Baptism of Fire Battle of Malaga: February 6, 1937 Wargames Scenario for CD

Baptism of Fire

Battle of Malaga: February 6, 1937

Wargames Scenario for CD2

By Michele Armellini

The Drive to Malaga - Background

The Blackshirt Division "Dio lo vuole!" ("God Wills It!") was ready for use since the end of 1936. Mussolini wanted it committed as a whole, in quick and successful operations, for the highest propaganda return. Franco had tried to disperse these "volunteers" among his own troops for obvious political and military reasons, and he also hoped to have them keep a low profile, but to no avail. The Nationalists officially loathed foreign interventions (a staple accusation they moved against the Republicans), but the Blackshirts were a gift they couldn't refuse if they wanted guns, ammo, aircraft and naval support.

So this division was used for the attack on Malaga. Occupying this southern Mediterranean city would mean, for the Nationalists, to clear a larger area in the southern part of the country, where they had a significant foothold, to reduce an over-extended frontage, and to gain another useful port. Also, by the beginning of February, 1937, the city was virtually encircled, with only a thin coastal strip to the north-east connecting it with Republican-held territory.

The plan called for an attack on three columns, driving south towards the coast down from the inland hills. The retreat route was left open on purpose, so that the unorganised popular militias defending the city would be encouraged to break and run. It was deemed that they would be unable to retreat as an organised, combat-worthy force. A Spanish Nationalist force was attacking along the coast. Each of the Blackshirt columns was comprised of a Blackshirt "legion" (an infantry regiment); two of the columns were to have armour support. The average Blackshirt had a reasonable amount of military training and some discipline, standardised equipment's and plenty of ammo. On the down side, he wasn't so young, nor fit, he had enlisted to save his family from misery, he had no initiative, and probably he had some private doubts about the political (and religious) motivations he should have had for fighting.

On the Republican side, the defence of Malaga was already considered a forlorn hope. The city was held by wrangling political factions and their armed but untrained militias. Experienced officers were in scarce supply; so were guns and ammo. No tanks were available, nor significant anti-tank defences. The garrison commander was a political leader who was allegedly sure that, upon contact, the enemy soldiers would see the light and join their brothers and comrades... No serious defense plans had been drawn. The average militiaman was solidly motivated and willing to fight to defend his city and family; he knew the terrain and was ready to exploit that advantage. But he had little or no training, no discipline, scarce ammo and probably a rifle of a different calibre than that of the nearest comrade.

The Italian commanders were quite aware of this situation, and they were confident. The Blackshirts set out for an easy victory on the morning of February 5th, 1937. This scenario represents the advance of the western-most Blackshirt column on the second day of the attack.

Terrain

The terrain is dotted with small wooded areas, cultivations, low stone walls, a couple of muddy spots and isolated hamlets. The contour lines run from West to East; a few spots on the hills' slopes are very steep and only foot units can cross them. All wooded areas count as open woods. Built-up areas all count as wooden.

Special Terrain Notes:

1) Cultivation's provide cover to personnel units only but do not block LOS.

2) The Rio Verde is only a stream, but it's swollen with rain and its bed and banks are rocky. Wheeled vehicles can cross it only in the bridge. Personnel stands can ford it with a full advance order, and during that turn they can just carry out the crossing. MMG stands and mortar stands fording the river leave behind/lose all heavy equipment and become crew stands! Tracked vehicles can ford the stream exactly like personnel stands, but they have a 20% chance of a mechanical breakdown immobilising them for the remainder of the game. The referee can tell all the above to the Blackshirt player when he has any stands within 2" from the Rio Verde... or he can just describe the river and let them try and ford it! The Republican player knows all the above before the beginning of the game.

Game Length

The game begins at 10.00 and it must end by 18.00 (32 Turns).

Special Rules

1) The maximum visibility range is 40" for the whole game (except for further limitations due to light rain) due to persistently hazy weather conditions.

2) There's a chance of light rain, according to the following

RAINFALL TABLES

Roll every 4 turns if it isn't raining:

Roll every 2 turns if it's raining:

With light rain, of course, the maximum visibility range will drop accordingly to 15".

Victory Conditions

The players shouldn't be told what their victory conditions are. They should only be told about the situation and their orders. Victory can be achieved by gaining Victory Points. "Uncontested control" means having at least one stand in good morale within 1" of or inside the feature, and no enemy stands within 3" of the feature. The side having more Victory Points at the end of the game is the winner.

