From March 26, a train full of soldiers and wounded on the railway line from Lalia to Area 6 was running away from the coast, and the scene was completely opposite in the past few weeks.
The soldiers sitting in the carriage hung their heads one by one, and some people sobbed very low.
On the afternoon of March 27th, the German Sixth Team left Gasport and arrived in Lalia. These more than 11oo soldiers became the first German troops to arrive at the front line of Gibraltar, but the Spanish army had not yet withdrawn. They left about 7,000 soldiers and nearly 2oo cannons to help the Germans keep the blockade of Gibraltar.
"Oh, emperor! I can’t believe my eyes! "
On the road leading to Gibraltar in Lalia, the Spanish soldiers retreated in teams and were stunned by the huge objects in front of them.
Those big things are moving slowly with many horses pulling, and even the roads are shaking at this time.
The German soldiers who were responsible for transporting them held their chests high and looked serious as if they were escorting the king to the military parade.
When the Spaniards saw Germany’s aid to the 20 mm heavy howitzer, their huge barrels and bodies were broken, and the big guy they saw today was much bigger than that howitzer!
It took Kleist and his soldiers a day and a half to transport them from Lalia to a place 14 kilometers away from Gibraltar, which was out of the range of a cannon facing six places in the British fortress.
It takes nearly six hours for artillery experts to guide soldiers to dig four large pits more than three meters deep, then fill them with cement, and then fix those big guys in cement seats one by one.
On March 29th, the first ray of sunshine came to Lebanon, and the British had bad luck.
In the early morning, the four big guys were as short as slugs who had eaten too much, and the barrels were pulled back like giant tumors, which made them look particularly fat. They pointed their guns at the sky like caves.
Soon, not far from these cannons, two round calibration balloons were raised, each with a telescope in the hanging basket, and they contacted the ground through the telephone line.
The gunners protected their eyes, ears and mouths with pads. They fell to the ground and prepared to shoot the four door-controlled cannons at a distance of 270 meters from the gun position.
At 7: 00 p.m. sharp, the loud sound of the first shell shook Gibraltar.
Followed by the second ring, the third ring and the fourth ring, the huge ring echoed in people’s ears for a long time.
Spanish soldiers in the vicinity have left their positions to see if the officers tried to stop their attempt to leave without leave.
Four shells with a diameter of 42 mm and a weight of nearly one ton were thrown to a height of 12oo meters. One minute later, they all landed on the Gibraltar Mountain. When the shells exploded, dust, debris and smoke formed a huge cone and then rose to a height of 3oo meters.
After the shell exploded, more than half of the Gibraltar mountain was shrouded in a large stream of smoke and dust. People could visually observe the shelling effect at the first time, but their potential alone was frightening.
Subsequently, the German soldiers reloaded the artillery shells and distributed them to each cannon, reaching 200 soldiers, but this number is still slightly lacking. In addition, the soldiers are still a little unfamiliar with this kind of cannon, and the current shooting time is 1,215 minutes.
When the soldiers finished loading and prepared for the second round of shooting, the smoke in Gibraltar just dispersed.
The calibration balloon will soon report "1 direct hit to the fortress fatal blow! 3 hit the non-fortress area and you can see three big craters! "
"Very well! Very good! " Officers and artillery experts can’t help admiring.
Compared with Germans’ leisure and pride, the British command is a mess.
"Calm down! Calm down! " General Rocco waved his chubby fist. Not long ago, he was huddled in a warm quilt. When there was a loud noise and vibration, he almost fell to the bottom of the bed. But when he tried to find out what was going on, his staff members didn’t know. Some people said that it was the Spanish army shelling, some people thought it was an explosion in the arsenal, and some people thought it was a grade mine.
"A group of waste! Check the loss immediately! "
The general angrily went to the observation room and the periscope looked around the front of the fortress, but he didn’t kill several Spaniards. At this time, the battlefield was quiet and terrible. He was about to say something. Suddenly, the strange and loud noise came again. They were like thunder in rainy days and the main guns of battleships were shooting at the British. The only certainty now is that the sound came from the north.
"The battleship can’t shoot from that direction!" General Roark said in an unbelievable tone as he continued to observe. Finally, when he saw a forest in the north, a white smoke rose from the gun.
Dozens of seconds later, the heavy objects were falling and whistling, and the British soldiers were hiding in the fortress from all directions. They listened to them and waited for the sound to get closer and closer. Everyone was so nervous that it was like a death sentence.
Finally, the earth-shattering explosion sounded overhead, and the whole world seemed to be shaking violently. A lot of dust fell off the shelves in the vibration, and some people were even unstable.
General Roque stumbled and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, his adjutant held him. Fortunately, his command post was located at 10 meters below the ground. Otherwise, the shell exploded not far away, which was enough to send him back to his hometown. However, such a close explosion still caused great harm to General Roque and his staff. They talked loudly but could not hear anything.
"Great Beltas is good!"
