.In early spring, everything revives. On the European continent, there are green grass everywhere and flowers blooming. Especially the Iberian Peninsula adjacent to the Mediterranean, which is sunny and warm in the climate. However, the people here are unhappy because their country is in the most chaotic and cruel period of civil war. Every Spaniard, whether sympathizing with the royal family, inclines to revolution or maintaining the most primitive confusion, cannot truly stay out of the matter.

In contrast, although several Nordic countries have not yet completely escaped from the cold of winter, the situation there has been a calm that has not been seen in years. However, behind this calmness, undercurrents are surging in places that people cannot see.

Murmansk, Russia.

It was late at night, and there was no worker on the docks around the port. Under the sparse light, you could occasionally see a small group of soldiers carrying long rifles passing by; in the silent harbor, freighters and warships were quietly docking on their berths, and only those petite patrol ships were still patrolling their jurisdiction dutifully.

As the largest military port and commercial port along the Arctic Ocean coast, Murmansk has always been the most important port in northern Russia due to its unfreezing geographical conditions throughout the year and its strategic location for traffic in and out of the port without passing through the straits controlled by other countries. Looking at the current Soviet-Russian territory, the Black Sea ports are still trapped by the fatal geographical factor of the Dardanelles. In and out of the Baltic ports, ships also have to pass through the sea areas strictly controlled by foreign forces. The return of sea cucumbers is still far away, and the military significance of Murmansk is even more important.

In this situation, countries that were vigilant or hostile to the Soviet Union also attached great importance to and tried every means to exploit it. Among them, the Finns were the most prominent representative. Through the Soviet-Germany and Soviet-Finns armistice agreement signed in 1928, the Finns pushed their border outposts to a distance of 12 kilometers from Murmansk. A 280mm heavy howitzer made by the German Krupp or a 365mm super howitzer made by the Skoda Arsenal in Bohemia could deter the entire Murmansk port from that location. Although the Finns did not deploy such a terrible weapon on their border, what disturbed the Russians was the reliable intelligence that the Finnish Army did secretly introduce 6 to 8 such long-range heavy artillery from Germany, and bombers taken off the side of the Finnish border could fly over Murmansk before Russian fighters responded.

This was also called the "Mormansk pain" from the north by Soviet military strategists. As for how many foreign intelligence personnel are active in Murmansk and surrounding areas every day, no one can tell the truth first

The breath of night gradually dissipated. When dawn was about to come, people thought it would be another peaceful night. But at this moment, a cargo ship with a displacement of about 7,000 tonnes quietly left its berth and headed towards the port channel. There was no long whistle sound before departure, nor was there a deliveryman waving flowers. It was like a cat looking for prey. It was also like a dancer moving on tiptoe, light, agile, silent. At this time, the sight on the sea was still very blurred, but the port navigation tower did not emit the light column of the pilot ground. In this way, before people woke up from their sleep, it quietly disappeared into the depths of the sea.

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A vivid beam of sunlight shone through the observation hole into the cold inner space of the tank, which was just shining on Conrad's face. He opened his eyes alertly, and the surroundings seemed calm except for the familiar snoring.

He felt his limbs. Fortunately, everything was normal except for a little soreness. He turned his head and looked at Abbe beside him. His gunner was staring at the periscope seriously.

"It's okay!"

Conrad rubbed his eyes and moved his waist and legs in a small way without disturbing others.

Alber turned his head and passed to Conrad through his eyes was a "everything is normal" safety signal.

The night just passed was noisy and bloody, and the battle was even more intense than the daytime. The attackers tried to break through this line of defense with the help of the cover of night. They pushed forward desperately and launched wave after wave of charge. The defense used every weapon in their hands to block the streets. The sounds of Maxim, mg17, Mauser rifles and explosives continued to stimulate people's eardrums, although the other party did not get old or new tanks from anywhere. However, the Conrad crew encountered unprecedented

Some serious challenges - from midnight to the end of the attack at 4 a.m., there were no less than 10 grenades, three bundles of cluster grenades or explosive packs that exploded very close to the Tiger-1, so that after the battle, Conrad was quite worried about asking the driver to start the tank and conducted some basic operation tests. Fortunately, except for the headlights that could not be turned on, the Tiger-1 did not have any other abnormal conditions, which made Conrad and his crew members breathe a sigh of relief.

"Let's get some rest!"

After saying that, Conrad looked around the front through the captain's periscope. The street in downtown Madrid was in a mess. The American m1919 Hamilton medium tank that was destroyed yesterday afternoon was still parked. The fire above had already been extinguished, leaving only a pair of black wreckage. Half of the big sign outside a three-story building next to it, and only the word "hotel" could be vaguely identified. However, there was no complete window on the side of the street, and several blue curtains were fluttering in the window with the wind. From there, further forward is the main battlefield here, with huge bullet craters on the street, and the bullet holes were clearly visible. These were all masterpieces of the powerful 88mm main gun of the Tiger-1. The exterior walls of the houses on both sides of the street were full of bullet holes of various sizes, and there were two buildings that were directly bombarded by the Tiger-1's main gun.