Republican Victory Points:

Blackshirt Victory Points:

REPUBLICAN BRIEFING

Situation: the rebels have practically surrounded Malaga and they have received help from the Italian fascists. They are now tightening their noose around our city! You are deployed in a defensive line north of the Almogia crossroads. Any enemy attack will come down from the hills north of your position. You will get reinforcements in case you are attacked.

Orders: hold your line as long as possible! As long as you hold the crossroads and the highway running East from Almogia, the enemy won't be able to advance towards Malaga. If you are forced to yield ground, try to make a stand in Almogia; if forced back from there, make sure you destroy the bridge on the Rio Verde before retreating East. At the very least, try to keep under your control the eastern highway exit (Point B).You can call for reinforcements, but only after you have been attacked by the enemy. Remember: we are outnumbered, but we'll inflict as many losses as we can!

Deployment: Group A can be deployed anywhere, but no closer than 15" to the northern table edge; at least one stand must be within each of the Almogia built-up areas. All stands can be in entrenchments. You can place one road obstruction on any road. Group B must be within 5" from the bridge, with the engineers at work placing the demolition charges. Group C will enter on the highway through the eastern table edge (Point B), though you don't know how much time after you have called them in!

Intelligence: your enemies are the people's enemies! It is rumoured the fascists will field the fanatical Italian Blackshirts against us. Send these foreigners back to where they belong! Be forewarned: they are likely to be supported by light MG-armed tankettes.

REPUBLICAN ORDER OF BATTLE

Group A:

C.N.T. Militia Column (Green, Morale 10), with:

Attached Support Battery (Trained, Morale 8), with 1 81mm mortar stand (ds) OOOOOOOOOO

Group B:

Malaga Garrison Mixed Detachment (Regular, Morale 7), with:

Group C:

P.O.U.M. Militia Column (Trained, Morale 9), with:

Notes:

1) No Republican command stand can issue any take command orders.

2) The attached batteries are not battalion guns and no unit can act as spotter for them. They can only fire on targets they can see.

3) The bridge is a Class V bridge, and it requires 5 tons of explosive to be completely destroyed. 3 tons have already been emplaced before the beginning of the game; 2 other tons are carried by the engineer wagon supply. All demolition rules apply.

CD2 STATS

Vehicle Speed Armor Armament Cargo

Lt. truck (II) 80/25 - - 1/IV

Med. truck (III) 70/15 - - 2/V

Wagon (III*) 15/5 - - 2/-

Limber (II*) 20/10 - - -/III

Los Tiznao (III) 30/10 0/0w T:1MG 1/-

(*) Horse-drawn

Gun Round ROF 2" 5" 10" 15" 20" 25" 30" 40" 50" HE

76.2L29 HE 2 9:-3 9:-3 6:-3 4:-3 2:-3 1:-3 - - - 1"/4

81mm MTR HE 2 - 1"/4

Personnel ROF Eff. Range Move (Walk/Run)

Green/Trained Infantry 1 6" 8"/16"

Regular or better Infantry 1 8" 8"/16"

Green/Trained MMG 2 10" 8"

Regular or better MMG 2 15" 8"

Crew, Engineers 1 6" 8"/16"

Support, Command 1 4" 8"/16"

Vehicle MG 1 10" -

BLACKSHIRT BRIEFING

Situation: Malaga is virtually encircled and it's ripe to fall. Your Legion will pick it for the Duce. The communists are still holding a tenuous, flimsy line in front of you. You just have to come down from the hills and chase them East, towards the city.

Orders: attack the enemy with two Cohorts and the armour support. You aren't expected to break through their lines and risk exposing your flanks; clear the area before advancing carefully. As you reach the highway, swing East, occupying the village, then the bridge and the eastern highway exit. Secure these three objectives. The bridge must be taken intact. Keep your losses to a minimum, and don't waste your armour. You can summon your reserve Cohort, but only if you decide it's strictly necessary.

Deployment: Group A can enter on Turn 1 and/or in any subsequent Turns, in full or in part, anywhere along the northern table edge. Group B will arrive if requested, though you do not know how much time will it take! Group C is the transport for one Cohort; you can assign it either to Group A or B and have a Cohort ride on trucks.

Intelligence: you are facing communists, anarchists and rabble like that. They are demoralised, disorganised and they aren't expected to put up a real resistance.

