Operation New Lion in Mediterranean (II)

  As the Spanish ambassador to Germany walked into the office building of the German Foreign Ministry in a daze, the receptionist immediately led the Spanish ambassador to the office of Dr. Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister.

  Dr. Ribbentrop, who had been holding a document in his hand, put it down after the arrival of the Spanish Ambassador to Germany and went up to him with a smile on his face, shook hands with him and asked his secretary to bring two cups of coffee for them. Then he sat down together with the Spanish Ambassador on the sofa in the reception room.

  When the secretary brought in the coffee, Ribbentrop waved her away and told her that he had important matters to discuss with the Spanish ambassador to Germany, and not to disturb them unless it was something urgent. The secretary nodded understandingly, turned around and pulled up the curtains of Ribbentrop's office window, then left Ribbentrop's office, closing the door behind her as she went out.

  Dr. Ribbentrop listened to the fading footsteps of his secretary, knowing she had gone far enough. Then he turned to the Spanish Ambassador to Germany and said: "Do you know why I asked you to come?"

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany shook his head: "I don't know, I only know that you won a great victory in the port of Dunkirk, France, capturing more than 3 million British and French troops. You also destroyed the main force of the British home fleet. It seems that France will not last long either. I have secretly sent congratulations to you on behalf of my country."

  Dr. Ribbentrop lifted his cup of coffee, took a sip, closed his eyes and savored the flavor for a moment before opening them again to say: "Try some of this coffee, it's still quite good." The Spanish ambassador to Germany also took a small sip before saying: "The reason I asked you to come is that our great victory at Dunkirk has given us an even bolder idea, one that concerns you, so I'm asking you to quickly pass on our thoughts to Madrid and get a response as soon as possible. We don't have much time to wait."

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany asked: "What ideas do you have for which you need our help?"

  Dr. Ribbentrop walked up to the desk, picked up a file box from it, and pulled out some papers and a map. The Spanish ambassador to Germany had sharp eyes and immediately saw that the map was of Spain.

  Dr. Ribbentrop sat down on the sofa in front of him, unfolded a map and said to the Spanish ambassador to Germany: "You see, this is the Strait of Gibraltar area. You now occupy the southern part of the strait, but you failed in your battle with the British in the northern part of the Gibraltar region and were forced to cede it to Britain. I know you are not reconciled to this, and for a long time you have been demanding that Britain return the Gibraltar region, but Britain has refused to do so, relying on its naval power. However, now that Britain has been defeated by us, don't you think it is time to negotiate with Britain about returning the region while Britain's national strength is severely weakened?"

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany was flabbergasted and said: "We have been looking forward to this day, hoping to take back the Gibraltar region from the British, but now that the British have been defeated by you, if we make this request to them, they will certainly not agree. If we send troops to attack, we are not sure whether we can win, because the British still have a considerable military presence in the Mediterranean region, and we will definitely not get much support from other countries internationally, except for our allies."

  Dr. Ribbentrop burst out laughing: "You've been talking for half a day, you're just afraid of not being able to beat the British, this is easy, with our support, are you still afraid of dealing with the British?" The Spanish ambassador to Germany asked in confusion: "Do you mean that Germany will directly send troops into the Gibraltar area?"

  Dr. Ribbentrop said: "We have no immediate plans to send troops to occupy the Gibraltar area, because if we do so, we will also lose our international support forces. But we can do this secretly."

  "What's going on here?" The Spanish ambassador to Germany had his interest piqued by Dr. Ribbentrop and began to ask questions.

  Dr. Ribbentrop asked the Spanish Ambassador to Germany: "What do you think would be the reaction of the British if a plebiscite were held in Gibraltar and it was decided to join Spain?"

  "A referendum for all citizens? How did you come up with this idea? It's a good method, but the British have ruled there for so many years, constantly migrating there and weakening our influence in every aspect of Gibraltar. If they were to hold a referendum, it would likely be on whether or not to join Britain. The result would most likely be unfavorable to us. Even if they could hold a referendum that resulted in joining Spain, the British would definitely intervene."

  Dr. Ribbentrop said: "You need not worry about British intervention; we Germans will certainly take care of that. If the British do so, we Germans will definitely contact a number of countries to stop their actions. What you should consider is how to initiate this national referendum and make its results beneficial to you rather than the British. If necessary, we will join some countries in sending observers to monitor the referendum in the region."

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany asked worriedly: "Do you want to have ownership of the entire region? If so, we will not approve."

  Dr. Ribbentrop said: "No, we are supporting you behind your back, of course if you cannot resist the pressure from Britain, we can also consider taking over the actual control of the region, and when you have the ability to deal with the British, we will transfer the control to you again. We have no interest in that small piece of land and will not occupy it for a long time like the British do. Please rest assured on this point."

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany said: "Alright, I will report back home immediately and give you a reply as soon as possible. I also have a handwritten letter from the Führer to your leader." Dr. Ribbentrop stood up and said: "Good, we hope you can give us a satisfactory answer as soon as possible."