After a night of battle, the blood of the revolutionaries finally flowed to the foot of Tiger Mountain. As the commander of this violent machine, Conrad's mentality quietly changed. He opened the cap of the car cap on his head and let the golden sunlight shine quietly on his slightly curly blonde hair. Then he took a deep breath, took out his kettle, poured the cold water on his face, and then took out a square bread wrapped in kraft paper from his canvas bag. While observing the street ahead, he tore off a small piece of bread and stuffed it into his mouth.

Not long after, a roar came from the sky. Conrad raised his head and as the sound got closer and closer. He finally saw a yellow-painted biplane flying overhead. At this moment, he could hardly help jumping up from his position, because it was the first aircraft he saw yesterday morning. And from the model, it should be the Markey 30 reconnaissance/bomber designed and manufactured by Italy. Buying and equipping such long-range and relatively cheap military aircraft mainly include southern European countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal. By the time the civil war broke out, the Spanish Air Force had equipped a total of 40 such aircraft. They are usually used to perform reconnaissance and patrol missions, and when necessary, they can also carry a 250-kilogram ground bomb for ground bombing. It can be said to be a multi-purpose fighter of small and medium-sized countries!

"Aber! Aber! You must not believe what I saw just now!" Conrad pushed Aber, who had just closed his eyes for a while.

"Spanish plane?" Abbot, who was confused, seemed to have heard the movement just now.

"That's right! It seems that we can finally get air support today!"

When I heard Conrad's words, not only Alber, but also the three below woke up together.

"Our plane? Is it our plane?"

Hahn seemed to have some misunderstanding of Conrad's last sentence, so Conrad immediately corrected it seriously:

"To be precise, it's our Spanish allies. From the appearance, it should be the Yi-made Markey-30 reconnaissance aircraft!"

Hahn looked like he suddenly realized, but judging from his expression, this excellent German loader did not trust the air force except the German aviation force.

"Lu Yiser. Contact the battalion command. We urgently need information on the enemy's movements!"

"Good place!"

The electromechanical and mechanical engineer who had just woken up didn't bother to drink water first, so he put on his headphones and started busy at the on-board radio station.

"Land! Land! This is G Island, this is G Island... Yes. We just saw a Spanish plane flying over the sky... I understand..."

Taking advantage of the space where Lu Yiser contacted his superiors, Conrad took out a photo from his shirt pocket. It was a half-body photo of his fiancée. The beautiful blonde girl's smile was so charming. Conrad's heart was immediately filled with longing. He wanted to put wings on his wings and return to his sweetheart, and no longer care about any war or war.

"Second Lieutenant! Second Lieutenant!"

The shouts of the electromechanical and mechanical officers brought the young officer who was trapped in love with him back to reality.

"What does the battalion command say?"

"Well, the reconnaissance plane found a large number of rebels gathering outside Madrid, and there seemed to be tanks and armored vehicles inside! In addition... they said that the one who flew over us just now was not a Spanish plane, but a sent by the Italian government!"

"Italian plane?"

Conrad didn't know what to say for a moment. The things behind this were obviously not something that a low-level officer like him could understand. In fact, whether it was a Spanish plane, an Italian or even a French plane, as long as it could be helpful to the battlefield situation, Conrad and his soldiers would be very satisfied.

The emergence of an Italian reconnaissance plane did not disrupt the offensive plan of the Spanish anti-government. Shortly after breakfast time, their new attack began. This time, they obviously learned from the lessons of the previous day and did not push howitzers directly to the streets but were deployed behind buildings, so that the low-coal German tank guns could not attack them. But their ground shells could cross the buildings ahead to bombard the opponent's barricades and the evil German tank.

The shells fell one after another, and the vibration was stronger than the crew inside the tank, but what made Conrad even more worried was whether the relatively weak armor on the top of his tank could withstand the grenades falling from a large angle. If there were enough armored vehicles and infantry to follow him, he would definitely choose to launch a counterattack and destroy the cannons hidden behind the building. However, with the Turkish infantry battalion ordered to come to reinforce last night, the number of defenders here was still much smaller than the attackers. In desperation, Conrad's Tiger-1 began to move backwards. After retreating half a street, he could only hear a shout from the opposite side, and the other side took advantage of the situation to launch a charge.

"Stop reversing and move forward!"

There were hundreds of coalition soldiers in the buildings on both sides of the street. Conrad gritted his teeth and ordered a return to the street.

"second lieutenant!"

Alber stared at Conrad with sincerity in his eyes.

"Did you just give up like this?" Conrad was very unwilling.

"Stop, support for on-site artillery fire!" After saying that, Alber kicked Hahn and signaled him to load the shells.

"Only armor-piercing bombs!"

