The clumsy appearance of the Galliano stunned the officers and men of the Red Pskov who were watching, and such a performance was really unpleasant. I think that after the October Revolution of that year, although the Red Navy was also chaotic when it was first established, the officers and men of the Red Navy at that time did not lack the will to fight and morale, even in the face of a strong enemy, they dared to face difficulties, and these Spaniards were really a group of comics!

The speechless Russians really wanted to take the place of the Spaniards, and for the Red Pskov, it was like playing with these gunboats, armed fishing boats, and troop carriers. But who made the orders from above very strict, strictly forbidding them to go into battle!

Rudenko, the captain of the Red Pskov, ordered very angrily: "Sue the air force of the international column, they must move quickly, otherwise our Spanish friends will let these fascist bandits go before their eyes!" ”

The onlookers were indignant, while the Spaniards were smiling, and Franco, who had been following the crossing, was greatly relieved to learn that the enemy destroyers had been repelled and that the Russian warships that had been cruising the Strait of Gibraltar were not directly involved in the attack.

At the time, Franco thought: "The Russians are probably not ready to participate directly in the civil war, their toughness is more of a posturing, and I think a large-scale sea crossing can begin!" ”

In a certain way, Franco's interpretation is not problematic, although the Red Navy cruises in the Strait of Gibraltar, this kind of patrol is more of a deterrent, once Franco crosses the sea regardless of it, the Red Navy can not make much response.

In fact, Franco was ready to start a massive crossing at once, just as the Dato escorted the troop carrier on its rapid march across the channel. The SB-2 fleet finally arrived on the scene.

12 SB-2s circled around the fleet headed by the Datto. Then under the leadership of the long plane, Yuguan entered the attack route. Each SB-2 carried four 100-kilogram FAB100 bombs in its magazine. The engine compartments on both sides can also carry two FAB50s.

Although the total bomb load was only 500 kilograms, 12 SB-2s threw these bombs on the heads of the Spaniards, even if it was horizontal bombing, but this group of veteran SB-2s still achieved good results.

The Ceuta-Ceuta was hit three times in an instant, and the thin-skinned transport ship immediately began to catch fire, and Rudenko, who was watching from afar, witnessed the Spanish National Army rushing out of the cabin with flames and then jumping into the sea with a scream.

Compared to the Argolan, what happened to Ceuta City was not bad. At least the Ceuta-Ceuta-Ceuta-ceuil was only on fire and did not break in two. The Argolan was hit only once, but the bomb accurately hit the center of the hull, piercing two layers of planks before exploding near the keel.

From the memories of the few survivors of the Agoran, we can see that the thin-skinned iron-hulled ship disappeared into the sea in just five minutes - I was operating the anti-aircraft machine gun on the deck when the Russian planes whizzed over our heads, and several black bombs fell, most of them on the sides and stern, but the last one hit straight near the chimney...... Then. I could feel the deck shake twice, about two seconds later. The explosion poured into the deck with a puff of smoke and flames spewing from the chimney, followed by a violent click...... I could feel the bow of the ship beginning to lift, and I grabbed the railing of the side of the ship, while my comrade Sanchez was not so lucky, and he stumbled and fell into the cracked deck with a scream...... I climbed up the steeper and steeper bow of the boat with my hands and feet, and the sailors kept screaming and falling, and for the next minute I could feel my feet sinking under my feet...... I knew I couldn't stay any longer, or I would be buried with the Agoran, and I jumped into the sea with a fish leap, and then struggled to swim forward, and I don't know how long it was, maybe minutes, maybe longer, and was picked up by the Dalto's lifeboat just as I was exhausted......

The Argolan was carrying about 600 officers and men of the Spanish Foreign Legion, and fewer than 30 were successfully rescued. Most of the people were taken to the bottom of the sea by the Argolan before they could hit the deck.

When the twelve SB-2s flapped their wings and left in style, the pilots had no idea that nearly a thousand people would be killed in this sortie. Not long after the sinking of the Agoran, the fire on the Ceuta grew larger, and the entire deck was covered in smoke, and as the fire became uncontrollable, the captain of the Ceuta had to abandon the ship, but only about a third of the people managed to escape from the flames.

Most of them were either choked to death by the smoke or lost their way in the cabins, and only a few sailors and men of the Melilla Semi-Battalion in the upper cabins escaped with their lives. Rear Admiral Suniko, the captain of the Dato, who witnessed this tragedy, shouted at the red Pskov in the distance: "Dog-day Russians, you are executioners!" It's the devil! ”

Presumably, in the eyes of this major Suniko, it was the Russians who massacred his compatriots, which was an unforgivable atrocity. But what is it? At least the international column is not like Emilio. Mora's backslaught on the massacres of militias and sailors, nor does Franco's later relentless purge of the "hostile forces" in support of the Popular Front.

Compared to these real executioners, the air force of the international column was quite chivalrous, because at that time they could continue to strafe the fascist bandits who fell into the water.

