Chapter 309 Gibraltar Fortress (1)

Then Churchill contacted Gibraltar and told them to strengthen their vigilance.

Lord Liddell, the Governor of Gibraltar, confidently assured that if the Germans wanted to break through Gibraltar, it would take three years and 200,000 to 300,000 casualties to succeed.

His confidence was not without basis. After all, anyone could build a tortoise-shell iron barrel fortress in more than 200 years. And nature also helped the British a lot. The British built the entire fortress in an extremely solid limestone mountain. The naturally formed rocks on the top of the mountain and the reinforced concrete artificially poured in the fortress in the later period, the average thickness of the fortress above reached a terrifying 100 meters, and the thickness of the side was about 3 or 4 meters on average, which was enough to resist the nuclear bombs of later generations.

It is conceivable that the existing bombs could not hurt such a solid fortress. Compared with its defense, its firepower is no less powerful, enough to annihilate all invading enemies. There are three fortress gun turrets on the top of the fortress, with a total of more than 20 381mm caliber fortress guns. The tops of these turrets are all made of steel plates and cement, which are ten meters thick and can withstand direct hits from several 500 kg bombs. These fortress guns can carry out 360-degree attacks, not only attacking targets on the sea surface, but also attacking threats from land. No matter what kind of tank is in front of these fortress guns, they will be tofu dregs. Not to mention direct hits, even the shock wave of the shells exploding at close range is enough to destroy tanks.

In addition to the countless various caliber cannons and flat-fire cannons on the hillside, the armored forces will be completely wiped out if they cannot rush 500 meters.

If infantry is used to attack Gibraltar, it is purely seeking death. The bottom of Gibraltar is full of machine gun firing holes, and this distance is extremely flat, and there is no obstacle to avoid the fortress's firepower network.

Even if they rushed to the front at the cost of huge casualties, they could do nothing; these machine gun firing holes are like a trumpet mouth tilted downward, with a diameter of more than one meter in front; it seems easy to put explosive packs in, but it is simply impossible. Because the thickness of the side of the Gibraltar Fortress is about three or four meters, the depth of this firing hole is also three or four meters, and it gets smaller and smaller as you go inside, and finally it is as small as the mouth of a bowl, so explosive packs and the like have no effect on the fortress.

The most depressing thing is that the Gibraltar Fortress only has two solid thick iron doors on the side facing the sea, and there are no doors in other places. The enemy attacking from land can't even touch the door, let alone break in.

Even if you break in, what can you do? The British have placed more than 10,000 soldiers in the fortress, and you have to die tens of thousands of people to take down the maze-like fortress, so the British have always believed that their Gibraltar Fortress is indestructible, which is their confidence.

So the Gibraltar Fortress is known as the strongest fortress in the world. It is definitely not the British boasting, but the result of the British operating here for centuries. This place is simply the throat of the British Empire and it must not be lost, so they have been continuously reinforcing it for hundreds of years.

But Churchill was still a little uneasy, because the Gibraltar Fortress still had weaknesses.

The construction of the Gibraltar Fortress was more than 300 years ago, and the airplane did not appear until the First World War. It was only a short 20 years until the outbreak of the Second World War. Therefore, from the construction of the Gibraltar Fortress to the outbreak of the Second World War, no attention was paid to the deployment of anti-aircraft firepower, because the airplane, a weapon that changed the war mode, appeared too short, and the British did not realize the great role of air defense for the fortress.

So on weekdays, there is a fleet stationed at the Gibraltar Fortress, and there are two aircraft carriers in the fleet, responsible for air defense. But because of the failure of the "Crossbow Operation", the remaining fleet has withdrawn to Alexandria.

Now Churchill can only secretly pray that the Germans will retreat when they see the difficulty.

As soon as Spain announced that it agreed to lend the road to Germany, Manstein, who had been waiting in Andorra, immediately led his troops to Gibraltar.

Yannick thought that since this "Man Buqun" would capture the Sevastopol Fortress in the future, it would be better to practice with Gibraltar first.

Under the coordination of the Spanish government, the railway line from Andorra to Gibraltar gave way to the German military trains. In less than 20 hours, the German vanguard had reached the outskirts of the Gibraltar Fortress.

However, Manstein did not rush to attack and sent his adjutant to the fortress to persuade him to surrender. Although he did not hold much hope for the peaceful liberation of Gibraltar, it would be great if he could capture it without firing a single shot.

Unfortunately, the adjutant was driven back in disgrace in less than half a day. "Report to the general, Governor Lidderdale is very determined. He said that if we want to capture Gibraltar, we must be prepared to fight for three years and lose 200,000 people."

"What a big tone." Manstein snorted disdainfully. "I doubt if their food reserves can last for half a year. If we are not in a hurry, we will kill them. Since Governor Lidderdale is confident that he can hold on for three years, we can take it in a week. I am looking forward to what Governor Lidderdale's expression will be when the time comes."

"Are the Army Air Force bomber units ready?"

The staff officer reported. "Yes, they have all arrived at the San Roque Airport 10 kilometers away and can take off at any time."

Another staff officer came in to report. "Report to the general, the Air Force's long-range bombers will arrive in Gibraltar in half an hour to bomb!"

There were only a few major decision-makers in the original Luftwaffe. The pot-bellied Goering, who was born as a fighter pilot, was in charge of the overall strategy and did not care about the specific technical route; Udet, who was born as a fighter pilot, was one of the two technical supervisors of the Air Force development and was obsessed with tactical aircraft; Miltsch, an administrative bureaucrat, was in charge of production arrangements and had a natural preference for output (probably because the mustache did not pay attention to the size of the aircraft, but was more concerned about the quantity).

Therefore, the key to what aircraft the Luftwaffe used was that Udet and Miltsch had the final say, and Goering acquiesced and signed to approve it.

Obviously, from the hobbies and scope of affairs of the first two, it can be seen that they could not care too much about strategic bombers.

As for the other technical supervisor, Max Wavell, he was an advocate of strategic bombers and proposed that a large bomber "capable of carrying 3 tons of bombs and flying around the British Isles in combat status" must be developed. So why didn't he compete with Udet? Because this unlucky guy died in a plane crash in 1936 o（╯□╰）o

After his death, the influence of the "strategic bombing" faction was greatly weakened, and the "Ural long-range bomber" under development was also abandoned.

Many times, the outcome of history depends on the decisions of one or two people.

It is the same now. Under Yannick's order, Germany was preparing for long-range bombers when it restored the air force. Although it started late, Germany is not short of talents. As long as there are no restrictions on various materials and messy and weird requirements, Germany's technological development speed is definitely at the forefront of the world. The Germans' long-range bomber development has been striving to catch up, and has reached the level of the US B-17G, and is even better than the B-17G in terms of sights.

Junkers and Focke-Wulf are working hard to conquer the newer super bomber B-29 Super Fortress. They can't catch up with the British, but they will definitely become Stalin's nightmare in a few years!

Manstein nodded and gave the order. "Order the Army Air Force bomber unit to start bombing Gibraltar as planned in one hour!"

"Yes!"

The order was quickly passed to the bomber squadron stationed near St. Roch. The Mosquito bombers that had been ready for action took off one after another, forming a huge flight formation to Gibraltar.