Guernica is a city in Spain that has no important military significance. It has a small bank, a candy manufacturing factory, several small churches and several small hospitals. If you have to say that there are some important goals here, it is the train station, the light weapons factory outside the city, and a road bridge leading to Bilbao.

At 4:30 p.m. on that day, when farmers and merchants were exchanging cattle, sheep and agricultural products in the market center, the bells of the church were ringing, and some clergy saw planes in the distance and reminded people that the planes were coming.

People were so scared that they hurriedly hid in the cellars, under bridges and in the dug holes. Just two minutes later, the d0-217 bomber dropped six bombs.

This time it was not the junk in Franco's hands. The bomber troops of the German "Vulture Legion" flew in. A total of 34 do-217 bombers bombed Guernica for 3 hours. The front wall of a local hotel named Julian was suddenly shattered, revealing the upper and lower rooms inside. Juan Chirik, who came to put out the fire 100 meters away, was shocked by the aftermath of the explosion.

He raised his head and saw broken arms and legs flying everywhere in the air. Later, the wooden house residential area where these plane cubs secretly dropped a large number of incendiary bombs, and the fire spread everywhere with the wind, swallowing up everything that could burn. All the hospitals were destroyed, and the sick children, wounded, and the doctors and nurses who cared for them all turned into cold corpses.

At low altitude, several old fighter he-51s driven by the Franco National Army took on the role of attacking the ground. A Basque priest Alberto Odinah hid in the woods on the outskirts of the city and witnessed the dive of these he-51 fighters, and the machine guns on the plane shot fire tongues, killing all those who stayed in the open space.

Mothers, elderly people, and children were beaten to death, "falling down like flies." Odinar later recalled: "Blood flowed everywhere, explosions caused fires, and thick smoke rolled." What he said was confirmed by the records of the other party: the Luftwaffe said in the report that the plane had to lower its altitude because of the thick smoke to see clearly where the city was and where the suburbs were.

The last batch of planes bombed at dusk slowly left, and at this time most of Guernica were already in a sea of ​​fire. The next morning, when reporters from various countries arrived here with cameras, the ruins were still emitting light smoke.

The reporters saw panicked and helpless people searching for their relatives and property in the rubble and ruins. In a farmland not far from the town, there were more than 600 civilian bodies stacked, and the final death toll could never be counted, but at least 2,000 people died in this air strike.

The bombing razed the town center, 70% of the houses were completely destroyed, and another 20% were severely damaged. The entire city was almost wiped out from the map, while the light weapons factory and road bridge were on the contrary safe.

Hundreds of years ago, Guernica was the center of the region and a sacred place for the free and independent Basque spirit. Under an oak tree here, the Spanish monarch once promised to respect the rights of the locals. But now, the city has become a victim of war disasters, and many news newspapers around the world severely criticized the brutality of the Franco National Army and German accomplices.

However, the German government issued a statement, publicly denied taking any responsibility. Fanny gave a speech at the regular meeting of the Greater German Party, saying that the German people were peace-loving, but even if they opposed atrocities, they would firmly support the Spanish people's industrialist war. She also claimed that the Guernica tragedy was committed by the ****** elements.

But the air forces of the Vulture Legion who are still on the front line understand in their hearts that they are unwilling to mention Guernica and never boast about this shocking bombing. A pilot also rejected the Spanish medal awarded for this bombing.

Regardless of the impact of Guernica's air strikes internationally, it did weaken the defense of the Republican military government in this area. A month later, the National Army swept Guernica and marched into Bilbao from here. In the second month, it launched a fierce attack on Bilbao.

The experience brought to the Germans by this successful air strike prompted a discussion on the development direction of the air force in Germany. The strategic bomber faction represented by the head of state felt that long-range bombers should be developed as the ultimate attack method to destroy the enemy's remnants. There were not many supporters of this faction, but included the Chief of Staff of the Air Force; however, senior Air Force generals, including Air Force Commander Catherine and Deputy Commander Hulk, were tactical bombers. They felt that bombers such as the Do-217 were sufficient and there was no need to rush to develop long-range bombers, because they now needed to equip more fighters to defend German airspace.

