Blood and Gold - The Second Spanish Republic

Wow, so much response!

I just finished the images for the next update and I'm writing up a new post now, but first a few comments...

Enewald: Yes, I could, in fact, HQs have been some of my most valuable fighting units through this campaign as they all started at full strength, unlike most of my infantry brigades who were at about 1/3 strength.

Lord Valentine: The SCW is half luck - it all depends on what units join you at the start. If you find you don't have decent units but you still want to play the Republicans, it's wise to accept an inevitable defeat or restart until you get good units. The latter isn't an option for me, so we'll see whether the inevitable becomes inevitable or not...

stnylan: Good! I was always good at tests in school.

Lordban: Is war ever a party? Well, I admit, this has been a very fun war so far. Thanks for the compliment - I take pride in my presentation. :3

Mozla: Good news is always on the table. I'll start with this good news: I kept all of Spain's Strategic Bomber wings.

KingAMD:Madrid is full of awesome and win.

Morsky: The Red Hordes of Spain fear no one! ~.^

Myth: The Nationalists are always worringly strong. They get so many advantages in this war it isn't even funny.

TinMann: Heh, no problems. I'll keep hanging on...I will say I've done better than you so far, but I also had more luck in terms of what I kept!

LeifNepstad: Well, I managed to get Transit Rights from France, so that's something, but I have no ability to get into any of the three alliances right now. Nationalist Spain's threat level simply isn't high enough compared to my neutrality.

forkboy: Yeah, the SCW is a very hard scenario to survive through. The Nationalists just have the advantage in every conceivable way: they get more troops, they can strike at any time taking any of your divisions with them (making preparation meaningless) and they tend to win most of the major cities.

Cardus: Noted, but I didn't name the divisions, the game did.

Jorath13: I'm glad you like it. Photoshop is what I used, yes, mostly cut and paste but a few other tricks to give the images a little extra shine.

Stuyvesant: Oh, don't worry, the SCW is certainly possible to win. I...wouldn't judge the scenario based on just the first war post of this AAR. I'd give it a try. It depends on what you get but I would seriously give it a try.

Cardus: Well, once the civil war is over, whichever way it goes, I'll be renaming all of the units to something I can more easily keep track of and put a name to...

aldriq: The Spanish Republic is definitely going to hold an interesting position whichever way this war turns out...

Artell: No, you couldn't. Not unless you wanted to risk my rabid attack wombats.

TinMann: Looking at your AAR, I can see why you didn't do so well. No air force and no cavalry? That's harsh...


Across Spain, the war continued to rage. Upon the dawn of May, the Nationalists had continued to advance along all fronts. The Loyalists were outnumbered and divided, while the Nationalists held two solid, distinct bases of power. By comparison, the Republicans were struggling to defend many different points. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Galicia, upon the northwest of the Iberian peninsula. There, some five thousand men, mostly loose and disorganized infantry drawn from the local socialist movements, but also professional fighting men from what used to be the Spanish Army.


Despite being outnumbered, outgunned and isolated from the rest of the resistance, General Martinez led a brilliant defense and kept the Nationalist at bay against countless assaults. The Siege of La Coruña would last for months as wave after wave of Nationalists tried to breach the well-fortified city. The resistance was fought by men who were practically drafted off the street, and sometimes soldiers would fight to protect factories which manufactured the very weapons and ammunition they were fighting with. Workers tried day and night to keep the men supplied, for the sake of the whole city and, for the time being, it was working. They could not press out of the city for fear of losing it, but the defences held against the Nationalists.

To the east, the Asturias breakthrough had gone well and the survivors were still retreating, but there was risk of the Salient turning into a pocket and General Santés's men were fighting well despite being outnumbered. News was, however, that the Nationalists had not moved to surround the Freedom Corps for a reason - they were trying to strike at Oviedo. The city was only lightly defended after the resistance divisions had moved out and they soon found themself under assault by Nationalist International Brigades.


To the east, the 2nd Mountain division moved in to secure the city of Bilbao in Navarra, and dug in, ready to resist the inevitable Nationalist attacks. Further along the Pyrenees, however, a more important movement was being made. From the snowy barrier, twenty-four hundred men of the 1st Mountain Division moved into position and plunged headfirst into the fighting in Barcelona. Fresh, well-supplied and well-trained, the elite Mountain division turned the untenable position of the resistance in Barcelona into one with hope for victory.

From the west, the 1st Mobile Division arrived in Tarragona, along with several brigades of disorganized but eager infantry. Fortifying the city, they created a bulwark against the advancing Republican forces and began to press into Barcelona from the west. The surrounded Nationalist forces in the city quickly crumbled before the onslaught, outnumbered and outfought by the determined Catalonian soldiers.


