"Is everything done?" Heydrich asked with a leisurely look while drinking coffee.
"Yes, deputy leader, I think the British must look ugly now," the assistant said with a gloating smile.
"Deputy leader, do you need us to take him..." Another assistant made a cutting gesture with his hand.
"No need, I can still use this man. Besides, if we kill him now, the British will be suspicious, so don't do anything now. I will handle everything myself," Heydrich said inscrutably.
"Yes," everyone said they understood
Paul Hausser was worthy of being a shrewd and experienced soldier. He deceived the incoming Portuguese army and made them believe that the Spanish Republican Army had extremely low combat effectiveness and was defeated by a German militia group.
The Portuguese army believed Paul Houser's words and thought that the Spanish Republican Army was nothing more than that, so they agreed with Paul Houser to divide their forces to attack Cáceres and Badajoz. Paul Houser did not agree easily and played a trick. Playing hard to get, finally the Portuguese reluctantly agreed to divide the troops after urging.
Portuguese troops attacked Cáceres, one of the best preserved cities in Europe, while the SS Gendarmerie attacked Badajoz. Within its Moorish walls, there are a large number of palaces, state churches, towers, and official residences. These buildings have medieval characteristics, and it was the capital of Spain in the past. Its political status and the wealth contained in the city are unmatched by Badajoz.
However, the Gendarmerie went abroad not to fight, but to fight, so Paul Hausser easily agreed to Portugal's request, and everyone enjoyed themselves and showed happy smiles.
Portugal: The Germans are really easy to fool. Cáceres was the capital of Spain in the past. I don’t know how much wealth it had, but it was easily given to us.
Germany: With the level of the Portuguese army, we can save 20,000 people by then. May God bless them.
After dividing the troops, Paul Hausser immediately led the military police regiment to attack the city of Basajos, the capital of Badajoz Province. Since Basajos was close to the Portuguese border, it was already known that Portugal was sending troops to Spain, so in panic, the Spanish stationed there The Republican Army was defeated by the Gendarmerie before they had time to react, and then targeted clearings were carried out at various strongholds in the city. The entire city of Badajoz easily fell into the hands of the Gendarmerie.
But the Portuguese army that attacked Cáceres was not so lucky. As the center of the southwest of Spain, and it was also the capital of Spain before, there were 3,000 Republican defenders here. After learning about the arrival of the Portuguese army, not only did they not Escape would lead to a decisive battle with Portugal.
The Portuguese originally thought that they would not encounter major resistance. Moreover, because Paul & Hausser deliberately concealed the fact that the Gendarmerie Regiment relied on large-scale air and ground coordinated attacks, the Portuguese soon paid the price for their reckless behavior. The first wave Not a single man from the one battalion that was attacked tentatively returned.
This failure angered the Portuguese. This time they invested three regiments of 4,000 men (it seems that Lin Wei's military police regiment had 5,000 men, weird, weird) and broke into the city from east, west, north and south, but they forgot about the jam. Reis has been the former capital of Spain for a long time and is the center of southwest Spain. It certainly has its own city defense system. Its previous name was "Casri", which means fortress.
During the Restoration Movement, internal struggles among Christians gave rise to new disputes between Christians and Muslims. The city experienced gains and losses in four different periods. In the 12th century AD, under the rule of the Almohads from the Maghreb, a large city defense system was built, and the city prospered and expanded during this period. Cáceres became a stronghold of Islam. In 1229 AD, King Alfonso IX of the Kingdom of Guleon finally captured Cáceres from the Moors.
A 12-kilometer-long trapezoidal city wall surrounds the city. Originally designed and built by the Romans, this wall was transformed by the Almohads and covered with compacted clay to make it more in line with Arab standards for building city fortifications.
In the end, the Portuguese army used heavy artillery to knock down one leg of the trapezoidal city wall before they could enter the city. However, the resistance of the Republican Army did not stop. The Republican Army withdrew into the city and placed defensive fortifications such as horses and sandbags in the middle of the road. Prepare for a long battle.
