Back to 1939 Sea Wolf

  Ian Fleming's contact with his superior, Admiral Godfrey, resulted in the latter learning that British Special Forces 'Commando' troops may have failed in their mission. They and the ambushed Germans had vanished, but Ian Fleming saw reinforcements from Spanish troops. Godfrey knew that Major Richard and his men not only failed to ambush the Germans but were also likely to be counter-encircled by them. He was puzzled, wondering if the Spanish troops guarding Zhou Tianlei were so powerful? They could repel the British Special Forces 'Commando' troops under the premise of being ambushed and still protect them, which was not something that ordinary Spanish troops could do. Ordinary Spanish troops could at most only repel one or two attacks by Major Richard and his men. He realized that they might have fallen into a German trap, and that the troops were not Spanish escorts but rather German elite troops disguised as Spanish soldiers wearing Spanish military uniforms.

  But how did Germany's elite troops enter Spain, although the relationship between Germany and Spain is very good, if there were enough forces to repel Britain's special forces 'Commando' assault team, the number of German elite troops would not be small, but Britain's Spanish intelligence network was completely unaware of the entry of so many German elite soldiers into Spain, either their own intelligence network was too incompetent or the Germans did a great job this time and their own intelligence network had no reaction.

  Is it possible that the troops who came this time are not the German airborne or mountain troops known in British intelligence, but a newly formed elite force of Germans? Given the emergence of Germany's new submarine forces, it is not impossible for the Germans to form another special force. He ordered Ian Fleming to investigate as much as possible about the affiliation of this German elite force, so as to provide intelligence support for future British special forces to deal with them. If they could safely escort Major Richard and his team to retreat, that would be even better. However, he also issued an order that if Major Richard and his team were unable to retreat safely, they would not be recognized by the British government as active-duty military personnel, but rather as retired soldiers, and it would be up to the British Foreign Office to explain why they appeared in Spain and attacked German envoys. However, the disability pensions for casualties in combat would still be paid out by the British military to their families.

  Ian Fleming received the order from his superior with great reluctance, but he also understood that it was a national directive and had to be obeyed unconditionally, otherwise Britain would fall into an abyss of no return. He contacted Lieutenant Colonel Richard D through the radio they carried several times.

  Ian Fleming passed on Admiral Godfrey's orders to Major Richardson through the radio using naval jargon, and after a long time, Major Richardson replied with just two words - "Understood!"

  Ian Fleming ordered the special forces to withdraw, not letting the Germans and Spaniards catch any more tails. On the way, he looked at Major Richard's reply and couldn't help but shed tears. He knew that Major Richard was in a mixed mood after seeing the instructions from Geoffrey, the head of British Naval Intelligence. However, for the sake of the British Empire, Major Richard unconditionally executed the order, even knowing they would be abandoned by their country.

  Ian Fleming shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind, feeling utterly bewildered and unsure of what to do next.

  When they came to a small stream close to the pickup point in their plan, Ian Fleming went down to the brook and wanted to wash his face with that water. When he scooped up the cool brook water and poured it onto his face, the icy cold water made him feel refreshed.

  The sacrifice of Lieutenant Colonel Richard and his men is already an irreversible fact, whether they can return depends on their luck. As for himself, he still has a mission to complete, that is, to gather intelligence about the German elite troops surrounding Lieutenant Colonel Richard and his men, including their numbers, weapons and equipment, training, branch of service, main tasks, combat characteristics and other information about this mysterious unit. Otherwise, the sacrifice of Lieutenant Colonel Richard and his men would be in vain.

  In the castle, Major Richard left the radio set up high in the castle, he was still unable to calm down after seeing Ian Fleming's forwarded instructions. Although when joining this line, his commander had said: if necessary, you must sacrifice for the British Empire. But when he really faced this situation, his mind kept flooding with memories of his childhood and family. Probably couldn't bear to part with this complex world. He hid in a corner of the castle, carefully observing outside. Found that apart from the German positions set up outside, there was also dust rising in the distance, he knew it was the Spanish army arriving, joining the siege against him. He shook his head helplessly and walked into the castle.

  Down below, the commandos seemed not to have seen him, some wiping their guns, others half-reclining on the ground with their eyes closed to rest. Some were eating. He found his deputy, Lieutenant Larsen, and asked: "How much ammunition, water and food do we still have? Also, have you guys found the underground passage of this castle?"

  "We just cleaned up the ammunition, and we have about one base of rifle cartridges per person left. The submachine guns and machine guns still have 1.5 bases left. We each have five hand grenades left. Our water and food are almost gone, if we don't break out tonight, they will be exhausted. We didn't find the tunnel, only found a cellar. In the cellar, we found some wine. I tried it, unexpectedly it's still drinkable. I suggest drinking this wine when we're most thirsty. Sir, how about the German encirclement? These people are definitely elite German troops wearing Spanish military uniforms, not ordinary Spanish troops. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why they reacted so quickly when we started attacking them, and even ambushed us, evading our traps."