In the residence of the head of state in Berlin, every discussion about the future development of the Luftwaffe ended in an unhappy manner, and this time was no exception.

"The Head of State, it's not that we are not optimistic about the prospect of strategic bombing." At the head of state's desk, Catherine spread her hands helplessly: "It's because we can't afford such expensive high-end weapons at all." He was extremely loyal to Akado, and Akado's reward for him was to try his best to listen to the advice of the Air Force commander.

Dick also sighed helplessly: "Yes! Head of State, our air force lacks basic numbers. That is to say, if we want to maintain air supremacy on the front line, we must have at least 2,000 me-109 fighter jets, but we still have more than 370 so far."

Katherine then poured cold water: "The production of our fighter jets is far from meeting our needs. I hope to have at least 2,700 fighter jets of various models in 1935 to ensure our airspace safety. But the head of the production department told me that at that time they could only give us 920 aircraft."

At this time, Akado realized how big the problem was in front of him. Now the tank troops were clamoring for more tanks. The Air Force was also competing for production materials one by one, and the steel in the Navy was out of stock. Akado missed the strategic games in his previous life - as long as there were wood and gold, any advanced military service could be produced.

"Then isn't it okay to produce small quantities now?" Akado sighed helplessly and discussed, "Even if you only equip one squadron, you will accumulate experience, let alone... let alone we may really need to use this weapon on a large scale in the future."

"My head, according to your requirements, a strategic bomber requires 4 aircraft engines! If there are 4 engines, we can configure 4 more me-109 fighters! This will allow us to deploy air force forces more calmly! It is much stronger than that bomber!" Dick said stubbornly.

Katherine is obviously not a supporter of strategic bombers, and he is also adding fuel to the fire: "First of the People's Republic of China, such an aircraft requires 10 professional pilots, five machine gunners and two aircraft pilots, as well as navigators and bomb droppers. Once the aircraft is shot down, we will lose 10 fighter pilots."

"But won't we develop long-range strategic bombers? This is absolutely not possible! Time will prove that I'm right! We must have such a large bomber! It's not enough for an air force to have tactical bombers!" Akado said, pointing to the documents on the desktop.

"If you insist on doing this, I can only agree to allocate four engines to create an experimental aircraft. However, I still insist that the Stuka bomber can be competent for the Air Force's ground attack mission. Even if it is necessary to attack further targets, the latest Donier do-217 bomber will fully meet the needs."

"I'll say it again! The do-217 bomber is a medium bomber! My Air Force's future attack method must be a four-engine heavy bomber! Do you understand?" Akado finally said with some anger: "Let's do this! Allocate 8 BMW engines from the engine production next month to conduct an experiment with a four-engine strategic bomber!"

Catherine and Dick stood attentively and saluted: "Yes! My Head."

...

After seeing off the Air Force generals, Acardo had to meet with Raidel and Denitz and other naval generals. These are more real eaters than the Air Force. When they open the steel, they are worth hundreds of tons or hundreds of tons. A boiler is worth more than 300,000 pounds. People dare to ask for 20 at one go.

Compared with dozens of fighter jets of the Air Force, the Navy's requirements are the real bottomless abyss. Denitz hopes to equip 80 ocean-going submarines before 1936 to strangle Britain's supply lines. If Akado meets his requirement, then Germany will maintain the construction speed of three submarines launched in a month in the next year.

The commander of the Radell Navy is even less in charge than Deputy Commander Denitz. He hopes that Germany can have 4 aircraft carriers and more than 500 carrier-based fighter jets before 1936 - this does not include the 1,500 aircraft of various types planned to be deployed by the shore-based naval aviation. Most of these things are not available yet, and they are only found in the Naval Development Plan of Akado.

Akado felt a little crying and tears. He even hated himself a little now. If he had been a little rational and a carefree wealthy man, there would have been no such trash that would have caused him such a headache. Unfortunately, he is now unable to retreat because countless people stare at him and expect him to continue walking with Germany. So now he has no choice. Even if it is a road of no return, he still has to go on without hesitation and walk to the last moment.
Chapter completed!