My Third Empire

One Hundred and Thirty-Three Future Directions

Guernica is a city in Spain of no military importance, with a small bank, a candy factory, a few chapels and a few small hospitals. [Starting] If there are some important targets here, it is the train station, the small arms factory outside the city, and a road bridge to Bilbao.

At 4:30 pm on this day, when farmers and merchants were exchanging cattle, sheep and agricultural products in the market center, the church bell was tolled, and some clergymen saw the plane in the distance and reminded people that the plane was coming.

People were frightened and hurried to hide, hiding in cellars, under bridges and in dug holes. Just two minutes later, the D0-217 bomber dropped six heavy bombs.

This time it wasn't the junk in Franco's hands. It was the bomber unit of the German "Vulture Legion" who flew in. A full 34 -217 bombers bombed Guernica for 3 hours. . The front wall of a local hotel called Julian was blown to pieces, revealing the rooms on the upper and lower floors. Juan Ciric, who volunteered to fight the fire 100 meters away, was shaken by the aftermath of the explosion.

He looked up and saw the broken arms, legs and heads flying all over the air. Later, a large number of incendiary bombs were dropped in the wooden house residential area of ​​these plane cubs, and the fire spread everywhere through the wind, engulfing everything that could burn. All the hospitals were destroyed, and the sick children and the wounded, plus the doctors and nurses who cared for them, became icy corpses.

At low altitude, several old-fashioned fighter he-51s piloted by the Franco National Army played the role of ground attack. A Basque priest, Alberto Odina, hid in the woods on the outskirts of the city, and witnessed these he-51 fighter jets swooping down. Scenarios of people being beaten to death.

Mothers, the elderly, and children were killed, "falling down in piles like flies". Odina later recalled: "There was blood everywhere, the explosion caused a fire, and the smoke billowed." His words were confirmed by the other side's records: the Luftwaffe reported that the plane had to be lowered because of the smoke to see it. Know where is the city and where is the suburb.

The last batch of planes that were bombed at dusk slowly left, and at this time most of Guernica was already a sea of ​​fire. In the early morning of the next day, when reporters from various countries arrived here with cameras on their shoulders, the ruins were still smoking.

Reporters saw helpless people searching for their relatives and belongings among the rubble and rubble. In a farmland not far from the town, the bodies of more than 600 civilians were stacked, and the final death toll will never be counted, but at least 2,000 people were killed in this airstrike.

The bombing razed the town center, 70% of the houses were completely destroyed, and another 20% were severely damaged. The entire city was almost wiped off the map, while the small arms factory and the road bridge were all unscathed.

Hundreds of years ago, Guernica was the center of the region, a sanctuary for the free and independent Basque spirit. Beneath an oak tree here, Spanish monarchs once promised to respect the rights of the natives. But now, the city has fallen victim to the disaster of war, and many news papers around the world have severely criticized the brutality of the Franco National Army and German accomplices.

But the German "government" issued a statement publicly denying any responsibility. Fanny gave a speech at the regular meeting of the Greater Deutsches Party, saying that the German people are peace-loving, but even if they oppose atrocities, they will firmly support the Spanish people's proletarian war. She also claimed that the Guernica massacre was the work of terrorists.

But the airmen of the Vulture Legion who are still on the front line know in their hearts that they don't want to mention Guernica, and they never brag about this amazing bombing. One pilot also refused the Spanish medal for the bombing. .

Whatever the international impact of the Guernica air raid, it did weaken the defenses of the Republican "government" in the region. A month later, the National Army swept through Guernica, and from there marched into Bilbao. The following month, a fierce attack on Bilbao was launched.

The experience brought to the Germans by this successful air raid prompted a discussion in Germany about the development direction of the Air Force. The strategic bomber faction represented by the Führer felt that long-range bombers should be developed as the ultimate attack method to destroy the enemy's recovery. There are not many supporters of this faction, but they include the Chief of Staff of the Air Force; but the senior Air Force generals, including Air Force Commander Catherine and Deputy Commander Hulk, are sent by tactical bombers. They feel that bombers such as -217 It's enough, there is no need to rush to develop long-range bombers, because they now need to equip more fighters to defend German airspace.

At the Führer's residence in Berlin, every discussion about the future of the Luftwaffe ends up being unhappy, and this one was no exception.