  "They are certainly German elite troops, that's for sure, but which branch of the German elite troops are they? There aren't many units in Germany capable of launching a counterattack on this scale. I can rule out that they're not German paratroopers or mountain troops, but whether they belong to some special operations battalion under the direct command of the High Command, we still don't know. But what's astonishing is that these people have appeared right under our noses and we still didn't know about it - either our intelligence network is too poor or the Germans' secrecy work is extremely good."

  Major Richard Landis took his second-in-command, Lieutenant Larsen, aside and said: "The instructions from above have come down, requiring us to break through on our own. If we fail to break through or some of our men are captured by the enemy, the British government will not recognize us as active-duty soldiers in the British army. They'll probably just say we're retired military personnel hired as mercenaries by Spanish separatist forces. Go tell them that so they can mentally prepare themselves. I need to plan tonight's breakout action carefully. The German reinforcements have arrived outside the castle, and it looks like there are about a battalion of Spanish troops."

  Major Richard Li said after turning around and leaving to spread out the map. Begin planning tonight's breakout action.

  Zhou Tianlei and Captain Kettler waited for the commander of the Spanish reception troops, and they had a meeting together. At the meeting, Zhou Tianlei decided to hand over the plan to annihilate the opponent to the Spaniards for execution. He and the German Navy's amphibious reconnaissance squadron went to Madrid.

  Captain Kitrel was perplexed by General Zhou Tianlei's decision and asked, "General, didn't you decide to capture a few opponents with your own hands? Why did you give up again?"

  Zhou Tianlei said: "I have determined that our opponent is the British, so there is no need to look at them and catch them. It's not beneficial for us to capture a few of them, because even if we do, the British government will not admit their identity. If we suffer more casualties, it would be even less worthwhile. We lost three people in the previous exchange of fire, I'm heartbroken, these are people we trained with great effort and cannot be used as sacrifices. It's better to let the Spanish take action instead. I don't want this unit to reveal too many secrets unless we can annihilate the British with minimal losses. I only believe that a dead man's mouth won't leak secrets. Since we're not sure of annihilating them while keeping our own losses small, it's better for us not to show up and let the Spanish deal with them. If we just kill a few of them but expose many secrets of this unit, it would really be unprofitable."

  Captain Kittel was not too happy about not getting a fight, but his superior had already given the order and he didn't dare disobey. He brought in Spanish officers and together they carried out the handover of the defenses.

  The British sniper observing from the castle suddenly shouted into the castle: "Officer, come and take a look, the Germans seem to be leaving."

  Major Richard Landis rushed up to the high point of the castle, where he lay down beside a sniper and saw that the Germans who had begun to surround them were starting to emerge from their various strongpoints. They moved quickly and soon disappeared into a small copse in the distance. The relieving force was Spanish troops.

  Major Richard Liddiard let out a sigh of relief as the Germans departed, and told the sniper: "Keep observing, report to me if there's anything unusual."

  Major Richard Lunde found his aide Lieutenant Larsen in the castle and the two conferred on this unusual German move.

  "Good riddance," said Lieutenant Larsen. "The Germans are gone and we can break through now." He could hardly contain his excitement.

  Major Richard D. said, "That may be more indicative of the mysterious nature of this unit. It may have some unique aspects that it doesn't want us to see. So it abandoned its attack on us, and of course there may also be reasons we don't know about. But in any case, we should still thank God for standing with us this time."

  "Tonight at 8 o'clock we start the breakout action, the assembly point is here." Major Richard pointed to a hill on the map 20 kilometers southeast of the castle.

  Zhou Tianlei and Captain Kittel's troops of the German Navy Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance Unit, escorted by Spanish troops, were no longer ambushed along the way. They arrived at Madrid Airport, where Zhou Tianlei boarded a Ju-52 special plane sent by the German High Command under the escort of the German Navy Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance Unit. A fighter escort squadron from the German Air Force also came with this special plane. After Zhou Tianlei sat down on the plane, the Ju-52 special plane started its engine, and the propellers began to rotate. The Ju-52 special plane taxied onto the runway, and the pilot increased the engine power to maximum. The plane slid along the runway, and when it reached the end of the runway, the pilot pulled back on the stick, and the Ju-52 special plane lifted its nose and took off into the sky. The fighter escort squadron that had taken off earlier also changed formation and formed a protective squadron, escorting Zhou Tianlei's Ju-52 special plane as it flew towards France.

  In the castle, British special forces 'Commando' troops were desperately resisting the attack of Spanish army.

  Major Richard Land looked out at the Spanish army's deployment from the top of the castle for a while, then glanced at his military luminous watch, it was almost 8 o'clock in the evening, getting closer and closer to the scheduled assault time. He decided not to make a breakthrough at the designated time anymore. Although the assault team had withstood several attacks by the Spanish army with the thick walls of the ancient castle earlier, but because the Spanish reinforcements did not bring heavy weapons, only a few mortars, these mortars caused significant casualties for the British special forces 'Commando' assault team. If they wait for the Spanish army to bring in heavy artillery, then they may never think about leaving again.

  He went down to the castle, although some people had already died or been injured in repelling the Spanish army's attack, but there was no sign of fear in the eyes of those assault team members. Still a look ready to go into battle at any time.

  "He took a deep breath and said: 'Now I order, charge begins.'"