Chapter 557: Great Power Game (7)
Carlos I also knew that if the army of the Chinese Empire entered the Kingdom of Sero, I was afraid that the racists in the country would immediately riot and turn all to support Franco's rebels, so he also acquiesced to the explanation of the Chinese Empire. In order to be able to maintain his rule, Carlos I was also really anxious, and he immediately set about buying weapons from the allies, and at the same time training new recruits to expand the army, this time he had to fight hard.
Both the government army and the rebels are desperately training new soldiers, the entire Sero Kingdom has become a large barracks, a large number of young and middle-aged people in the country have been conscripted into the army, and there are signs of shortage of labor in various places, and the entire Sero Kingdom seems to be in general mobilization for war. The number of two factions, supported by the Allies and the Axis powers, continued to rise, and soon exceeded 400,000 each.
With the fastest sea transportation in the Boston Empire, Franco's logistics were smoother, and they took the lead in the attack, and the all-out attack of hundreds of thousands of people was not something that the unprepared Sero government army could withstand, and they retreated again and again with the Sardinian mercenaries, and soon retreated to the front line of the capital Madrid.
As the offensive continued, Franco's rebels' logistical supply lines grew longer and longer, while those of the government army became shorter and shorter, and by the time the rebels advanced to the outskirts of Madrid, the government forces finally gained a foothold. At this time, the Nantes Volunteer Army was attacking Barreroux with all its might, and it was impossible to divide forces to support Franco, so the attack on Madrid could only rely on the rebels themselves.
After being re-replenished by the Boston Air Force, the rebel air force once again had the strength to compete with the Condor Legion, but this time they were also cautious, for fear that they would be attacked by night again, and the field airfields were deployed a hundred kilometers away from the front line, and there were dense anti-aircraft gun positions and a large number of searchlights around to prevent the recurrence of the last tragedy.
In the air battle, the elite Condor Legion still has the upper hand, although the Yaman Empire has transferred a large number of experienced elite pilots back to China and replaced them with a group of newcomers, but under the leadership of the air ace Colonel Hartman, they still press the rebel pilots to fight, and many novice pilots have begun to mature slowly in the fierce battle.
After arriving in Madrid, Colonel Hartmann was replaced by a Golden Eagle 3 fighter, which was slightly inferior to the BF109E fighter in service in the Yaman Empire, which had just been retired from the Imperial Chinese Air Force. With the new aircraft that made Hartman handy, his record skyrocketed again, and by this time he was approaching the one hundred and fifty mark.
Now the pilots of the rebel side smell Hartman's color change, every time in the air battle, when they see the arrow sign drawn on the nose of Hartman's plane like a black tulip heart, the morale of the entire formation will drop by two percent, and the fighter will be greatly reduced, and many rebel pilots even avoid this fighter after the most Lu, and give Hartman the title of a silver demon, so as to call the silver-gray Golden Eagle 3 fighter he piloted.
Although Hartmann showed great power in the air, but the battle on land still could not distinguish the winner or loser, the government army's weapons and equipment were slightly poorer, and the personnel training time was not as good as the rebel commander, but fortunately, the bomber unit of the air force was able to cooperate well with heavy artillery, and launched attacks on the rebels from time to time, and also achieved a lot of results, which made the war situation relatively stable, but as the rebels had more and more anti-aircraft guns, the advantage of the bombers became smaller and smaller, and the government army began to slowly retreat, and was forced to give up half of Madrid to the rebels.
For the continuous offensive, Franco is also difficult to ride, although it seems that the rebels are infinitely pressed by the government army, and even occupy a small half of Madrid, but only the rebel high-level knows that the rebels' daily casualties are astronomical, and the long list of dead makes Franco, a veteran soldier who has been in battle for a long time, tremble when he sees it.
The tragic street fighting has been continuing, and the entire city of Madrid seems to have become a flesh and blood millstone, filling the lives of both the rebels and the government army into the bottomless pit of street fighting, both sides are gritting their teeth and persevering, waiting for the collapse of their opponents, but none of them can afford to lose, and no one dares to give up lightly until the last moment.
In the city of La Roda, east of Madrid, the Sardinia mercenaries are also fighting the rebels, but compared to the tragic street fighting in Madrid, the Sardinia mercenaries who are not strong enough to fight are quite concise. As if there was a tacit understanding between the two sides, they were only engaged in a daily routine artillery battle, and the infantry on both sides did not make substantial contact, and the war here was like a play, and there was no tragedy at all.
Just when the war of the Sero Kingdom was in a stalemate, the city of Barreru was finally breached, and the Grand Duchy of Rees was forced to surrender. After the capture of the city, the Nantes Volunteer Army had only more than 60,000 people left, including more than 10,000 wounded, and it can be said that this force was basically disabled.
Barreroux is a harbor city, seeing the heavy casualties of the Nantes Volunteer Army, the Boston Empire immediately covers a large number of Nantes merchant ships to transport new soldiers here, and at the same time transport all the wounded soldiers back to China for treatment, and these veterans who have returned from injuries will become the backbone of the Nantes Army in the future.
With sufficient personnel and material replenishment, the Nantes Volunteer Army quickly resumed the establishment of four corps, after half a month of rest, the Nantes Volunteer Army, which has been urged by Franco several times, finally embarked on the journey again, they will take the train, along the railway line through Coimbra, directly into the territory of the Kingdom of Sero, the army is directly aimed at the logistics base of the Sero government army, located in the city of Toledo, more than 60 kilometers south of Madrid.
The Nantes Volunteers attacked the city of Toledo with lightning speed on the train, and the Sero government troops stationed here were only two divisions, and they were taken by surprise and had to retreat into the city to defend.
The Nantes Volunteers, who had already fought many street battles in the city, were quite experienced, and under the leadership of veterans, they relied on changeable tactics and advanced weapons to quickly break into the city and occupy many material warehouses. Carlos I received the news two hours later, and when he saw the battle report, he was so shocked that he dropped his wine glass on the ground, and the spilled wine stained a large part of his beloved carpet.
Carlos I knew very well that once the city of Toledo fell, his defeat was doomed. Therefore, he immediately drew two armies from the not wealthy garrison and rushed to the aid of Toledo.
At this time, the defenders of Toledo City had reached the last moment, and seeing that nothing could be done, the defenders ignited the explosives that had been buried in the ground, turning the whole city into a sea of fire. The shells and fuel in the warehouse exploded, destroying most of the Nantes volunteers who had already occupied most of the city, and many soldiers were instantly gone, frightening the volunteers who were still outside the city into chaos.