BLACKSHIRT ORDER OF BATTLE

Group A:

3rd Blackshirt Legion (Trained, Morale 8), with:

1 gun crew stand, 1 65L17 infantry gun OOOO OOO, 1 light truck

635th Blackshirt Cohort, with:

3 Infantry Companies, each with 3 infantry stands
Machinegun Company, with 2 MMG stands

640th "Uragano" Blackshirt Cohort, with:

Group B:

"Tempesta" Blackshirt Cohort (Trained, Morale 8), with:

Group C:

Divisional Heavy Truck Section (Trained, Morale 8), with 5 heavy trucks

Off-board artillery:

2 100L16 howitzers OOOOOO OOOOOO

Notes:

1) The Blackshirt Trained infantry small-arms range isn't penalized by the reduction for Green/Trained troops, since it simulates poor training and ammo supply/standardization problems the Blackshirts did not suffer from.

2) The 65L17 IG has 3 AP rounds available as specialized ammo.

3) The 47L32 ATG represents 2 guns only. Therefore it's a battalion gun and has ROF 1.

CD2 STATS

Vehicle Speed Armor Armament Cargo

Lt. truck (II) 80/25 - - 1/IV

Hvy. truck (IV) 60/10 - - 3/V

Car (II) 80/25 - - -/-

CV3/35 (II) 50/20 2/1 C:2MG -

Lancia 1ZM 70/30 1/1w T:1MG -

(*) Horse-drawn

Vehicle Speed Armor Armament Cargo

Gun Round ROF 2" 5" 10" 15" 20" 25" 30" 40" 50" HE

65L17 HE 2 9:-4 8:-4 6:-4 3:-4 2:-4 1:-4 1:-4 - - 1"/3

IG AP 2 9:0 9:-1 6:-2 3:-3 2:-3 1:-4 1:-4 -

45mm MTR HE 2 - SA-1

100L16 HWR HE 2 (Off Board) 1,5"/5

Personnel ROF Eff. Range Move (Walk/Run)

Infantry 1 8" 8"/16"

Regular or better MMG 2 15" 8"

Crew, Engineers 1 6" 8"/16"

Support, Command 1 4" 8"/16"

Vehicle MG 1 10" -

Referee Notes

Republican Group C will arrive 1d6+2 Turns after called in. Blackshirt Group B will arrive 2 Turns after called in if Group C is with them; personnel stands aboard the trucks, which shall enter along the road on the northern table edge (Point A). The Blackshirt commander can, however, delay the entrance 1 Turn to let the stands dismount off-board and move in, within 10" from Point A, in the following Turn. If on foot, Group B will arrive in 1d10+2 Turns.

If the referee so wishes, some of the minor terrain features, such as stone walls, cultivation's and muddy areas, can be known to the Republican player only (not placed on the tabletop at start, but shown on a map given to that player). The Blackshirt player will see them (and they will be placed on the tabletop) only when his units can see them. This is because detailed maps were in short supply. Main terrain features (woods, steep slopes, built-up areas, roads, the highway and the bridge) are visible on the tabletop.

Designer Notes

While the Blackshirt force is quite accurate, the Republican units are representative. It is extremely difficult to find reliable, consistent sources as to what the beleaguered, utterly disorganised Malaga garrison did exactly field. If you feel the Republicans are outgunned, well, there's no way out of it. The mortars and field guns they have in this scenario are more than 25% of the artillery available in Malaga! The different Victory Point ratios should offer the Republican player a chance of doing well, or even winning, even if his troops are mauled as they were in reality. This is historically reasonable, too, because inflicting really severe losses on the Blackshirts would have been considered a victory of sorts for the Republicans.

Historical Outcome

The battle for Malaga proved indeed to be a rather easy victory for the Blackshirts.

The militias failed to put up a co-ordinated defence effort and in some cases they were simply outgunned. The Italian tankettes, although tiny, had no serious opponents and so they scared the inexperienced Republican soldiers.

Even so, the battle wasn't a real piece of cake. The Blackshirts suffered some losses, and road interruptions caused serious problems for the columns, that had very limited off-road capabilities. At a critical point, the reserve battalions had to be all committed to action to help the central column that had got stuck. The Italian commander, General Roatta, was wounded. But the attack regained momentum and the Republican lines collapsed in several points. Retreating militia units were strafed together with fleeing civilians. The city proper wasn't seriously defended.