"Führer, it's not that we are not optimistic about the prospect of strategic bombing." In front of the head of state's desk, Catherine spread her hands helplessly: "It's that we can't afford such expensive advanced weapons now." He told Arkado With unparalleled loyalty, Arcador repaid him by taking the advice of the Air Force commander as much as he could.

Dick also sighed helplessly: "Yeah! President, our air force lacks a basic number, that is to say, if we want to maintain air supremacy on the front line, we must have at least 2,000 me-109 fighter jets, but we have now So far, there are only more than 370."

Catherine then poured cold water: "The output of our fighter jets is far from meeting our needs. I hope to have at least 2,700 fighter jets of various types in 1935 to ensure our airspace security. But the head of the production department told me that in At that time they could only give us 920."

Only at this time did Akado realize how big a problem lies in front of him. Now the tank troops are clamoring for more tanks, the Air Force is also competing for raw materials one after another, and the navy has thousands of steel. Thousands of tons are out of stock. Arkado misses those strategy games in his previous life a lot - as long as there is wood and gold, any advanced units can be produced.

"Isn't it enough to produce in small quantities now?" Arkado sighed helplessly and said, "Even if you only equip one squadron, you will gain experience, not to mention... Besides, we may really need to use it on a large scale in the future. This weapon."

"My head of state, according to your request, a strategic bomber needs 4 aircraft engines! If there are 4 engines, we can configure 4 more me-109 fighter jets! This way, we can deploy the air force more calmly! Than that Bombers are much stronger!" Dick said stubbornly.

Catherine is also obviously not a supporter of strategic bombers, and he is also adding fuel to it: "Führer, a plane like this needs 10 pilots of various specialties, 5 machine gunners and 2 aircraft pilots, as well as navigators and Bombardier, we're going to lose 10 fighter pilots once the plane is shot down."

"But aren't we going to develop long-range strategic bombers? This is absolutely not possible! Time will prove what I said! We must have such large bombers! It is not enough for an air force to have tactical bombers!" He said while looking at the document on the desktop.

"If the Fuhrer insists on doing this, I can only agree to allocate 4 engines to build an experimental aircraft at most. However, I still insist that the Stuka bomber can be qualified for the air force's ground attack mission, even if it needs to attack farther. target, the latest Dornier-217 bomber also fully meets the needs."

"I repeat! The -217 bomber is a medium bomber! The future attack method of my Air Force must and definitely be a four-engine heavy bomber! Do you understand?" Arkado finally said angrily: "That's it! From next month's attack 8 BMW engines were allocated from the engine output to conduct experiments on a four-engine strategic bomber!"

Catherine and Dick stood at attention and saluted: "Yes! My head of state."

...

After sending off the generals of the Air Force, Arcardo had to meet with Admirals such as Raidel and Dönitz. These are more genuine eaters than the Air Force. One opening of steel is hundreds of tons and hundreds of tons. The boiler is worth more than 300,000 pounds, and people dare to ask for 20 in one go.

Compared with the dozens of fighter jets in the Air Force, the requirements of the Navy are the real bottomless abyss. Dönitz hoped to have 80 ocean-going submarines equipped by 1936 to strangle British supply lines. If Arcardo complies with his request, then Germany will maintain the construction rate of three submarines launched a month in the next year.

And the commander of the Navy of Redel was even more ignorant of Chaimigui than the deputy commander, Dönitz. He wanted Germany to have four aircraft carriers and more than 500 carrier-based fighter jets by 1936—not counting the 1,500 aircraft of all types planned for shore-based naval aviation. And most of these things don't have a single screw yet, they just exist in Arcador's naval development plan.

Akado felt like he wanted to cry without tears, and he even hated himself a little now. If he had been more rational and a carefree rich man, there would not have been all kinds of junk that gave him such a headache. It's a pity that he can't retreat now, because there are countless people staring at him, hoping that he will continue to walk with Germany. So now he has nothing to do, even if it is a road of no return, he still has to go on without hesitation until the last moment.

Fortunately, under his management, Germany has entered the preparation stage for World War II more powerful than imagined. Now he is like a gambler, sitting on the huge gambling table of history with more chips.

...

Chapter 143/1257
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