On January 31, 1916, not long after the World War had ended, thick clouds of war once again gathered over the Mediterranean Sea. The German Navy Mediterranean Fleet's Capital Ships assembled at Gibraltar. Arriving alongside them was the 2nd Marine Division.
Originally, according to the German Navy's plan, deploying just one Marine Corps regiment would have been enough to take Gibraltar. But now that Spain had intervened, to ensure Gibraltar could be seized and to fend off the Spaniards' counterattack, they had brought over the entire 2nd Marine Division. That was why it had taken a little extra time.
After all, no matter how weak Spain was, it was still a nation with a population of twenty million. If nothing else, it could field two or three hundred thousand troops. With mobilization, arming a million soldiers would be no problem at all. If too few troops were committed to the battle, they simply would not be able to withstand the Spaniards' counterattack.
Fortunately, Gibraltar's terrain was narrow. As long as they held the less-than-one-kilometer strip north of Mount Takri, they could block the Spanish attack. Such a narrow strip did not require many troops to deploy in the first place. Coupled with the German Navy's naval gunfire support, no matter how many troops Spain sent to counterattack, they would only be blasted into scraps in the end.
On January 31, the German Foreign Ministry issued a declaration stating that the Kingdom of Spain had colluded with Britain and threatened the interests of the Allied Powers, demanding that the Kingdom of Spain withdraw from Gibraltar.
However, the Kingdom of Spain denied it, claiming that it had not colluded with Britain and refusing to withdraw from Gibraltar. Not even an idiot would believe that. If Spain truly had no secret agreement with