Generalleutnant Kurt Student
Starting on September 1, the 30,000 men of the German I. Fallschirmkorps under Generalleutnant Kurt Student began attacking the British stronghold of Gibraltar. The fabled Rock was defended by 10,000 British troops who were dug in both behind an impressive series of trenches and bunkers along the border with Spain, and inside the Rock itself. Despite the fact that the war had been raging for exactly one year when the assault on Gibraltar began, this was to be the first time that German and British soldiers met one another in battle. As the shells began to fall and the bullets began to fly, both sides recognized the importance of this battle. He who controlled Gibraltar also controlled access to the Mediterranean. The Germans wanted desperately to close access to Britain and her allies and the British desperately needed to keep it open.
The initial phase of the attack was disappointing for the Germans. The paratroopers were, by design, rather lightly equipped and were no match for the formidable defenses of Gibraltar. The only artillery at their disposal were recoilless rifles. While these were fine weapons and useful to the troopers, they were few in number and were generally incapable of doing any serious damage to the more heavily fortified British defensive positions.
German paratroopers firing on British positions on the outskirts of Gibraltar
Student pressed the attack hard even in the face of the initial difficulty, but did report the stalemate back to Generaloberst von Rundstedt- the commander of all German forces in Spain. Rundstedt, with two Armeegruppen, was positioned to the north and had recently accepted the surrender of all Spanish forces outside of Cataluyna. He immediately ordered the Luftwaffe contingent under his command to directly support the attack on Gibraltar and also sent the IV. Armee south along with a large artillery contingent.
The IV. Armee was also known as the Ostmark Armee, and was considered a somewhat special unit within the Wehrmacht. It had been originally formed in the aftermath of the Anschluss when the Austrian army had been integrated into the Wehrmacht. While many Austrian formations had been sent throughout the Reich to join various commands, it had been decided to form a full army out of some of the former Austrian formations. It had been officially designated as IV. Armee, but was most commonly referred to by it's other name. The formation had seen heavy fighting throughout the war and had gained special notice early on for both being the unit that had taken Crackow, and for crushing the Namur Salient. Hitler was so pleased by the conduct of his fellow countrymen that he had declared that only men from Ostmark could belong to the IV. Armee. Most recently, the formation had been involved in the capture of the Spanish capital of Madrid.
The air support sent by Rundstedt was a welcome sight to Student's men who cheered as the bombers flew overhead toward the British positions. Those cheers soon died, however, as British anti-aircraft guns on the Rock began knocking bombers from the skies, and it became apparent that the bombing runs were having little overall effect on the heavy gun emplacements within the Rock. Against the bunkers and trenches along the strip of land connecting Gibraltar to mainland Spain the bombers had better luck, and some progress was being made by the time that the Ostmark Armee arrived on the scene on September 4.
Artillery piece with the Ostmark Armee firing on the British in Gibraltar
The heavy artillery brought by the Austrians was quickly put into place and began banging away at the British positions while the 50,000 men of the Ostmark Armee moved into forward positions and prepared to attack in support of the paratroopers. Now outnumbered 8-to-1 and under constant bombardment from the air as well as from German heavy artillery, the defenders of Gibraltar were becoming increasingly hard pressed to hold the line and it was feared that a breakthrough would come at any moment.
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September 5, 1940
British territory of Gibraltar
Helmut Wolf lit a cigarette and drew in a deep breath. He was sitting atop a rock and looking ahead toward Gibraltar, his Fallschirmhelm lying upended at his feet. He had taken it off in favor of his crusher cap which was pulled low in order to keep the sun out of his eyes. Nearby to him stood Brauer and Nagel. The two men stood close together in order to be able to hear one another over the sound of the guns that were hammering the British positions. Every now and again they would turn to look in Helmut's direction, and if he had been paying them any mind he would have rather quickly deduced that they were talking about him. He, however, was not paying them any attention and his gaze remained fixed on the Rock.
Gaertner came hurrying up and, after casting a glance at Helmut, joined Nagel and Brauer. He leaned in close and said, "I just got word from the hospital."
Nagel and Brauer looked at one another and Brauer said to him, "If Untersturmführer Baer died, then you're telling him. He likes you."
Nagel frowned at him, but before he could reply Gaertner said, "He's not dead. In fact, they said that he had recovered enough to be moved to a hospital in France."
"Thank God.", said Nagel and Brauer in unison.
The two men began moving to give Helmut the good news, but Gaertner grabbed Nagel's arm and said, "There's no change with Kuefer. He's still fading in and out of consciousness and the nurse I talked to said that he gets weaker every day."
Nagel forced a smile on his face and patted Gaertner on the shoulder. He said, "Don't worry, Kuefer is tough. He'll be fine."
Gaertner nodded and Nagel turned from him and walked over to where Helmut sat. Helmut did not look up at his approach and both Nagel and Brauer stood awkwardly until Nagel finally said, "Good news about Max. He's being moved to a hospital in France. He's going to be alright." He didn't bother to mention Kuefer. No sense in spoiling the good news.
Upon hearing the news, Helmut closed his eyes and let his head drop for a moment before lifting his eyes back to stare forward toward the Rock. Moving slowly, he took the cigarette from his lips and tossed it away before replacing it with another. Nagel, surprised by the muted reaction, looked at Brauer who shrugged. He followed Helmut's line of sight and asked, "You think that we'll be going into action against the British soon?" The SS troops had been in reserve since the start of the battle and had yet to come to grips with the British defenders.
With a fierceness that surprised them both Helmut answered, "I spend every second of every day wishing that it will be so."
"You do?", asked Brauer.
Helmut nodded and took a long drag on his cigarette. He pulled it from his lips and said, "I hate them. Damn hypocrites the whole lot of them. They call us warmongers when they've been in the business of waging war on others for centuries. They call us tyrants and oppressors when they have hundreds of millions under their yoke. They blame us for this war when they're the ones who started it. They had no business interfering in our dispute with Poland, but they did and in so doing unleashed all of this on the world. I lay every death in this war on them, and they need to be made to pay. They need to pay for it all."
Nagel started to say something, but Helmut, with a menacing look in his eye, pressed on over him, "I've fought the Dutch, the Belgians, the French and the Bulgarians in this war and I did it because it was my duty to the Fatherland. When it comes time to fight and kill Englishmen, though, I'm going to do it because I enjoy it."
