On July 19, 2022, John and I got together in the basement to play out the Battle of the Telefonica Building which occurred 86 years prior in Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona. I made a new Telefonica model (pictured in the back left corner of the below photo), which stands in the eastern corner of the tabale.
In the South-Western corner, the nationalist soldiers appeared, en route to take over the Telefonica and the switchboards inside. They needed this equipment to communicate with the leadership and other nodes of the military coup occurring across Spain and Spanish-Occupied Morocco. These soldiers marching on Plaça Catalunya represented the 13th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Brigade, led by Comandant López Amor.
Inside the Telefonica, workers from the CNT--the Anarchist union which was majority at the switchboards--prepared to defend the building alongside the Spanish urban police, the Assault Guards. After decades of strikes, assassinations, arrests, and extra-judicial murders, this must have seemed strange bed-fellows to both factions, but they waited together to defend the strategic location from the army.
Outside of the Telefonica, another squad of Assault Gaurds covered the front door. They looked out over Plaça Catalunya.
To their left, and just across the avenue Portal de L'Angel, more CNT workers waited in a construction site of a tall building that had recently been demolished.
Chris wasn't able to join us. I wanted to try out a mechanism of our house rules, which I'd only done by myself until that point. The CNT-FAI in Barcelona had the army's plan of attack with enough time to develop their own plan. The workers knew what route the soldiers would take, and what their targets were, making the scenario a good opportunity for us to try the "AI" version of the rules. Given the spirit of '36, we decided to play cooperatively, John and I against the fascists. Comandant Amor's forces included 100 soldiers, with four machine guns and a 70mm cannon--with the necessary crews--and a platoon of the real fascists, from the Falange party, let by Joaquín Echeverría.
As per house rules, the defending side (us) got to prepare our defensive positions before the game. John and I split the 100 workers, broken into groups of 10, and two platoons of Assault Guards at our disposal, We decided that John would focus on defending the Plaça, with a few groups of workers and all of the Assault Guards. I would take my workers groups to attack the army in the streets. I brought three groups up the north side of the table to mount trucks, planning the try to hurry to the far side of the table and cause havoc with guerrilla tactics.
The anarchists in 1936 decided to let the army leave their barracks and march toward their objectives, as it would be easier to ambush and destroy them out in the open, rather than try to storm the barracks. That was my goal when the three attack groups set off toward the back of the table.
The three attack groups mounted trucks, which drove up the north side of the table. John left the Assault Guards where they were, and set up some of his defense groups in the buildings and barricades at the corners of the Plaça. Below, we see the trucks as they passed John's defensive positions in the north-west corner of the Plaça, near the Radio Building.
Across the table, CNT defense groups covered the south-west corner of the Plaça. A poor representation of the Hotel Colón sat between these two defensive points (photo below).
The next photo shows the defensive sector of the table, with the Hotel Colón in the center.
The single player mechanism stipulates that attackers always go first. We worked together to determine the plans, company objectives, and best course of action of the army's units. John had the honor of moving most of the attacking side's forces, as I was busy taking all of these lovely pictures.
Lopéz Amor's soldiers got moving quickly at the start of round one. The headquarters section, equipped with binoculars, could immediately see the first barricades to their East by the hotel. The 1st Platoon moved into the white building to the East (right, in the photo below). On their right flank, the 2nd Platoon rushed into the courtyard. Both platoons were headed for the long grey building which runs along the road to the East, all the way to the site of the offending barricade. The 1st would take the roof, the 2nd, the inside floors of the building.
The 3rd platoon, pictured below with black hats, had the difficult assignment of charging down the open courtyard at a barricade, while the 4th platoon, mounted in trucks, were to cross to the North, where their objective was the radio building at the north-west corner of the Plaça. The Falangists, in blue, waited in the back as reserves. More trucks carried the machine guns, which were assigned to the four corners of the Plaça, and the 70mm cannon, intended for the center of Plaça Catalunya. That is where Lopéz Amor had the piece installed, in 1936, to blast away at the Telefonica building.
It was now the defender's turn. John moved a group of workers into the Hotel Colón, and another into the long gray building and the stout gray building to it's South.
The CNT-FAI attack groups in the trucks moved up into the North-West sector of the table.
They dismounted from the trucks, prepared to head to their own objectives.
After they passed through, John's defense group rebuilt the barricade behind them. This was the last action of Round 1.
Round 2 began with the coup's headquarters section climbing the hill for a better view. To the South, platoons 1 and 2 made progress, moving toward the same long gray building that John's militia had just entered.
Platoon 3 moved into position for their expected charge, while platoon 4 continued along the road North in the trucks. The trucks carrying Machine Guns arrived at the entrance point.
John's defenders continued up the stairs in the various buildings he intended to occupy. In the North, my attack groups moved into position, occupying three buildings along the route to the Radio Station. One dynamiter rushed across the street from his comrades to throw a stick at the trucks coming into view. We have learned by now to give the dynamiter some space, so as not to kill your whole squad with a misfire.