Because of the excellence of the international column air force, Franco's first sea crossing suffered an unprecedented defeat, with two-thirds of his soldiers killed on the surface and most of the munitions they were carrying sank to the bottom of the sea along with the Argolan and Ciudad Ceuta.

Franco, who learned of this news, had to revise his previous conclusions, and he demanded that the German and Italian air forces seize air supremacy over the strait as much as possible, and even directly asked German warships to provide escorts, he believed: "As long as there are German warships, the Russians will not dare to make any moves!" ”

So is this conclusion correct? I'm afraid it's problematic, because the Russians are really not afraid of the Germans, who have only the pocket battleship Deutschland and the light cruiser Cologne near the Strait of Gibraltar. At the same time, the Red Navy had an aircraft carrier, a battlecruiser and a light cruiser. It's really a fight. The Germans were no match at all.

Obviously, Hitler did not intend to have a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union, and the direct escort of the Nationalist Army was undoubtedly a direct violation of the non-interference pact that was like a butt-wiping paper. Even if it's just a piece of butt wiping paper, but it's not the time to wipe your butt, is it?

And Hitler was even more worried that once the German Navy personally escorted the Nationalist Army, then the Soviets would use this as an excuse to officially intervene in the Spanish Civil War, and possibly even open fire directly on the German Navy. Anyway, Hitler's reaction to the Soviet Union was not at all bottom, and people even said that the British would not be birds. Nor is it very normal to not bird Germany, which is weaker?

Therefore, Hitler refused to escort Franco directly, but once again sent a large number of planes to strengthen the strength of the vulture corps, anyway, the Navy of the Republic is gone, and the Red Navy will not directly attack for the time being, as long as the international column air force is defeated and air supremacy is seized, crossing the sea is not just like playing?

Germany and Italy abruptly stepped up their assistance to Franco, and more and more German-Italian fighters and pilots arrived in Spanish Morocco to constantly provoke the international column air force across the strait. Fierce ground air battles were fought from dawn to dark, and parachutes could be seen fluttering in the wind over the strait almost every hour during the day.

True, the I-15 and I-16 equipped by the international column have better performance. But the ants bit the elephant more, and when the Germans and Italians took turns to fight, the international column air force began to be overwhelmed. The I-15 and I-16 were shot down or crashed due to mechanical problems, and after only three days of fighting, there were only ten fighters available to the international column, and the pilots were even more exhausted.

For example, Sergey . Ivanovich. Griseswets, the ace of the air to whom we mentioned earlier, took to the air fifteen times in three days, each time facing at least two enemy planes, and in a total of twenty-eight air battles, he shot down 15 enemy planes, and at the same time he was shot down three times.

Grisewetz later recalled: "It was a crazy time, I could only sleep five hours a day, I was about to take off almost as soon as I woke up, and I never left the cockpit for a day, including breakfast, lunch and urination in my seat...... It was also the second time I had been shot down over the Strait of Gibraltar, and to be honest, the moment the parachute opened, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when I looked at the blue sea beneath my feet - I could finally rest for a while. ”

"Landing on the sea is indeed more challenging than on land, and if you quickly cut the parachute line and get entangled, it will be a big problem...... The first thing to do after falling into the sea was to contact the Navy by radio, and throughout the Great Battle of Gibraltar, our naval brothers sent an aircraft carrier and four Type 36 frigates to patrol the local division, and also provided a special channel to receive distress signals, so that they could rush to the scene for rescue as soon as possible...... I have to praise the Navy, they did a very good job, our lads never died or went missing because they fell overboard, the Type 36 frigate always arrives on the scene very quickly, if you are 'lucky', the helicopter from the Leningrad will arrive quickly, and you can enjoy an unusual sea and air tour......"

"Our opponents, the Germans and Italians, did not have such conditions, and their pilots who fell into the sea lacked good radio equipment, and had to soak in the sea for hours, sometimes disappearing outright. Even our navy often finds their pilots before the enemy, and from a humanitarian point of view, the navy will scoop them up and send them to the Popular Front in unity, and then these fascist bandits will have to spend a long time in a Spanish prison......"

Of course, even if the rescue is effective, this huge consumption can drag down the air force of the international column. Fortunately, the response of the Soviet side was not slow, and soon, the I-15, I-16 and SB-2, which had just come off the production line, were urgently loaded and shipped to Spain with a smell of paint. Not only for the planes, but also for a large number of Red Army pilots, for a time the air battle over the Strait of Gibraltar was in a state of anxiety.

Obviously, this is a comparison of the country's industrial capacity, and whoever can't withstand it first will lose. In this aspect, with the addition of Li Xiaofeng in this time and space, it has become completely different. Let's put it this way, in the first half of 1936 in history, there were certain problems with the production of aircraft in the Red Army. Let's say, for example, the SB-2 bomber. Historically from November 1935 to May 1936. The production of SB-2M-100 bombers was only 7 units per month.

