Battle of the Third Reich

The British were of course informed about what happened in Catalonia. They spied a bunch of spies in Spain. Even if the war was over, these independent intelligence gathering units did not stop their activities.

Spain is an important window for European foreign trade. Although the French seem to be reluctant to admit this, they may not be able to survive the difficult days before the defeat without the Spanish springboard.

At that time, Germany almost cut off the French Atlantic route. The Renault government can only use the Spanish port to load and unload the military supplies purchased from the Americas, which allowed Franco to earn a lot of price differences and dividends. Fortunately, this situation only lasted very long. In a short time, when the German-French Armistice Agreement was signed, this kind of re-export trade also stopped.

France is such a dictator who does not trust Spain, I am afraid that the above problems are also one of the reasons.

The British Cabinet is happy to see that the Spanish government is in chaos. This is beneficial to the British Empire’s Mediterranean strategy. It must be said that it has been a **** stick for centuries. The British can play geopolitics, and they are the best. The routine is to maintain a balance between regional forces.

Spain’s military strength at this time is not enough to pose a threat to neighboring countries, but the premise is that the situation in Europe will not change significantly. When some special circumstances occur, such as when the main European military forces are shifted in the direction of Eastern Europe, the location is The position of the European rear and the Mediterranean throat of Spain will be very important.

At first, the British did not worry that Franco would fall to the Soviet side, because in theory the two had already engulfed blood in the Spanish Civil War, and there was no possibility of reconciliation, but like the British themselves like to say best In the world, there are only eternal interests, no eternal allies or enemies. After the war, the British learned Franco’s two sides and three swords, and the Germans also felt deeply on this, so after saving their lives again, the British decided not to Innocently believe the ethics of a dictator.

Xu Jun also did not believe in Franco’s promise. This was a cunning and cruel pragmatist, and it was more cunning than most European politicians at the time.

Franco’s degree of control over the country is actually far greater than Mussolini and Hitler. Perhaps he is a real dictator. Under his high-pressure rule, Spanish society has become more closed and conservative. Some of the policies promulgated cannot even be seen by people like Himmler, accusing this person of abusing his power and putting unnecessary political pressure on the people.

The "Traditional Spanish National Syndicate Offensive Committee Front" established by Franco is also known as the "Spanish Lance Party". In fact, you only need to look at the stinky and long name in front of you to know, this is a reason A political alliance formed by the merger of fascists and right-wing parties. The political concept of the Lance Party seems to be biased towards national socialism, but it is fundamentally different from the German Nazis. The members of the Spanish Lance Party are mostly devout Catholics. They believe in pan-nationalism and respect religion in the political field. The role is the so-called "Spanish Catholic authoritarianism", which eventually, together with populism, became the political platform of this party. Relying on the enthusiasm for religion, the Lance Party is ruthlessly confronting the opponents and extremely likes to eliminate the political enemies from the flesh.

Franco has adopted a merciless and high-pressure policy internally. The Kingdom of Spain was originally a combination of a lot of loose city-states and noble leaders. It has a historical tradition of local self-government, but Franco simply does not allow this to be free from government. Or he appears to have personal control.

He wanted to place all of Spain under the rule of Madrid, so he prohibited any buds of localism from appearing under his rule.

It should be said that Catalonia and other local forces that seek independence, such as the quasi-armed organizations such as the Basque National Party, their role in the Spanish Civil War has deepened Franco’s determination to regain local autonomy. .

It is interesting that the political orientation of the Basque National Party is extremely right-wing and extreme populist, as well as devout Catholics, so they are not in harmony with the left-wing parties that reject religious attitudes. During the civil war, they will stand against the Republican side. Lango, simply because the Republicans agreed to their request for autonomy.

In fact, these people had greater ambitions at that time and wanted to take advantage of the Spanish civil strife to permanently split Basque from the Spanish territory. So when the civil war ended, the Basque National Party was undoubtedly liquidated by Franco, and these people's plan to establish the country became a mess.

In terms of safeguarding the country’s unified sovereignty, Spanish dictators are completely competent leaders, but in terms of people’s livelihood and economic development, Franco looks like a layman. However, Head of State Xu was completely uninterested in playing the role of Uncle Sam in history, building a "Spanish miracle" with billions of dollars. With that spare money, he might as well have armed several tank divisions.

Xu Jun’s indifference to Spain should be said to have affected the policy decisions of the British and French governments, otherwise they will not start Spain with such a decisive start.

In the strategic vision of British and French politicians, this country should continue to be so marginalized, lest he suddenly jump out of the sense of presence when the battle on the Eastern Front is in full swing.

The geographic location of the Strait of Gibraltar is very important. A large number of important resources needed in Europe, oil and minerals from the Far East, and manpower and raw materials from China all need to enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. Some can be landed from the Mediterranean countries, but some must pass The Strait of Gibraltar turns into the Atlantic route.

The Spanish naval force, though weak, was enough to cause some trouble for Mediterranean shipping.

When it comes to the Royal Navy of Spain, everyone will think of the invincible fleet that stretched across the seven seas, but now only one heavy cruiser is left in the Spanish navy.

The Canary Islands-class heavy cruiser [Canary Islands], this British-designed Spanish-built heavy cruiser, was built in 1931 and was officially commissioned in 1936. The captain is 193 meters long. Twenty meters wide, with a full-load displacement of 13,000 tons and a maximum speed of 33 knots. The flagship of the Royal Spanish Fleet is equipped with four twin-mounted eight-inch (203mm) main guns, four 4.7-inch (119mm) single-barrel sub-guns and four 100-mm single-barrel sub-guns, with firepower in similar cruisers. Fairly above average.

The Spanish navy, which had re-emerged from the shadow of the annihilation of the entire US-Spanish war, immediately suffered heavy losses in the brutal fratricidal civil war.

Once owned two battleships, eight cruisers of various types, 17 destroyers, the Spanish Navy of the World Navy ranked seventh, only the battleship of more than ten thousand tons [Canary Islands] was left.

In addition, the five surviving light cruisers and twelve destroyers have recently been stationed in the military port for a long time due to shortage of parts and fuel, and they will soon become the rust fleet.

In fact, the most serious loss in the Civil War is the morale of the Spanish Navy. This is no longer the invincible fleet that hung a red pennant for honor (meaning blood in the end). Now the Lance Party holds most of the key positions. How much combat power the squadron can retain has become a question worthy of careful consideration. However, even the worst warships are warships. If Spain really wants to jump out and find a sense of existence, these warships are enough to add a lot of chaos to Germany.

After seizing control of the Italian naval fleet, Xu Jun no longer cares about the balance of power in the Mediterranean Sea. In recent days, the Royal Navy seems to have generated great interest in the large number of Italian cruisers. Xu Jun also considered There are still many places where the Royal Navy needs to cooperate in later operations, so they are ready to start negotiations with the British side and are willing to separate some Italian cruisers and destroyers to add to the British Far East Fleet, which urgently needs to be strengthened.

In the mission undertaken by the British Special Envoy, there is a related agenda.

PS: Thank you for your support. The author is working hard to recover and return to the day as soon as possible.