For the Spanish Republican Army, which was still lingering, the war situation had become extremely serious. As the National Army cooperated with German and Italian troops to drive the Republican Army out of the mainland, there was very little room for maneuver left to the Republican Army.
At this time, Franco's troops not only controlled the major ports on the Spanish peninsula, but also had more than 150,000 elite army personnel who had experienced war. In addition, even the Spanish Navy branch, which was originally leaning towards the Republican Army, announced that it would change its flag to the National Army.
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The "Alcedo" and "La Zaga", which initially assisted the Republican Army in capturing La Palma Island, have now joined Franco's fleet. Prior to this, three of these ships were built based on the British Haussan M-class destroyers.
There is only one "El Cedo" class destroyer in the hands of the National Army, the "Velasco".
In addition, Italy sold three Italian Aquila destroyers to the Spanish National Army in 1937 due to political considerations: Melilla 1, Melilla 2, and Ceuta. As well as the Republican Army's transformation of the Italian Alessandro
Two Huesca-class destroyers were remodeled from the Ro Pierio-class destroyers: Teruel and Huesca. Today, the National Army has formed an absolute advantage over the Republican Army in terms of naval power.
Although there are no battleships in the Spanish National Army today, and the few six cruisers are only enough to maintain its colonial rule. However, in terms of the number of destroyers, it still maintains an absolute suppression of 17 to 0 with the Republican Army, even though 10 of them are
This is an old destroyer that has long been outdated.
In contrast, the so-called naval force of the Republic only has 3 gunboats and 15 armed merchant ships. There is not even a capital ship!
Looking back at the beginning of the war, the Republican Army owned nearly three-quarters of the Spanish fleet: 1 battleship, 3 cruisers, 11 destroyers, and all submarines. The National Army only owned a quarter of 1 battleship, 4 cruisers, 2
Of the destroyers, only one cruiser is in active service and the others are in the construction stage.
At that time, the leaders of the Republican Army never imagined that the war would reach this stage.
On land, they defeated the National Army and lost their armor. On the water, the National Army fleet was defeated in every battle. Everything was so perfect.
It's a pity that since the Germans took action, all the good situations have collapsed.
With less than half the strength of the Madrid defenders, Rommel defeated the entire Madrid defenders by lightning, chasing and capturing more than 100,000 people.
Immediately afterwards, the Italians followed suit. Although their results on land were mediocre, the Italian Navy cooperated with the National Army to sink the only battleship of the Republican Army, causing the Republican Army's military morale to be shattered.
Although the Republican navy later relied on its numerical superiority to sink a Nationalist battleship, news of the failure on land spread quickly, affecting the navy's confidence. Finally, when Barcelona fell, the Republican naval ships
Finally wavered and gradually surrendered to the National Army.
One by one, the major cities in the Spanish colonies put on the flags of their National Army. Factories that produced weapons and equipment began to transfuse blood for the National Army.
By the time the Spanish Republican government reacted, they had already lost their last bargaining chip. Now the only remaining two islands are like the "underpants" of the Republican Army. If they continue to bet, the Republican Army will really lose even its underwear.
None left.
In the past two years, Spain, a former European power, has experienced the biggest disaster in history. Not only has it weakened its little naval foundation that it had managed to preserve, but it has also lost more than 200,000 elite and heroic land forces. Fighting between the two factions
Fighting, back-and-forth, long-term melee fighting has left the people in dire straits and the country's strength withered.
Especially in the past year, people from all over the world have engaged in a huge international power and ideological showdown on Spanish soil. And every bomb they dropped was dropped on Spanish soil.
On top of it, there was left a lot of devastation and countless corpses.
No one knows exactly how many Spaniards died because of the war between July 1936 and today. But the words of American journalist Matthews resonated greatly - this war killed half of Spain
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As the military leader of the republican government, Francisco was forcibly taken to La Palma Island by his subordinates. At this moment, Francisco was debating a shameful topic with the Provisional Government of the Second Spanish Republic - whether it was time to surrender.
As a soldier, Francisco should have sacrificed his life to defend the dignity of the country. Unfortunately, the price of this dignity was too high. Two years of experience made this proud general a supporter of the capitulation faction.
"We have already lost!" Francisco's voice lingered in the large conference room on the second floor of the Lapal Hotel, which serves as the provisional government building on La Palma Island: "Our total strength is less than 10,000! Control!
The navy is also unable to prevent the Republican Army from landing! Now the Republican Army is not even strong enough to protect itself, let alone counterattack. I don’t understand why it continues to fight and meet a doomed outcome!”
An older official shook his head dissatisfied, stood up and faced Francisco and said: "General Francisco, isn't it also your responsibility to tell why the war is like this? If you hadn't been retreating steadily, you would have lost everything.
If we lose Madrid and cannot hold Catalonia, how can we end up in this situation?"
Hearing this, Francisco's anger suddenly rose. He pointed at the official's nose and cursed rudely: "Who the hell do you think you are, you dare to order me!?"
The official was startled by Francisco's sudden anger and hurriedly suppressed a lot of prepared sarcasm.
"At the beginning, if you hadn't held back the army and interfered with our command many times, the generals and I might have driven the National Army back to the sea to feed the fish. Later, you fell into the conspiracy of the German Prime Minister.
They threw away more than 500 tons of gold accumulated by successive Spanish governments over the past century and exchanged it for a batch of junk weapons. If we talk about negligence, I think you politicians are the main culprits!"
Although Francisco's words were unpleasant, they also resonated with most of the officials present. Before the Germans and Italians intervened, Francisco's record was obvious to all. At that time, he defeated Franco's massive army.
If the armor is removed, it will look like it will collapse.
If it hadn't been for the later republican government to distribute a lot of equipment that should be shipped to the frontline troops to the Comintern Column and the People's Guard for international support, resulting in a shortage of ammunition on the frontline and slowing down the offensive. Maybe the National Army would have been defeated by Francisco.
The entire army was wiped out!
The stupid politicians of the Republican government, who didn’t know what was wrong at the time, asked Germany to sell weapons and were required to pay all in gold. (Historically, the Spanish Republican government also had its head kicked by a donkey and asked the Soviet Union to buy them at a high price.
arms).
You must know that the biggest advantage of the civil war ** and the government is that the national gold reserves are in their hands, and Spain is the sixth largest gold reserve country in the world. As a result, under the deception of the German head of state Reinhardt, the republican government handed over to Germany in one fell swoop
5 million tons of gold, on the one hand to buy weapons, and on the other hand to be entrusted for safekeeping in times of war.
After being entrusted with reparations, the impoverished Germans helped keep the gold? In what year was this a joke!