Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 331: Lunch (Navy)

As for what happened in Catalonia, the British were of course aware of it. They lurked 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, without the Spanish trade springboard, it would be difficult for them to survive the difficult days before the defeat.

Germany almost cut off the French Atlantic route. The Renault government could only use Spanish ports to load and unload military supplies purchased from the Americas. This allowed Franco to earn a lot of price differences and dividends. Fortunately, this situation was only It lasted for a short time, and when the German-French armistice agreement was signed, this kind of entrepot trade also ceased.

France is so distrustful of Spanish dictators, I am afraid that the above problems are also one of the reasons.

The British cabinet is happy to see the Spanish government in chaos, which is beneficial to the British Empire’s Mediterranean strategy. It has to be said that it has been a mess for centuries. The British can all play geopolitics. Their best practice is to maintain a balance between regional power.

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 does not change significantly, when certain special circumstances occur, such as when the main European military power shifts to Eastern Europe , Spain, located in the back of Europe and the throat of the Mediterranean, its position will become very important.

At first, the British were not worried that Franco would fall to the Soviet-Russian side, because theoretically the two had already forged a **** feud in the Spanish Civil War, and there was no possibility of reconciliation, but just like the British themselves like As said, there are only eternal interests in the world. There are no eternal allies or enemies. After the war, the British learned Franco’s two sides and three swords, and the Germans also felt deeply about this, so after saving others by themselves, the British Man decided not to naively believe in the integrity of a dictator.

Xu Jun didn't believe in Franco's promise. He was a cunning and cruel pragmatist, and he was more cunning than most European politicians at the time.

Franco’s control over the country far exceeds that of Mussolini and Hitler. Perhaps he is a true dictator. Under his high-pressure rule, Spanish society has become more closed and closed. Conservative, some of the policies he promulgated could not even stand for people like Himmler, accusing him of abusing his power and imposing unnecessary political oppression on the people.

The "Traditional Spanish National Syndicalist Offensive Committee Front" established by Franco is also known as the "Spanish Phalange". In fact, you only need to look at the stinky long name in front to make it clear. It is a political alliance formed by the merger of a bunch of fascist and right-wing parties. The Pike Party’s political philosophy seems to be biased towards National Socialism, but it is fundamentally different from the German Nazis. The Spanish Pike Party members are mostly devout Catholics. They believe in a kind of pan-nationalism, and they respect religion in the political field. The role of this party is the so-called "Spanish Catholic authoritarianism." In the end, this together with populism became the political platform of this party. Relying on its fanaticism for religion, the Phalange is ruthless in the face of opponents, and is extremely fond of destroying political enemies physically.

Franco adopted a ruthlessly high-pressure policy towards the country. The Kingdom of Spain was originally formed by a large number of loose city-states and aristocratic ties. It has a historical tradition of local autonomy, but Franco does not allow this at all. There are situations that are not under the control of the government or his personal control.

He wanted to place the whole of Spain under Madrid's rule, so he forbade any germs of regionalism from emerging under his rule.

It should be said that Catalonia and other local forces seeking independence, such as quasi-armed organizations such as the Basque National Party, played a role in the Spanish Civil War, which deepened Franco’s recovery of local autonomy. The determination of power.

What’s interesting is that the Basque National Party’s political tendencies are extreme right wing and extreme populism, and they are also devout Catholics, so they are not in harmony with left-wing parties that hold an attitude of repelling religion. They will stand with the Republicans during the civil war. Confronted Franco only because the Republicans agreed to their request for autonomy.

In fact, these people had greater ambitions at the 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 the nation-building plan of these people was also in vain.

In terms of safeguarding the unity and sovereignty of the country, the Spanish dictator is a fully competent leader, but Franco looks like a layman in terms of people's livelihood construction and economic development. However, President Xu Da has no interest in playing the role of Uncle Sam in history, using billions of dollars to build a "Spanish miracle". With that spare money, he might as well arm more tank divisions.

Xu Jun's indifferent attitude towards Spain, it should be said that it has affected the policy decisions of the British and French governments, otherwise they would not be so decisive to attack Spain.

In the strategic vision of British and French politicians, this country should continue to be marginalized so that he will not suddenly jump out of his presence when the Eastern Front is in full swing.

The geographical location of the Strait of Gibraltar is very important. Europe needs a lot of important resources. Oil and minerals from the Far East, manpower and raw materials from China, all need to enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. Some can go ashore from countries along the Mediterranean, but some It must be transferred to the Atlantic route through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Although Spain’s naval power is very weak, it is enough to cause some trouble for Mediterranean shipping.

When it comes to the Spanish navy, everyone will think of the invincible fleet that crisscrossed the Seven Seas back then, but now there is only one heavy cruiser left in the Spanish navy.

The Canary Islands-class heavy cruiser [Canary Islands], this heavy cruiser designed and built by the British in Spain, started construction in 1931 and officially entered service in 1936, with a captain of 190 It is three meters wide, twenty meters wide, has a full load displacement of 13,000 tons, and a maximum speed of 33 knots. The flagship of the Spanish Royal Fleet is equipped with four twin-mounted eight-inch (203mm) main guns, four 4.7-inch (119mm) single-barreled secondary guns, and four 100-mm single-barreled secondary guns~IndoMTL.com~Firepower Among similar cruisers, it is still above average.

The Spanish Navy, which finally re-emerged from the shadow of the destruction of the entire army in the Spanish-American War, immediately suffered heavy losses in the brutal fratricidal fratricide of the Civil War.

It used to have two battleships, eight cruisers of various types, seventeen destroyers, and the Navy of the Spanish Republic, ranked seventh in the world navy. At this moment, only the [Canary Islands] warship of more than 10,000 tons is left.

In addition, the five light cruisers and twelve destroyers that survived have recently been stationed in the military port for a long time due to shortages of parts and fuel, and they have quickly become a rust fleet.

In fact, the most serious loss in the civil war was the morale of the Spanish navy. This is no longer the invincible fleet that hoisted the red pennant (meaning the **** battle to the end) for honor. Now the Phalange party controls most of the vital points. The position, how much combat power this fleet can retain, has become a question worthy of careful consideration. However, the worst warships are also warships. If Spain really wants to jump out to 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. Recently, the Royal Navy seems to have a great interest in the large number of Italian cruisers. Xu Jun Taking into account that there are still many places where the Royal Navy needs to cooperate in the later stage of the battle, it is ready to start negotiations with the British and is willing to separate some Italian cruisers and destroyers to supplement the British Far East Fleet, which is in urgent need of strengthening.

This time the mission of the British special mission has related agendas.

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