In the middle of the night, a well-equipped detachment was quietly marching on the road approaching the building of the Provisional Government in the city of La Par, where the remnants of the Government of the Spanish Republic were located.

This small combat detachment of 150 men is armed with all Spanish FR-8 bolt-action rifles, and although it is not very powerful, it is also an important force of the current Republican Army on La Palma.

However, it was this such company of guards, which had been transferred to La Palma with Francisco, was responsible for the defense of La Palma, the provisional capital of the Spanish Republic, at the same time as the strength was tight.

Ironically, the task of this guard, which was supposed to defend the Provisional Government, was to overthrow the struggling government, launch a coup d'état, and then surrender to Franco's National Army.

"Captain Fulcy, what's going on? Why did you have your army assembled and marched into the city so late? A leader of a People's Guard squad arranged by the government to maintain law and order in the city, with more than 30 People's Guard militiamen, stopped the Fulcy combat detachment in the middle of the march and asked.

"We are under the orders of Admiral Francisco to impose immediate martial law on the city of La Palma." Captain Fulcy, who knew the captain of the People's Guard, signaled his men not to be impulsive, and took two steps forward and ordered the squad leader: "Get out of the way quickly, with your rank, you don't need to worry about this." ”

The People's Guard on La Palma was improvised, drawn from among the island's 72,000 indigenous people. They were neither militarily trained nor issued with firearms and weapons. At a time when the front-line troops are short of weapons, the more than 800 members of the people's guard on the island, who have been formed with great difficulty, have only received "weapons" such as sticks issued by the provisional government.

Among them, the 130 members of the National Guard who were placed in the city of La Palma were therefore ineffective. The government of the republic, which has formed such a force, may be hoping to use them to maintain law and order or something.

After all, the current People's Guard is a world away from the quasi-army of a year ago. To say that relying on this group of teams to go to the front, no one even believes that they can last 10 minutes.

As it stands, as long as Fourcy gives the order, his assault team only needs one round of strafing to break up the entire People's Guard in the entire city of La Palma.

However, Francisco had an order to avoid unnecessary casualties as much as possible. In addition, the squad leader is quite familiar with Fulcy, so he patiently "persuaded one more sentence".

It's a pity that the captain of the People's Guard obviously didn't mean to appreciate it, and said stubbornly: "I'm sorry, but we are not under the command of General Francisco. If you're going to get into the city, you'll have to get instructions from Mayor Starr first. After saying this, the team leader immediately turned around and left, "Please wait a moment, I'll go and call Mayor Starr now to confirm." ”

"No need!" Fulcy grabbed the squad leader's arm and said, "After tonight, the Mr. Starr you spoke of may no longer be the mayor of La Palma." ”

"You are!" The team leader was stunned for a moment, and then surprised: "What are you going to do?" Unauthorized mobilization of troops is a great crime of treason! ”

"Treason?" Fourcy laughed disdainfully, "General Franco has issued a directive to punish all the soldiers of the Republican Army on La Palma, and promised us to join the new government formed by the National Army. The republic is over, and do you still expect to shed more blood for it? ”

The squad leader, who had a strong belief in the Republic, was furious after hearing these words, and he wanted to shoot the other party in the head with one shot at such a blatant betrayer.

However, the team leader still failed to blow Furcy's head out after all. For he had neither a gun nor a bullet in his hand, only a long, crudely made wooden stick. Under the threat of 150 FR-8 bolt-action rifles on the opposite side, more than 10 members of the People's Guard, including the squad leader, collectively chose to give up resistance.

"Congratulations," Furcy said with a smile on his face, looking at the old acquaintance, "you made the right choice." ”

Half an hour later, several quiet and ordinary apartments in the city of La Palma were shattered by the noise of ping-pong. One coup after another, the assault teams visited the apartments where the provisional government officials were located.

"Knock knock......" There was a quick and nervous knock outside the door.

"Who came to me so late, don't you have any common sense?" Star, the mayor of the new capital of the republic, who had already gone to bed, said angrily.

"Bang bang bang!" The soldiers outside the door obviously had no patience to wait, and under the leadership of the leader, several shots hit the door lock.

Then, the leading soldier raised the butt of his rifle and smashed open the door of Star's house with all his might.

Wait until more than 10 soldiers dressed neatly in the brown uniform of the Spanish Republican Army burst into the room with FR-8 bolt-action rifles. Starr had finally come to his senses from his stupor.

Under the muzzle of the black hole, the mayor of the capital of the republic raised his noble hands without hesitation.

To put it nicely, he chose a peaceful solution. To put it bluntly, it is that this high-ranking official was not psychologically prepared to sacrifice for the republican ideals.

Throughout the night, Fulcy's commandos captured more than 20 key officials of the Provisional Government of the Spanish Republic. Among them, none of them made a strong resistance, and all the captured people easily chose to surrender and survive.

............

"That's your choice?" After receiving the news of the coup, Dirks, the commander of the Republican Army's coastal defense division, which was more than 40 kilometers away from La Palma, immediately rushed back to the capital by car to meet with Francisco, the organizer of the coup.

"Yes, that's my choice. Rather than defeat the day when the mountain is exhausted, I choose to settle this last battle peacefully. Francisco, who was sitting west of the city facing the coup command of the time, answered Dirks' question very calmly.

"Why?" Dirks, who was allowed into the opposing headquarters, also tried to get an answer, insisting: "As a military leader of the Republican Army, you have always been my role model and target. Why do you choose this honorless way to end up like this? Why leave behind your accusations and dignity as a soldier!? ”

Francisco, who was sitting in his seat, turned his back to Dirks and waved his hand, and said in a deep voice: "My reason has been told to you a long time ago, Spain can no longer withstand the war. As well as being a Republican general, I was also a Spaniard. Since I am a general belonging to Spain, I have a responsibility for the future of this country. ”

As if talking about something unrelated, Francisco was silent for a while and then mentioned lightly: "Those government officials we once defended also chose "peace" when they were arrested, and there was no fear of resistance from anyone. Is it worth it to fight for the lives of soldiers for such a government? ”

"It's worth it!" Dirks was stubborn.

........Two soldiers armed with a newly developed German MP37 submachine gun shot and killed the lieutenant general, who was a staunch supporter of the republic.

Before Lieutenant Dekkers came to power, the German Gestapo had already visited Francisco, the famous commander of the Republican Army.

A day earlier, Francisco had received assurances from the Germans that the German government would protect the lives of the IRA defectors and help them escape the massacre that Franco had begun by sending them to work in German labor camps.

For the sake of less bloodshed, but also for the sake of peace. Francisco agreed to the Germans' demands and launched a coup d'état for peace.......