Watching the rising clouds of smoke on Gibraltar, German officers and men kept praising the four cannons.
In the war planning of schlieffen and Germany, the Belgian Lieri Fortress and the French Verdun Fortress were both stumbling blocks to conquer this kind of large fortress, which was composed of a large number of fortress fortifications, underground bunkers and heavy artillery facilities. The German General Staff needed a large-caliber heavy siege artillery that could be transported in 6 places. Krupp Arms Company, known as the "artillery kingdom", took over this in a top-secret situation. Alfred Krupp, the "cannon king", led a group of excellent designers and engineers to develop a giant mortar gun in 19o9.
This kind of gun has an astonishing caliber of 42 mm, far exceeding all kinds of guns in active service in various countries. It is a short barrel mortar gun, which can shoot shells at the top of the fortress at a high angle and hit specific targets quite accurately. In addition, it can shoot armor-piercing shells equipped with delay fuses to make the shells explode after penetrating the target.
In the next four years, Fielitz? Krupp continued to develop a cannon that can be divided into several parts and is suitable for road transportation. In February 1914, the prototype gun was successfully trial-produced and tested at the Kummersdorf proving ground. He was invited to come to the scene to watch the Kaiser. However, it was proved that it still needs to be improved in the traction test of road steam engines and gasoline motors.
By the time the war broke out in May 1914, Krupp had produced five 42 mm caliber railway cannons and two road cannons.
However, these cannons did not show their great power in the Belgian hot sun fortress and the French Verdun fortress as expected by the German General Staff. In addition to the transport of the "Great Beltas" guns, a large number of Led Zeppelin and heavy aerial bombs were used for high bombing tactics, which also played an unexpected role in conquering these fortresses. In addition, tanks and armored vehicles were used to make and forcibly assault the German Sixth Army, which eventually had to cross those strongest defense lines without making the "Great Beltas".
Although the French surrendered the "Big Beltas" gun, it was not thrown into the dustbin. With the agenda of attacking the British Gibraltar fortress, this heavy siege gun was also recalled by people. At the joint meeting of the navies on January 6th, the generals discussed it as conquering the British fortress. At this meeting, the German emperor William III used a small number of infantry heavy guns for the first time to conquer this solid fortress. The idea was that because of this tactic, the cost and risk were minimal, and Germany’s main navigation forces were now invested in the British battlefield, so it was supported by many generals. This plan was named "Fatal Beltas" and the battleship of the Admiralty
After the "Fatal Beltas" plan was formulated, the high-efficiency war machine was put into operation immediately. First, Krupp Arms Company quickly purchased four "Great Beltas" artillery shells, each with 5oo for ordinary artillery shells and armor-piercing artillery shells, and sent experts and technicians to solve the technical problems that might be encountered. Secondly, 11oo soldiers of the Royal 1st title of generals in ancient times regiment were selected to form a special 6-team general staff, and a group of artillery experts were sent to observe the artillery so as to evaluate its combat performance and various tactical feasibility.
At the end of February, when the Hippel Fleet set sail, the accompanying transport ship was not only carrying a large number of weapons and ammunition, but also four "Big Beltas" guns and six teams were among them. At that time, the German General Staff considered that the Spanish government agreed that the Germans would attack Gibraltar directly. These guns would be pioneers in siege. If they did not agree with Germany, the Hippel Fleet would declare war on Spain. Until the Spanish government compromised, the "Big Beltas" guns would still appear in front of the Gibraltar fortress.
The final result is still expected. The "Big Beltas" cannon made the British soldiers stationed in Gibraltar panic. During the whole afternoon shelling, four giant guns fired a total of four ordinary shells and 40 armor-piercing shells. After the shelling, the British fortress in Gibraltar was in a mess. Nearly one-third of the fortresses and forts were seriously damaged, and several breaches occurred in the frontier fortifications composed of trenches and barricades.
After lunch, the British sent a seaplane for the first time since the defeat on March 3. They scouted and attacked the German artillery positions. The Spanish Sixth Army sent planes to intercept the balloons, and German soldiers on the ground also returned with machine guns and cannons. The whole battle lasted less than 15 minutes, and the Germans lost two balloons, but there were no casualties. The Spanish plane and three British seaplanes then returned separately.
An hour later, 10 seaplanes took off from the Hippel Fleet and retaliated against the British Gibraltar fortress and the military port. The British air force still adopted the strategy of maintaining strength, and the remaining water planes withdrew into the Kuder plane, which could resist the bomb attack. Only one British patrol boat was injured and several fortresses were slightly damaged.
At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, four "Big Beltas" guns bombarded the Gibraltar fortress again without correcting balloons. The shelling lasted for two hours, and the world was calm again until nightfall.
War and Peace Chapter 21 Unexpected mutiny
It was getting dark
Feng? Major Kleist once again raise his telescope and looked in that direction of Gibraltar.
There is no light in the British fortress, and the whole area is silent. It is only near the Spanish army line that the searchlight is responsible for warning, sweeping back and forth.