Chapter 142: Withdrawal
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The news flew to all corners of the world as if on wings. Franco’s Legion had captured the Spanish capital of Madrid and seized the initiative in the Spanish Civil War. Franco, calling himself the leader of the Nationalist army, gave a speech in Madrid and was sworn in as the leader of Spain.
Just a few hours later, the Italian leader Mussolini announced to reporters that Italy would establish ambassadorial-level diplomatic relations with the Spain led by Franco’s group. Subsequently, the German Führer, Akado Rudolph, announced that Germany recognized Franco’s leadership of Spain and would establish a good national friendship with him.
The British, seeing which way the wind was blowing, also began to work on the issue of Spain under Franco’s control. They began to frequently send personnel to Spain, hoping to gain the friendship of the new wielder of power—however, because Britain had previously stood Franco up, this kind of fence-sitting diplomatic remedy was unlikely to make any substantial progress.
Another country that had a strong reaction was the Soviet Union. The failure of the Comintern and the Republican army in Spain undoubtedly brought immeasurable losses to the world communist movement. Upon learning of the fall of Madrid, Stalin immediately convened an emergency meeting, but nothing could change the fact that Franco had occupied Madrid. The Spanish Civil War was now nearing its end.
Moscow, inside a conference hall in the Kremlin. At this moment, a summary meeting on the plan for intervention in the Spanish Civil War was in session.
The atmosphere in the conference room was very strange. Many generals sat with their heads bowed as if they were asleep. The atmosphere of terror brought by the Great Purge had turned the entire meeting into a series of speeches by a few of Stalin’s cronies. Most of the officers and generals who understood the army chose to remain silent to avoid bringing disaster upon themselves.
For example, another Marshal of the Soviet Red Army, Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, had supported Stalin during the Great Purge, so he was now the one chosen to preside over this type of military meeting. This slightly overweight veteran in his 50s spoke in a booming voice with a thick regional accent.
Being a man who knew how to handle people, he merely gave an opening statement and then gave a meaningful look to several of his confidants and generals from his own faction, signaling for them to speak up and state their positions so the meeting could continue. After all, many of the generals were now like mutes, and this silence had already caused many military meetings to end prematurely in disgrace.
“This deal was not worth it, great Comrade Stalin!” Seeing his superior’s expression, a Red Army general had no choice but to bite the bullet and say with a frown, “We provided about 300 fighter planes to the Spanish Republican Army for free, and as a result, almost all of them were destroyed by the Nationalist air force. Even though there are many reports that the Nationalists have over 500 fighters, we cannot send more of our own to Spain just to overwhelm that number.”
“The losses are too great, Comrade Stalin! We can no longer support the Spanish Republican Army without compensation! If this continues, it will affect our own country’s military deployments!” another general, who was highly regarded by Stalin, also stood up to persuade him.
Stalin frowned, tapping his fingers on the table and staring at his trusted generals. “Why are our weapons suffering such heavy losses in Spain? Is the equipment the Nationalists scrounged from Italy and Germany more advanced?”
“I think, although I am unwilling to admit it, great Comrade Stalin, I’m afraid that is the truth!” an air force commander, a middle-aged man with the rank of major general, said with regret. “Our pilots report that they encountered an unprecedented type of fighter, with a speed of over 500 kilometers per hour, that can fly above the clouds. This plane’s performance completely outclasses the I-16 fighter we are currently equipping.”
This statement stirred up a hornet’s nest in the technical department. The head of the Soviet technical department, a man in a suit, immediately jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on. He first glanced at Stalin, then pointed at the man opposite him and cursed, “That’s slander! We designers have worked day and night to create the best fighter in the world! You lose a battle and then shift the blame to us in the rear? I think it’s you generals who are afraid of dying!”
Another technician also slammed the table and argued, “Completely outclassed the I-16? That’s impossible! We copied the engine and made significant improvements. The I-16’s performance is twice as good as the fighters currently used by Britain and France! If you’re talking about flight altitude, that’s because of the open cockpit problem. We are urgently adding enclosed cockpits to the fighters in subsequent production.”
The officer who had been cursed out, his face red with anger, retorted, “But our pilots are not lying! They said they were indeed chased by a fighter of extreme speed! Therefore, we must produce a new fighter that is faster and flies higher to meet the needs of future combat!”