The Republican Army also built defenses in the Grand Plaza, the City Hall, the Star Gate, and even the Church of Santiago, the Palazzo de Gaudoi, the Church of Santa Maria and the Plaza de San Jorge, places that are extremely sacred in the hearts of the people of Cáceres. fortifications.
After the Portuguese soldiers entered the city of Cáceres, they fired cold shots at any time, and there might be a landmine buried in an inconspicuous trash can (well, it seems a bit like Baghdad, please forgive me), Although the Republican Army was weak, it still tried its best to prevent the Portuguese from advancing, and they resisted for a week. When Lin Wei and the others learned about what happened to the Portuguese army in Badajoz, they could only wish them good luck in their hearts.
Heydrich's lost documents spread throughout the world in a very short period of time. The British could not sit still for the first time. Did the Soviets support the leftists in Spain because they wanted to carry out a red revolution in Western Europe? If this was the case, things would be terrible. They first contacted their traditional allies, the French. Although the British betrayed the French in the previous surprise attack on the Rhineland, it didn't matter this time. The common private person is the Soviet people.
The news quickly spread to the Americans. The three countries, Britain, France and the United States, quickly reached an agreement to ban the export of weapons to Spain. They thought they had a plan, but this news was deliberately released by Heydrich. This incident led Heydrich to investigate a large number of British lurkers, but Heydrich still wanted to keep them until the time came to settle the accounts.
Such a turn of events may seem counterintuitive, given that republican loyalists who established the country's legitimate government not only had the money to import arms but had the right under international law to do so. However, the British and French governments did not allow the sale of weapons to the republican regime. They were bound by the profoundly inconsistent public opinion about the civil war in their respective countries, and they feared that the unrestricted flow of arms into the hands of the contending parties would spark war throughout Europe. Therefore, Britain and France were the first to propose a non-intervention pact, which was accepted by several smaller countries.
Hitler finally decided to accept it after careful consideration, and so did Mussolini of Italy. The Soviets were finally forced to accept the agreement under the watchful eyes of the whole world.
Hitler also specifically praised the British and affirmed the spirit of this agreement, but this did not cause any loss to Germany, because under Lin Wei's proposal, Germany had already sent its troops to Spain. The Soviets soon discovered that they had been fooled, and soon began secretly shipping weapons to Spain in violation of regulations.
Of course, Germany and Italy firmly opposed this, believing that the Soviets had destroyed peace in Europe, so Germany and Italy also violated their oaths from the beginning. Britain and France continued to watch the fun, neither supporting nor opposing, but just controlling other small countries. , told them not to get involved, so the situation in Spain at this time became Germany and Italy versus the Soviet Union.
Italy not only shipped arms to Spain but also sent regular troops there, whose numbers increased rapidly as the war continued. According to Italian official information, Mussolini sent 100,000 people to Spain, along with 40,000 tons of munitions and 750 cannons. Like Germany, Russia did not send ground troops, but it provided various military supplies, plus technical advisers and pilots. Those loyal to the republican government also received assistance from the International Brigade.
The Navy's submarine force also quietly blocked the Spanish coastline under Hitler's secret order. Lin Wei was aware of this action at the time, but Lin Wei did not stop it. On the contrary, Lin Wei really wanted to see the German Navy's first battle. Lin Wei then made a special call to Reinhard von Lohenkel, the head of the SS in the Navy. To this day, Lin Wei still remembers this subordinate who did not give him face.
Just when the city of Cáceres was captured, Lin Wei learned that Hitler would send a submarine force to secretly participate in the war. The performance of Major Werner von Brouster of the Air Force has been recognized by Lin Wei. Until now Reinhard von Loyenkellingwei of the Navy had only heard of his name, but had never seen him, so he decided to make a phone call to communicate.
Just do it, Lin Wei immediately called the German Navy Headquarters: "Imperial Navy General Staff, who are you looking for?" The stiff and old-fashioned voice reached Lin Wei's ears, but this did not surprise him. Dalinwei has become accustomed to this kind of sound, and he would be surprised if he couldn't hear it now.
"I am the national leader of the SS, Lampard Krupp. I am looking for Reinhard von Lohenkel. Is he here?"