Chapter 131: The Opponent's Progress
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Boom! A shell landed not far from the position, throwing up large clumps of wet earth. In a huge city in the distance, thick smoke blotted out the sky. One of the most important battles of the Spanish Civil War, the “Battle of Barcelona,” was in full swing.
With German support, the Spanish Nationalists had won victory after victory. They had already firmly seized control of northern Spain and were frantically attacking eastward with the goal of cutting the Spanish Republican Army’s connection to the French border.
In actual combat, the German panzer divisions’ attacks in the open field were very effective. They captured Salamanca, one of the main cities in central Spain, in one go and annihilated two main Republican columns that had been surrounded nearby, successfully splitting the Republican-controlled territory in two. Subsequently, the Nationalists expanded on this victory, taking the important northern city of León the following month and opening a land supply line to A Coruña.
Following that, in the Burgos region, the largest tank battle of the civil war broke out. The two sides gathered more than 400 tanks for a direct confrontation. The result was that the German 2nd SS Panzer Division captured Burgos, and the Republican army, after losing more than 100 tanks, was forced into a full-scale retreat.
During this process, the Spanish Nationalist air force seemed to have divine assistance, shooting down 192 Republican aircraft of various models while losing only 31 of their own. This ratio was something no one participating in the war had ever imagined. The German pilots who had secretly entered Spain, relying on the outstanding performance of the super fighter Me-109, even achieved the proud record of shooting down 77 enemy planes while losing only two of their own.
Of course, if it hadn’t been for the Me-109’s overly thin landing gear, which caused one fighter to tip over and crash while landing at an airfield, this ratio could have been even more lopsided. The pilot who crashed suffered three fractures all over his body and was put on a ship back home with a wound badge. Accompanying him for recuperation was the coffin of another, and the only other, unlucky bastard in the air force.
This unlucky pilot’s name was Eberhard Hoffert, a pilot of an He-51 fighter. With the entry into service and brilliant performance of the Me-109, the He-51 had been completely relegated to use as a ground-attack aircraft, and its missions had become much more monotonous and boring.
This Eberhard Hoffert, while returning from a ground-bombing mission, performed a stunt over the city of Vitoria. As a result, the unlucky fellow’s plane engine suddenly stopped. It plummeted to the ground like a bird that had lost its soul, and he thus became the first German pilot to be killed in action in the entire Spanish Civil War.
Alright, let’s get back to the main topic. Subsequently, in Zaragoza, the Nationalist leader General Franco personally supervised the battle. After paying a heavy price, he captured the city. Because the front line had completely collapsed, the Republican army in the north was forced to abandon the military stronghold of Huesca. This decision gave the Nationalists a glimmer of hope for victory. If they could take Barcelona, the shipping route from Italy to Spain would be shortened by nearly a third.
Since this offensive held such high strategic significance, there was no reason for either side to give it up lightly. Therefore, apart from the capital Madrid, which had already become a front line, the Republican forces gathered near Barcelona outnumbered those in any other region. The two sides were at daggers drawn in the Barcelona region, throwing all the forces they could muster into the fight for this important northern city.
In a muddy trench, a German sniper stared at his new teammate with a look of incomprehension. “What the hell is that ridiculous thing you’re wearing?”
The teammate patted the strange vest on his chest and explained, “This is the new tactical vest they issued to us. I heard it was well-received and praised by the soldiers during military exercises back home.”
“A piece of crap. What do those rookies know? Is their experience more useful than ours, gained fighting for real out here?” the other man complained while wiping his sniper rifle. “Instead of wasting time on this bullshit, they’d be better off figuring out how to make this rifle semi-automatic! Having to work the bolt after every shot is not only loud, but it also makes follow-up shots difficult.”
His comrade smiled, revealing large, yellowed front teeth. “Then you should report these requests. Everyone’s waiting for these problems to be fixed.”
As he spoke, he pointed to the new tactical vest on his chest. “This thing is better than the Y-straps. I tested it all the way here. It’s really a good piece of gear! It’s just a bit hot to wear.”
“Mm. Seeing all those pockets, you can tell it can hold a lot of small things. Actually, looking at these little gadgets is quite heartwarming. At least those big shots are still thinking about making us a bit more comfortable. That’s not easy.”
“Don’t be so quick to praise it. This thing has a problem too. The guy sent from above to instruct us on how to use it reminded me…” The comrade pointed to some of the buttons on the tactical vest. “They cut corners on these things. The stitching isn’t secure. We have to reinforce it with a few stitches ourselves.”