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany immediately called the Spanish military attaché at the embassy after returning to his own embassy and asked for his opinion on this matter. The attaché said: "This matter should still be reported back home, but I think that except for the German Navy, other branches of the German military do not yet have the capability to pose a real threat to our country. Moreover, the French fleet and the British Mediterranean Fleet have already begun to react, if we respond slowly to the Germans, it may lead to consequences that neither we nor Germany want to see. Therefore, Mr. Ambassador, you must quickly reflect back home the plan revealed by the Germans and request them to make a response as soon as possible, it's a matter of life and death."

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany, after hearing the military attaché's words, did not dare to slack off and immediately asked the telegrapher to quickly send the plan he had obtained from the Germans as a telegram to Madrid. And urgently sent Hitler's handwritten letter back to Madrid by diplomatic bag.

  The Spanish Foreign Ministry received an urgent diplomatic telegram from the Spanish ambassador to Germany and, without any delay, hastily sent it to the office of Francisco Franco, the head of state of Spain.

  Spanish leader Francisco Franco was deeply moved when he saw the urgent telegram from the Spanish ambassador to Germany, forwarded by the Spanish Foreign Ministry, and the handwritten letter from Hitler that followed. If he could recover Gibraltar, he would undoubtedly become a national hero in the eyes of his people. It would also effectively divert the domestic crisis, and he knew that suppressing the Spanish Communist Party was closely related to the support of Germany and Italy. Now that Spain was in its current state, German help was the greatest guarantee for him to sit firmly in power. This time, when Germany made a request of him, he couldn't find any reason to refuse from any angle. However, he still feared that Germany would go back on its word, and his clandestine ally Hitler was too well-known to Franco.

  However, after careful consideration of the pros and cons of this matter, he still decided to cooperate with Germany. After all, the temptation to take back the Gibraltar area was too great. He authorized his ambassador to Spain to negotiate with the Germans on this matter, requiring him to minimize the risks of cooperating with the Germans as much as possible.

  The Spanish ambassador to Germany, upon receiving direct orders from the Spanish head of state Francisco Franco, immediately went to see German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to negotiate on Germany's plan to seize Gibraltar.

  After several hours of haggling and back-and-forth negotiations, both sides finally agreed on a plan that was acceptable to both parties: Spain would send agents with the help of Germany into Gibraltar to stir up local sentiment. If this failed, they would assassinate some key individuals who opposed Gibraltar's return to Spain. Meanwhile, Spanish regular army soldiers would be sent into Gibraltar disguised as civilians using forged identity papers to intimidate those who did not want Gibraltar to return to Spain. Germany and Italy, along with some Eastern European countries, would send observers to silence certain nations, while Germany would prepare a contingent of troops at Atlantic ports in case Britain tried to use force to suppress the operation; German troops would then rush into Spain and Gibraltar to fight against the British.

  Müller paced gloomily on the dock, he had received orders before departure that his submarine fleet was not to leave port for the time being, there was a new task for them to perform. He could only watch as other submarine squadrons left the harbor, while he and his own submarine were forced to remain in port, continuing to wait.

  As he waited impatiently, several canvas-covered trucks drove onto the dock under the escort of 2 motorcycles and a Mercedes-Benz sedan. Müller was wondering when his superior, Zhou Tianlei, suddenly jumped out of the Mercedes-Benz sedan.

  Zhou Tianlei directed the soldiers on the dock to form a guard array, then walked up to Mueller, smiling and saying: "What's wrong, did your butt get chapped or did you have fire under your feet? You're running around like something on the dock..."

  At this time a sentry came over, saluted them and said: "Report to the officer, they say they are ready."

  Zhou Tianlei waved his hand and said: "Let them all get on our submarine." The guards went to carry out the order.

  Muller looked strangely at the more than 30 people who jumped out of those several canvas-covered trucks, these people were dressed in civilian clothes and did not look like Germans, the biggest evidence was that they spoke English and Spanish.

  Zhou Tianlei saw Mueller standing there in a daze and pushed him: "What are you still doing, hurry up and get on the boat?"

  Müller asked Zhou Tianlei: "Comrade, who are these people? They're not Germans. How can they board our submarine? What mission are we going to carry out?"

  Zhou Tianlei said: "The specific details of this task will be told to you when we get on the boat together, this is not a place to talk. Let's go, hurry up and board the ship."

  Müller followed Zhou Tianlei onto the newly handed over submarine. After those mysterious people boarded the submarine, German sailors untied the mooring chains and the submarine's engines began to work. Several submarines slowly left the dock.

  Zhou Tianlei and Müller stood on the command tower, and the two confirmed the submarine's course for the last time through the shore-based lighthouse after the submarine left the port. The two ordered all German sailors still on the deck of the submarine to enter the boat immediately. They also entered the submarine and closed the watertight hatch.

  In the submarine, the submarine commander followed Zhou Tianlei's order and gave the command: "Dive to a depth of 80 meters, maintain half speed for 15 minutes, then turn southwest to course 210."

  At this time, Zhou Tianlei saw that there was nothing else, so he pulled Mueller into his own cabin to brief him on the task.