It should be said that this production capacity is unsatisfactory, the main reason is that the Soviet Union has not fully mastered the manufacture of all-metal semi-monocoque aircraft, especially the welding technology of the steel skeleton of the fuselage is very headache. The technical difficulties and the running-in period of the initial construction of the production line, as well as various reasons for the manufacture of tooling fixtures and the correction of drawing errors, led to the difficult birth of the SB-2.

At that time, it was Mikhainov, an engineer at the 22nd State Aircraft Factory in Moscow, who improved the process and replaced the traditional process with the combined welding method of the aircraft skeleton of quenched steel parts, which greatly improved the production efficiency and product quality. In June 1936, after the application of Mikhainov's technology, the production of SB-2s was immediately increased to 25 aircraft per month.

this plane. Under the personal supervision of Li Xiaofeng, Mikhainov tackled the relevant technology in advance, so from March 1936, the production of SB-2 reached 20 aircraft per month, and it is still increasing. By June, the SB-2M-100 had already produced 110 units.

However, the problem of production capacity has been solved, but the aircraft does not have combat effectiveness when it is produced. Why did the first Soviet support only give Spain 12 SB-2s? The reason for this is that there are not so many qualified pilots. A large number of SB-2s rolled off the factory and could only be parked at the airport as runway caretakers.

Similarly, the new I-15 and I-16 also have the problem of lack of pilots, especially skilled pilots!!

"It's okay to be in a way that is strengthened and selected in a way that is contingency. But it is necessary to see the problem of zài in this way...... I think from now on, we must establish a more complete pilot selection system. For example, the extensive construction of new flying clubs, such as the production of more beginner and intermediate trainers, and so on! ”

A local conflict over the Strait of Gibraltar alone stretched the Soviet Union's pilot reserves and left a large number of advanced fighters parked at the airport to bask in the sun, a state that the Politburo absolutely did not want to see.

It is quite necessary to popularize flying, otherwise in another world war like the First World War, wouldn't the Russian pilots be exhausted in minutes?

Of course, it is not only to popularize flight, but more importantly, Li Xiaofeng believes that the training aircraft is very important, and the new weapons developed by the Soviet Union after the thirties objectively have many good performance, but these high-performance equipment failed to exert their due power in the later Great Patriotic War, what is the reason?

Let's take the I-16 and T-34, the important reason why the I-16 makes pilots talk about tiger color change is that the I-16 did not have a trainer model at the beginning, and it is difficult for many novices to get started. Not only the I-16, but also the later SB-2, Pe-2, etc., did not have a trainer type at the beginning, and the designers only cared about developing and improving the fighter, but did not think about how to make the pilots accept and familiarize themselves with it. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, Russian novice pilots could only fly unfamiliar fighters to play with the enemy, and it was normal for them to suffer heavy losses.

It's not just the lack of coaches, it's the secrecy system that's even worse. In order to keep the most advanced weapons secret, these weapons were tightly locked in warehouses, for example, T-34s, at the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, a total of 832 T-34s were assigned to the five military districts of the western border, but only how many were on normal duty? 38 cars!

The rest of the tanks were tightly guarded, and the tankmen were not even allowed to look at them. Naturally, once the war breaks out, will the tank crews who have basically never been in contact with the T-34 fight in such advanced tanks, will they be able to give full play to the effectiveness of the weapon?

Let's put it this way, at the time of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, there were only 300 crews (150 units of each tank) in the five military districts of the western border that were able to skillfully operate the KV series and T-34.

It can be said that at the time of the outbreak of the war, the most advanced tanks of the Soviet Union were basically not destroyed by the Germans, but were abandoned and destroyed by their own people due to crew errors, mechanical failures and lack of spare parts.

This is the painful lesson, weapons are used to take out, hiding and tucking can fool the enemy for a while, but once the war starts, when one's own soldiers are not familiar with their weapons, what kind of battle will they fight!

"A notice should be issued to the troops, and attention should be paid to secrecy work, but we should not blindly go to the top of the platform, let alone go to extremes. It is necessary to carry out a large-scale military training activity, and let our Red Army soldiers familiarize themselves with the new weapons and give full play to the effectiveness of the new weapons, so that they can defend our great motherland! ”

Under Li Xiaofeng's leadership, a wave of military training began to rise in the Red Army, and every officer and every soldier worked hard to carry out training, and this trend persisted, and when the Great Patriotic War broke out, the Nazis would face a Red Army that was completely different from history.

Of course, for the time being, these are still a bit far away, back in Spain, the fierce air battle that broke out over the Strait of Gibraltar lasted for a whole month, the two sides put in hundreds of warplanes, thousands of pilots, it can be said that in the bottom of the Strait of Gibraltar, the wreckage of destroyed fighters can be seen everywhere.

This air battle is a rehearsal of World War II, whether it is for Germany or the Soviet Union, after this air war, some details of modern air combat have been figured out, and it has also provided guidance for the research and development direction of more advanced fighters in China.

After a short break, the battle will be completely different as the BF-109 and Ju-87 join the battlefield...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank yzg20042004, everyone who drinks a thousand cups and is not drunk, hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!