“We are working hard on production. Several factories are working overtime, hoping to come up with the design for the next-generation fighter as soon as possible,” a person in charge of technology said quickly, seeing Stalin’s displeasure.
“The army’s performance was very good. Although they failed, the T-26 tank performed outstandingly. Compared to our tanks, the German tanks have no advantage, either technically or in terms of performance,” Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov quickly reported the good news, hoping to smooth the tense expression on Stalin’s face. “Our army’s snipers also achieved brilliant results.”
“They killed a total of 3,000 enemy soldiers, and 400 of them claimed to have killed German soldiers,” a general said after looking at the data in his hand. “Our snipers suffered 270 killed in action and 13 missing. This result is still very worthy of affirmation. At least we didn’t let the German snipers have their way for too long.”
These reports gave the representatives from the tank technology department a lot of face. The proud expressions on their faces showed their current elation. To have one’s achievements praised by others in front of Stalin was, at least during the period of the Great Purge, an extremely happy thing—it could at least guarantee that you would be out of danger for the next few months.
Stalin’s mood was also stabilized by this news of victory. He let out a long breath and then managed a smile as he asked, “The Republican forces on the front line have lost so many planes and tanks. Can we replace them?”
“I’m afraid not, great Comrade Stalin!” an old man in a suit stood up and, trembling slightly, reported the Soviet industry’s production data for the last month. He then began to persuade him, “If we increase supplies to Spain, then we will be unable to produce the military’s orders, and the plan to equip 2,000 I-16 fighters and 1,000 subsequent models by next year will not be completed. The same goes for tank production.”
No one was willing to be naked themselves while paying for someone else’s pants. Stalin was obviously the same. However, he still wanted to maintain his reputation and status in the Comintern, as well as ensure his influence over the communist movements in various countries. So he was still reluctant to completely abandon Spain. But the reality before him prevented him from continuing his mad course of action—the Italian Navy had already blockaded the port of Valencia, making the transport of Soviet weapons to Spain increasingly difficult. The tide of the Spanish war could no longer be turned.
Marshal Voroshilov leaned in and whispered to Stalin, “Great Comrade Stalin, we cannot endlessly support a distant war. If you feel it is necessary, we can shift our support to the still-fledgling communist movement in China.”
Stalin’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of China. He thought for a moment, then finally sighed helplessly, looked at the generals around him, and said, “Alright! In that case, we will withdraw our troops and weapons deployed in Spain!”
Hearing Stalin’s words, many people breathed a sigh of relief. This was tantamount to saving the lives of many Soviet Red Army soldiers. After all, traveling across the ocean to support Spain was not a safe undertaking, and for most Soviet soldiers, it was a one-way trip.
Often, the people below would report the good and hide the bad, using the Great Purge at home to cover up the staggering losses in Spain. At least ten thousand Soviet soldiers died in Spain, and hundreds of tanks were destroyed by German Panzerfausts and Panzer IIIs. Most of these casualties were listed as “traitors” and shot by the officers, and the loss of these tanks turned at least one Soviet armored division into an empty shell that existed only on paper.
Since Stalin had given his consent, there was no need to send the vast amount of supplies already piled up in the ports to distant Spain. Many officers began to eye this batch of supplies. The Great Purge had allowed many incompetent and corrupt officers to rise to higher positions, and retribution was soon visited upon the country.
Many of the goods were auctioned off on the spot to foreign merchants, and then the records were falsified to show that they had been shipped to Spain days earlier. To fabricate realistic data, the navy even sent warships to participate in the “escort” and shelled and sank two of their own empty transport ships, which were then reported to Moscow as “combat losses.”
And most of these sold-off goods were shipped to Italy, becoming part of the enemy’s strategic reserves.
Having lost its biggest supporter, the Republican army’s defeat was like a landslide. They were quickly driven out of the area around Madrid. The war-weary Spanish people’s calls for peace grew louder and louder, causing the Republican army to rapidly lose the once-rock-solid support of the people. On the other hand, the Comintern, in order to preserve its strength, withdrew many of its elites, which further worsened the situation for the Spanish Republican Army.
A month later, the last major port controlled by the Republicans, Valencia, was occupied by Franco’s Nationalist army and the German 8th Panzer Division. Franco announced the complete end of the civil war. At the same time, Spain joined the German-Italian Steel Alliance, becoming the third country to join this Steel Axis.