Hahn shouted helplessly that although the Spanish troops responsible for logistics sent a truck of ammunition last night, there was no sign of shells inside. The command explained that shells were given priority to supply tanks with the most urgent situation, and promised to send a base shell before dawn. But it has not been fulfilled yet.

"Prepeat!" Alber's answer was still simple and clear, although he knew very well that the two shells had completely different uses.

After a bang, dust suddenly flew over the street, but not many Spanish people fell down because of this.

"Three shots of rapid shooting!"

Alber, who shoulders the heavy responsibility of the gunner, decisively ordered it.

The huge sound of the continuous shooting of Tiger-1 almost covered all the sounds on the street. The shells landed accurately dozens of meters in front of the barricade. The attacking Spanish militants hesitated and they obviously slowed down, and their commanders realized this. Their shells kept moving closer to the tank that was docked on the side of the street, and buildings were constantly hit by shells. The violent explosion lifted many stones, cement and debris into the air and scattered on the street.

"Let them retreat!"

Conrad finally eased from his mood just now. He asked the electromechanical and electrical officers to send a retreat suggestion to the infantry guarding the place. However, Lu Yiser quickly reported that he could not contact and that the radio station on the infantry was likely to be broken.

At this moment, the unique roar of the propeller plane came from the sky again. This time, a large group of seventy or eighty aircraft flew over the downtown of Madrid from east to west. The Spanish anti-government forces, who were in an offensive state, obviously did not expect such a scene. They did not know whether to continue the attack or avoid the upcoming air strikes, but the black aviation bombs falling with a sharp sound quickly made a decision for them. The explosion immediately filled the entire downtown of Madrid. After the bombers were dropped, the escort fighter pilots did not forget to show off their skills. One round of bullets after another made the chaotic Spanish completely mess up. Many people simply threw down their weapons and fled the battlefield without looking back.

"It's the Maki 133 fighter and the Caproni 350 light bomber! Italian Air Force!"

After the Spanish anti-government forces temporarily retreated, Conrad opened the hatch and looked carefully at the planes returning with his telescope. Although the yellow paint on those planes was very similar to that of the Spanish Air Force, there were completely different round white background and black-edged logos under the wings, and there was a scepter in the middle - only Mussolini's Italian Air Force used this logo.

As Conrad saw, more than 300 meters above the city, 53 Italian Air Force Caproni 350 light bombers were returning to Forrest Gundamda under the escort of 22 Maki 133 fighters. These aircraft were just flying from Sardinia, Italy this morning, and they will join the Spanish battle with Forrest Gundamda as their base in the future.

The storm of the storm was once again defended, but Conrad and others had a question in their minds: When will this battle be a result?

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February 15, 1932, in the central Norwegian Sea.

Norway, located in Norway, was one of the European countries that had not been involved in any war in the first 30 years of the 20th century. Therefore, its territory, territorial waters, airspace and all European countries, including Germany and Russia, and its limited-scale army has always been in a cautious defensive position. Against this background, the Norwegian Sea between Norway and Iceland is one of the most peaceful and free sea areas in the world, but due to its geographical location away from the main route between the European continent and Europe and the United States, there are not many ships passing through here.

On this clear day, a freighter flying the Soviet flag was sailing rapidly from north to southwest. This was a freighter with less than 10,000 tons but more suitable for ocean navigation. Several nautical miles behind it, a cruiser with a simple and smooth appearance and elegant shape was sailing in the same direction at the same speed as it.

Because they were sailing on the high seas, the two ships neither signaled each other nor showed hostility. But both sides knew it was definitely not a companionship sailing after a chance encounter. The captain of the Soviet freighter and the officers on the ship knew that this was not the first Soviet steamer to transport special cargo to Spain, and the previous ships were followed by German ships and aircraft without exception.

The Soviets were very clear that their freighters were carrying cargo to ports controlled by revolutionary forces without being discovered by Spanish government warships. If the freighters were always stared by the Germans, then Spanish naval ships could easily intercept them when they entered the Spanish waters. The end result would be a serious international dispute - there was no doubt that the cargo on the ship would be very unfavorable to the Soviet government.

After discovering that his ship could not escape the German tracking, the Soviet Russian freighters had opted to return halfway. In order to avoid German surveillance as much as possible, the freighter set off from Murmansk before dawn and did not drive along the waters close to the Norwegian coastline as usual, but they did not expect to be discovered by the Germans! Once they were prevalent in speed and equipped with radar, the German cruiser with carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft was targeted, and the captain and commander on the Soviet Russian freighter knew that they had almost no chance of slipping away.

However, if the Soviet government was asked to give up the delivery of weapons to Spain, they were unwilling to accept it. You should know how much the revolutionaries in Spain needed external assistance at this time, and this ship of cargo could play an immeasurable role in their revolution.

Sometimes, ten ships of gold cannot change the status quo of a country, but sometimes a ship of arms is enough to change the fate of a country.

The Soviet government was very clear about what its Spanish counterparts urgently needed.

"Don't care about it, keep moving forward!"
Chapter completed!