“Alright…” the sniper chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “Except for the first batch of Mauser 98K rifles, they even got rid of the drilled holes in the stock for the sling swivel. To save costs, what won’t those bastards do? As long as it’s usable, that’s good enough!”
“Enemy attack!” In the distance, a Nationalist officer shouted in Spanish. “Machine gunners to your positions! All of you, prepare for battle!”
“Damn it! Don’t they eat lunch? Those damned Republicans!” The sniper tossed the new tactical vest aside, readied his rifle, and, along with the soldier wearing the new vest, left the dugout and climbed into a sniper’s nest disguised as a mound of earth not far away.
The Republicans had become incredibly smart. They no longer easily became targets for German snipers. Often, they preferred to send out their own snipers to play a game of cat and mouse with the Germans. Compared to the hundreds of kills per day when they had just arrived in Spain, German snipers now could only kill a few Republican soldiers each day.
After waiting in vain for several minutes for a target to offer itself up for death, the German sniper and his comrade shrank back into their trench. It was clear their role in a frontal engagement was not significant, so in such situations, it was generally left to the Nationalists to handle. But today, just as the two of them had returned to their starting point, they deeply experienced another side of the war’s bloodiness and cruelty.
The Nationalist machine gunner who had just been at his post was shot in the head by a Republican sniper. His replacement was lucky enough to only be wounded in the right hand. The bullet hit his fingers and ricocheted into his shoulder. So “lucky” was he that he would have to have his arm amputated to save his life.
“My losses are heavy. Twenty-seven soldiers were hit just now, and another two were killed by shelling,” a Spanish officer who knew German said that afternoon, holding a meeting with several nearby German sniper teams and observers. “I request that you all be more active in disrupting the actions of the enemy snipers.”
He took a bloody rifle from his aide. “During the attack just now, our army accidentally killed a Soviet sniper. He was wearing a colored cape and was very carefully concealed. Before we found and killed him, he had fired at least seven shots.”
A German sniper took the rifle from the Spanish officer. “This is a Mosin-Nagant rifle! But it has many modifications; it must be a new model. The workmanship is getting better and better. You have to admire the Soviets’ level of absorbing advanced technology.”
“We have to take this rifle! It needs to be reported to our superiors,” another German said, taking the rifle and examining it for a long time before asking, “What about the body of the Soviet sniper? It could have a lot of useful intelligence on it. Can you take us to see it? Especially that colored cape.”
“The cape? Who knows where that thing went,” the Spanish officer said regretfully. “I doubt we can find it now.”
In just a few short months, an improved version of the Soviet I-16 fighter had already appeared on the battlefield. Although its performance still couldn’t match Germany’s super Me-109 fighter, it could now barely reach altitudes it couldn’t before, compensating for the service ceiling limitations of an open-cockpit fighter.
The shadow of Soviet snipers had also begun to appear among the Republican forces. These men used improved Mosin-Nagant rifles, with performance on par with the German Mauser 98K. These snipers had also learned to make their own camouflage and had become incredibly professional in just a few short months, achieving impressive results even under pressure from the German sniper teams.
And then there was the T-26 tank, which greatly frustrated the German panzer crews. Without German technical assistance, the Soviet Union had managed to upgrade its armored vehicles on its own. The appearance of this Soviet tank made Germany’s Panzer II seem slightly obsolete. If most of the German panzer crews hadn’t already been using the Panzer III, they might have been taught a lesson by their Soviet counterparts in Spain.
If one also considers the large battleships and hundreds of submarines the Soviet Navy was building, it could be said that while Germany was shaking off the impoverished hat brought by World War I, the Soviets had not been standing still. They had torn off their own label of backwardness and poverty even faster than the Germans, appearing before their German friends in a much stronger posture than imagined.
At this moment, everyone was well aware: the Germans were not as weak as they appeared; they had hidden most of their strength and seemed ready to take revenge. The Soviets were not so backward either; they were sharpening their swords and preparing to strike the most vicious blow when their opponent was most complacent.
Interestingly, however, their first encounter was in Spain. The Germans’ strength surprised the Soviets, and the Soviets’ beyond-imagination capabilities frightened the Germans. They had both left a deep impression on their opponents. They had both submitted their most satisfactory answer sheets on the battlefield.
“Our opponents are making progress, too,” the German officer said, staring at the distant horizon. In that distance, a setting sun slowly descended. Everyone knew that after the darkness, a new sun would rise.