Three days after the 1st Mobile's arrival on the outskirts of Barcelona, the Nationalists threw down their arms en masse and surrendered. Despite several warrant acts of violence, the Republican forces were, for the most part, merciful. The Nationalists would become prisoners of war and Barcelona was spared the horrors of war. The people celebrated throughout the streets as nearly 6,000 men from Aragon and Catalonia alike united in their joyous victory. There was a party that lasted throughout the night until the men were roused to begin the march west to Tarragona.


Lieutenant General Burillo of the Catalonian Theatre issued a call to arms through the city. Barcelona was the largest population centre in the country and second only to Madrid in importance. That it had endured the Nationalists in spite of odds was a boost to morale across the entire country. Its factories began to churn out weapons and armed new men who would be rushed off to the front lines. The victory at Barcelona had given the Republicans a real fighting chance, a chance to turn things around in spite of the odds stacked against them.

To the west, however, concerns were risen as to the stability of their newfound victory. Taking advantage of a hole in the defences, the Nationalists were pushing south towards Valencia, trying to break a salient. In response, the 14th infantry division was rapidly moving north to ensure Valencia's safety, and international brigades from Madrid were moving to surround the gap and stop the advance. General Burillo hoped to cut the Nationalists off from Badajoz and trap them inside their own Salient. The entire armed forces of the Catalonian theatre were assembling around Tarragona and preparing to march for Zaragoza, so as to squeeze the nationalists between Barcelona and Madrid until they popped.


In the southwest of Spain, the lightly armed, mobile cavalry units of the Republic were unable to contend with the determined heavy infantry of the Nationalists. Across the entire Andalusian front, the Republicans were finding themselves forced to fall back. Though they resisted bitterly, Granada and Cordoba fell with little resistance, and shipments of supplies from Seville and Cadiz were too hard to stop. It seemed that soon, the precious resources of the region around Jaén would soon fall into Nationalist hands despite every attempt by the Republicans to stop them.


North of Madrid, however, was the true centre stage of the war. The Asturias Freedom Corps had successfully evacuated the men trapped in Valladolid but were being pushed north by overwhelming forces. Their new salient was rapidly turning into a pocket and there was indecision as to whether they should stay or withdraw. Finally, Santés agreed to make a fighting withdrawal north, to link up with the divisions holding the line at Oviedo.


Meanwhile, the Madrid divisions were pushing north rapidly. Thousands of well-armed internationals, burning with hope and fire in their gut, spread out from Madrid in loosely organized formations, advancing north into Castile, ready to strike at the heart of Nationalist power. Over 30,000 volunteers from across Europe struck fast and hard against the Internationals, supplemented by local Spaniards and partisans battling against the Nationalist rebels.


Their goal: the industrial centre of Valladolid. The important city was the primary source of arms and supplies for the Nationalists in the north, and turning those factories to the Republic's aid would make a big difference in victory or defeat in the war. With that in mind, International Brigades pushed north rapidly, crushing the relatively weak Nationalist front before them. Straight through the centre, 12,000 men battled over the town of Cuéllar; the advance devastated the region and hard fighting left the settlement a ghost town as its citizens fled before the Republican advance.


The Nationalists resisted bitterly but they were outnumbered nearly 4 to 1. The disorganized, rapid advance of the Internationals left them relatively leaderless, but despite that, the Loyalists found local leadership and small heroes who were able to step up and drive the advance; slowly but surely, the land surrounding Cuéllar fell into the hands of the Republican Army. The Popular Front celebrated yet another victory as their forces pushed on towards the heart of Nationalist power.

To the west, however, another force rose to press onwards, and was ready to march on Valladolid before Cuéllar had fallen...the 1st International Corps under General Walter advanced through the Castilian countryside and forged a confident salient of some 15,000 men. Despite attempted counterattacks launched by Lieutenant General Lopez-Pi's 2nd Rifle Corps, Walter's men refused to budge and Valladolid looked more than just vulnerable - it was ripe for the picking. The Nationalists were beginning to panic, and by April 27th, Lopez-Pi evacuated the city and moved his headquarters northeast towards the well-defended Nationalist capital in Burgos.


The Republicans were willing to risk it all on Valladolid, and over a third of the active fighting men under the loyalist banner marched onwards to Valladolid, preparing to take the city by force.


Those casualty counts are ridiculously low...I'm gonna have to take a tally of actual deaths and make an injury estimation based on that, to get a full casualty analysis, methinks.