turks were forced to sign the treaty, with the outbreak of the Kemal revolution and the defeat of Greece, the Entente could only declare the Treaty of Sèvres null and void, and in 1923 negotiated the Treaty of Lausanne to replace the Treaty of Sèvres.

Under the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey's independence and sovereignty were safeguarded, but the management of the straits was still not up to Turkey. The area around the Straits remains a demilitarized zone, and in order to guarantee the right of States to pass through the Straits Strait, the right to manage the passage of the Straits remains with the Straits Management Committee of the Group of Six.

This situation lasted until 1936, and from 1934 onwards, with the rise of fascist forces in Germany, Italy and Japan. The international order is facing a new round of reshuffle. In the constant demands of the Turks. In the face of the actual decline of British and French control over the world, the Strait Annex to the Treaty of Lausanne was revised at the international conference held in Montreux, which became known as the Montreux Convention.

In accordance with the treaty, the straits were really returned to Turkey, and the restrictions on the Straits Management Committee and the demilitarized zone were lifted. At the same time, however, please note that in order to guarantee the right of States to pass through the straits, additional provisions have been made:

In peacetime, warships and merchant ships of the countries bordering the Black Sea have free passage through the Guò Strait. No restrictions on it. There are no restrictions on the passage of merchant ships from non-Black Sea littoral states through the strait, but there are restrictions on the passage of warships through the strait (the cumulative tonnage of warships passing through the Guò Strait at any one time may not exceed 15,000 tons, and the cumulative tonnage of warships staying in the Black Sea may not exceed 30,000 tons, and the duration of stay may not exceed 21 days). In addition, all warships are not allowed to use carrier-based aircraft when passing through the Guò Strait.

This is a peacetime provision. And what about war situations? In the event of a war, merchant ships are allowed to freely pass through the strait, but warships are divided into two situations: the first is that Turkey is a neutral country, so the warships of the belligerents are not allowed to pass through the strait, and the second is that Turkey is a belligerent country, so it will be up to Turkey to decide whether to allow warships of other countries to pass through the strait.

Objectively speaking. The Montreux Convention is fair and fully protects the rights and interests of Turkey and the countries bordering the Black Sea. If everyone complies with it, there will be no problem. But there was an unexpected situation in history, the Turks themselves violated the treaty, he was neutral in World War II, according to the requirements of the treaty should prevent the warships of the participating countries from entering the Guò Strait, but the Turks ignored the German Navy to enter the Black Sea, which also caused a high degree of dissatisfaction in the Soviet Union after the war, and once demanded to share the management of the strait with Turkey.

Of course, this was the trend of history, and now, the Montreux Convention has not yet been signed, and the strait is still under the "international condominium", and as a member of the strait management committee, the Soviet Union wants to pass the Guò strait without restrictions.

It was precisely because Soviet merchant ships and warships could calmly pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits that they could provide timely assistance to the Second Spanish Republic, otherwise it would be much farther to go through the English Channel in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Especially for the Red Navy, which lacked overseas bases, and could not access the Guò Bosphorus and Dardanelles, it would be more difficult to maintain its existence in Spain.

And this time, the British discovered this weakness of the Soviet Union and prepared to use political means to cut off the Soviets' access to the Mediterranean. Secretly, through diplomatic channels, the British signaled that the Turkish government could intensify its calls to reclaim the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, and the British government was happy to untie Turkey.

Sure enough, starting in June, Turkey launched round after round of international offensives, strongly demanding the cancellation of unequal treaties and the recovery of control over the Bosphorus and Dardanelles.

The Turks' motions were quickly responded to when the British opened the back door, and in July, a special meeting on the issue of the straits was held in Montreux, Switzerland, where there was a fierce exchange of representatives of the countries associated with the Black Sea.

From the very beginning, the British were rushing to put on small shoes for the Soviet Union, and the British insisted that non-Black Sea countries enjoy the same rights as Black Sea countries, and that warships of any country, whether in peacetime or wartime, must obtain the consent of the League of Nations to pass through the Guò Strait, and without the consent of two-thirds of the countries of the League of Nations, no warship of any country can pass through the Guò Strait.

Obviously, this is to get stuck in the neck of the Black Sea Fleet of the Red Navy, and the Soviet Union simply could not agree to such a request, and in order to counter the provocations of the British, the Soviet Union proposed: "The peaceful passage of the Guò Bosphorus and the Dardanelles Strait is the right of the peoples of the Black Sea littoral countries, and the non-Black Sea countries have no reason to enter the Black Sea, and warships of unrelated countries should be strictly prohibited from entering the Guò Strait, which will only undermine the regional balance...... The position of the Soviet people was that warships of non-Black Sea littoral countries were not allowed to enter the Black Sea unless they had the unanimous consent of the governments of the Black Sea littoral countries...... As for the passage of warships of the Black Sea littoral countries through the Guò Strait, it should not be restricted in peacetime, and in wartime, the Turkish government should directly block the straits and not allow any country to pass under any pretext! ”

It can be said that the Soviet Union and Britain were on the bar at the beginning, and the two sides did not give an inch anyway, and the fierce quarrel lasted for three months, until January 1937, when the Popular Front was a little shaky as Germany and Italy suddenly strengthened their assistance to Franco, and the British took a step back when they saw that the goal had been achieved, and reached the "Montreux Convention" in history.

In fact, this pact has few restrictions on countries in peacetime, unless Turkey suddenly breaks away from neutrality and participates in the big hooligans' fights, the warships of the Black Sea littoral countries can also think about it.

Of course, the Turks did not lose either, having dissolved the Straits Management Council, recovering sovereignty over the Straits and finally being able to deploy defenses in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, which can be regarded as gains.

If there was a victim in this great quarrel, it was the Second Spanish Republic, and at first the group of teases did not agree to pay for Soviet arms, and then the Soviet Union terminated the aid directly under the pretext of negotiating the issue of the passage of the Straits to Guò. It was not until January of the following year that Franco launched a series of attacks and was overwhelmed, that the government of the Second Republic had to open the money box. (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the sweet potatoes in the melon field, yzg20042004, holding the broken son, the guerrillas, the most wanted on the plane and Comrade Juventus!