The Blackshirts had advanced rather boldly, applying the Guerra celere (fast war) doctrine. This was similar to the German Blitzkrieg, but it had two blatant weaknesses: being focused on lorried infantry, it was basically limited to the road network, and it relied on the fast advance itself for flank security. The Malaga defenders did not exploit those weaknesses.

Ironically, such an easy victory later turned out to be a major disadvantage for the Blackshirts. With a harder fight, maybe they would have grown warier; and a difficult engagement would have given the troops some real combat experience. Instead, the Italian commanders overestimated both their troops and the "Guerra Celere" concept, while underestimating the enemy. So, after this easy conquest, the Blackshirts recklessly and deservedly blundered in the Guadalajara defeat.

Sources

Coverdale, John F. - Italian Intervention in the Spanish Civil War
Santamaria, Aldo - Operazione Spagna 1936-1939

FURTHER NOTES

The book ["Spanish Testament"] by the English/Hungarian journalist Arthur Koestler, who was present at the fall of Malaga. He is very left wing, but his observations [if true, which I believe they are] are interesting.

First, heavy rains and the bridge beyond Motril being broken, mean that Malaga is practically cut off from the rest of Republican Spain. Several convoys of ammo and food have either turned back or been diverted. No organisation and lots of "red tape" mean Malaga is practically without food and ammo [Jan 28th].

Officer in command of Malaga forces Col. Villalba [appointed Jan 18th/19th]. Reports on taking command "I first inspected the most exposed front: the coast road Malaga-Marbella-Gibraltar, I found no trenches, no fortified positions, nothing but two Militiamen sitting smoking cigarettes a mile away from the enemy positions.' Where are your troops? ' I asked them. ' Somewhere in the barracks, ' they replied. ' If the rebels were to attack, we should see them and have plenty of time to warn our men. Why should they sit out in the rain? ' "

Jan 30th Marbella front, 35 miles from Malaga = "a barricade of stones" across the road. To the right of the barricade, the Militia have begun to dig a trench. Officer in command is asked what he will do if tanks arrive, "I shall take my men up into the Sierra".

Jan 3ist, Alfernate, Colmenar sector. Concrete shelter on both sides of the road, but road is still open. Runs to rebel positions, 3 miles away. Road has not been "blown up", as it may be needed for counter attack, Captain in command feels shelters will be enough to stop enemy inf. When asked about armour replies "Nothing's any use against tanks", and if they come "We'll go up into the Sierra". AK reports that Rebel tanks broke through here 5 days later. No other troops seen from here to Malaga.

Feb 1st, Antequera front. High road Malaga-Antequera-Cordoba runs through a 3000ft high pass in the Sierra el Torcal [spur of Sierra Nevada] just before Antequera. Pass overlooked by ridge 1500ft above pass] called "Devil's Rock", Republicans have OP on ridge and post below in pass. Officer in command Capt. Pizarro has "a company" "a machine gun" and a "chest full of hand-grenades". Post attacked 5 days later. Malaga is bombed by aircraft daily. Republicans have some aircraft, as AK reports "pilots" in a hotel.

Feb 4th a deserter reports 10 to 20 lorries transporting Italian inf to front during night. Feb 5th Rebel ships "Canarias", "Baleares", "Almirante Cervera" & "3 smaller warships" bombard coast [road] north and south of Malaga. No Republican ships or aircraft seen. Civil Govenor "L.A." flees to Valencia. Republican Civil Gurds killed by warships. 2nd in Command Col. Alfredo reports Alfernate and Ventas de Zefareya lost to rebels.

Sat 6th and Sun 7th Feb. Situation collapses. Officers flee, Militia and Refugees either flee and block roads or enter town & await fate resignedly. No organised resistance, except bridge on road to Ventas blown up. Anarchists and Civil Guard reported in town.

Air raids continue.

Mon 8th Colmenar high road. Italians reach Malaga around 1pm. Preceded by unorganised groups of Militia, many without rifles, wounded and refugees from 9.30 am to 12am. Italians "200 infantry....marching in perfect formation" first, then "more troops". 2pm "A company" of Italian inf occupy hill on outskirts. Behavior of Italians "courteous" and "polite". 4 pm all fighting over, centre of Malaga occupied. 4.30 pm "Tanks are lumbering down in an endless column from Colmenar".

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© Copyright 1999 by Rolfe Hedges
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