Chapter 306: Borrowing the Road

On the other hand, the sudden changes in Italy shocked the British high-level officials. First, the assassination of Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III happened inexplicably, and then there was news that the German army marched into Italy in the name of supporting the new queen.

At first, the British high-level officials were quite happy, thinking that a war would break out between Germany and Italy, which would buy a lot of time for Britain; but before they were happy for a few hours, the special envoy they sent before actually confessed that it was the British Empire that conspired with Mussolini to assassinate Vittorio Emanuele III.

Such a big black pot fell, which really stunned the British; before they could recover, Italian General Rudolfo Graziani arrested the leader of the Black Shirts Itano Balbo; and announced that the Italian army would support the new queen.

The angry Italian people rushed into the British Embassy in Rome and consulates in various places, and the British ambassador was beaten to death; British staff in various embassies were killed and injured.

Churchill made an emergency radio speech, repeatedly stating that this matter had nothing to do with the British Empire, and everything was a conspiracy of the Germans.

You must know that although Italy has a certain gap in strength with several top powers such as Britain, France, the United States and Germany, it is fully qualified to be a great power. Italy is the world's seventh largest industrial country, with an industrial share of about 3% of the world. It can build aircraft, tanks, and warships; it is one of the few countries in the world with a complete industrial system.

Italy is an old colonial empire with a colonial area of ​​more than three million square kilometers, ranking fourth in the world, and has a strong international influence.

The most important thing is that Italy has an all-round and three-dimensional modern combat military force. In terms of the army, Italy has millions of well-equipped soldiers with good training and quality. In terms of the air force, Italy has world-class fighters and top pilots, and the scale of the air force is not small. In terms of the navy, Italy has one of the world's top naval forces.

It is too late for Britain to win over such a country. If a conflict breaks out, it will really make things worse for Britain.

Unfortunately, no matter how he promised and swore, the previous "Crossbow Operation" had already made the British Empire's reputation bad. Most people felt that the British could fight and rob even their allies, so what else could they not do? !

Just as the German army was advancing wildly on Italian soil, the German envoy arrived in Spain.

"Hello, respected President Arias."

General Franco was unfortunately assassinated during the Spanish Civil War. His capable confidant Arias naturally took over his position. As soon as the civil war ended, he banned all other political parties and became the lifelong head of state.

"Welcome friends from Germany."

After the host and the guest exchanged greetings for a while, the German envoy stated the purpose of this trip. "I came here this time on the orders of His Highness Yannick to borrow something from your country."

"Your Highness Yannick is so polite. What's the point of borrowing or not? Your country is the most sincere friend of Spain. Just ask for whatever you need." After the end of the Spanish Civil War, Germany began to vigorously aid Spain. First, they helped Spain improve its military facilities for free, and then they placed an extremely large order for arms. Relying on the profits from arms exports and the export income of various mineral resources, Spain's economy developed rapidly, and the wounds of the civil war gradually healed. The Spanish government also spared no effort to promote the noble friendship between Germany and Spain.

But to everyone's surprise, when Germany launched the war, Spain declared neutrality and did not participate in the war.

And Germany did not express any dissatisfaction, and the relationship between the two countries remained the same.

After thanking President Arias for his generosity, the German envoy spoke. "We want to borrow a road, a road to Gibraltar."

This short sentence made the atmosphere in the venue more solemn.

After a few minutes of silence, President Arias smiled and said, "Your Excellency the Special Envoy is tired on the road, so take a rest first, and we will talk again tomorrow."

After the German envoy left, President Arias looked at the people present and asked. "It seems that we can't stay out of it after all. Do you want to agree to the Germans' request?"

Gibraltar is the last British colony on the European continent in later generations. It is located on a narrow peninsula on the Mediterranean coast at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula.

Gibraltar is about 6 kilometers long from north to south, about 2 kilometers wide from east to west, and covers an area of ​​about 8 square kilometers. It is a triangular rock area. The total population is about 30,000, of which the local population of Gibraltar is about 20,000.

Although Gibraltar is small, it is an absolute battleground for military strategists.

From a geographical point of view, Gibraltar is a bridgehead on the north bank of the Strait of Gibraltar, which can effectively control the sea route. It is only a dozen kilometers away from the port of Ceuta on the south bank of the Strait, and it is easy to block the Strait.

After the Suez Canal was opened to navigation in the 19th century, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal played a role in shortening the sea transportation distance between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

In the more than 200 years since occupying Gibraltar in 1704, Britain has continuously strengthened its military construction in Gibraltar, turning it into a giant fortress integrating land, sea and air forces.

Germany in the original time and space has always wanted to capture Gibraltar, but unfortunately it has never been able to do so. After all, the German navy can play with submarines, but it is delusional to conduct landing operations and so on. The United Kingdom controls the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and German battleships cannot reach Gibraltar at all. And if you land from a distant coast, you need to use transport ships to transport troops across the ocean, so you can easily be attacked by the British on the ocean.

Airborne operations are theoretically feasible. However, in view of the tragic experience of the German airborne troops in Crete, this plan was also rejected.

In the end, the land route was also unfeasible. At that time, Franco had already considered the situation of Spain after the war and actively maintained contact with Britain and the United States during the war, hoping to benefit from both sides. Therefore, Franco refused Mustache's coercion and inducement, and refused to let go, and would not open the land route for Germany to attack Gibraltar.

There is another interesting anecdote here. Spain has not joined the war for a long time. Mustache was a little annoyed, so he said to Franco: "How about you give us a way to the Strait of Gibraltar." Franco replied: "We Spaniards take everything The entry of foreign troops is considered an invasion. If you enter our country, you may be attacked by spontaneous guerrillas, which I have no control over. And you must know that we Spaniards invented the word "guerrilla warfare." "That's fine. We can see that he is different from many dictators. He loves his country more than himself. He puts the interests of Spain first. His dictatorship just wanted him to restore Spain to the traditional Spain with his own hands. For this reason, he became an executioner and a dictator. He didn't care. He let his hands be stained with blood and entrusted a Spain that could be reborn to the king.

It is a pity that this patriotic dictator is no longer alive. Most of the current Spanish top officials are in favor of lending the road to the Germans.

Just then a discordant voice sounded. "Your Majesty the Head of State, I object. If we lend the road to the Germans, wouldn't we openly declare war on Britain?" It was Deputy Head of State Salazar who spoke.

This guy seems to have a natural problem with Arias, and he always raises objections. No one knows why President Arias appointed this naysayer as deputy head of state. Some people also suggested that the head of state should kick this annoying guy out of the political arena. Anyway, the deputy head of state is almost a decoration and has no real power. It will not have much impact if he has it or not.

But President Arias seemed to be imitating the story of President Lincoln and Secretary of Defense Stanton in the United States. He had always been kind to Salazar and never lost his temper.