The fuse lit on the first try, and the anarchist lobbed the projectile at the unsuspecting 4th platoon.
The throw was on target. With a "bang!", the game truly began. 14 soldiers from Platoon 4 perished in the explosion. The survivors passed a morale test, and thus didn't flee. After losing more than half of their number, however, they remained pinned through the next turn. The explosion also caused 3 damage points to the trucks.
At the opening of Round 3, the army's headquarters called for machine guns to join them on the hill. They determined that they could fire at the workers at the barricade down the street, yet the workers would not be able to cover the range in return. Meanwhile, the 1st Platoon had reached to roof of the long gray building and began to sprint across it. Below them the 2nd and 3rd platoons moved across the courtyard, hugging the walls.
Lastly, Lopéz Amor ordered the Falangists to relieve the bloodied 4th Platoon.
For our Movement Phase, John brought his defenders in the buildings on the southern part of the developing frontline into positions on rooftops and windows, facing out at the advancing platoons of Peninsular infantry.
Across the street from the long gray building that ran East toward the Plaça, stood a long blue building. This was the objective of my action group number 2, who hurried through the alley on the Western side of the Hotel Colón. I hoped that if they could enter quietly through a rear window, and move through the building to the West, they may be able to come in range of the Lopéz Amor and the rebel command.
The dynamiter returned to Group 1, whom had garrisoned the red and gray buildings to the north side of the Hotel Colón (bottom of photo above, and right side of below photo). While the trucks returned to the Plaça, the Attack Group 3 took up positions in the long gray building north of that (left in photo). I intended to use Group 2, from the blue building, and the thrust of my initial attack. They were to fire and withdraw. Their retreat would be covered by Attack Group 1 in the red building. I hoped to draw the attackers toward the gray building, where Attack Group 3 waited, cause some damage, and force the attackers to spread themselves out along an extended frontline.
Now the battle began in earnest. In the Overwatch Phase, five members of John's Defense Group 5, behind the barricade in the ally at the Southern edge of the table (barely visible in photo below, top right) fired on the approaching soldiers of platoon 3, hugging the right side of the courtyard. They killed three soldiers. The two soldiers in the lead of the column returned fire, but they couldn't hit the workers behind their barricade.
During the Skirmish Phase, Platoon 1 fired six rifles, a pistol, and a small machine-gun at the CNT militants, killing two.
To begin Round 4, the surviving 7 soldiers of the 4th Platoon left their trucks and took cover. They were soon joined by the Falagnist contingent.
Platoon 1 (column at the top of photo below) crossed the rooftop of the long, gray building, while Platoon 2 (on the gray board beneath Platoon 1) entered the same building through the first-floor windows.
The 3rd platoon attempted a bravery test to charge the barricade on the Southern edge. They failed the test, and tried to take cover in the courtyard in the shadows below the other two platoons. Hearing footsteps and gunshots, the isolated forward defenders of John's 3rd Group abandoned their positions. Four of them retreated out of the building, with two stragglers left behind on the first floor, headed for the door.
Comandant Lopéz Amor established two machine gun positions on the hill, directly facing the barricade between the gray buildings and the Hotel. Not far from the Comandant, CNT-FAI Attack Group 2 crept closer to the blue building.
Now at the rear window, the anarchists could enter the blue building on the next turn.
Down the road to the North, the segment of Attack Group 1 in the gray building had a clear view of the smoking trucks and mutinous soldiers. The dynamiter of the group, behind the building for the safety of his comrades, intended to repeat the trick and finish off Platoon 4 and the Falangists with them. He lit the fuse of his homemade grenade.
My luck had run dry, and the poor soul was lost in a puff of smoke. The explosion caused 4 damage to the building. Workers fired from the four windows, but could not hit their targets. The return volley from the soldiers and falangists was also ineffective.
The workers abandoned that gray building and retreated toward the rest of their group in the red building to the immediate East. They hoped the that a few platoons of the coup would take the bait and follow.
The military continued to advance at the beginning of Round 5. The 1st Platoon reached the edge of the roof of the long gray building. The 2nd Platoon cleared the building beneath them, and the 3rd Platoon entered the first floor of the two-story gray building directly South.
In reaching these positions, the Peninsular infantry platoons threatened the CNT's entire barricade network at the South-West corner of the Plaça Catalunya. Two of the militia groups--Defense Groups 3 and 5, built new barricades directly outside the east-facing door of each building.
Meanwhile, CNT Attack Group 2 entered the long blue building and quietly fanned out across the first floor, covering nine windows and one door. They could see soldiers on the rooftop across the street, headed East toward the Plaça and the anarchists' barricades.
On the North side of the table, the falangist platoon, with the survivors of Infantry Platoon 4, chased after the workers' attack groups. The mutineers reached the corner of the road East toward their objective, the radio building at the corner of the Plaça.
Lopéz Amor supervised the two MG emplacements. In the Ranged Weapons Phase, they fired east at the barricades between the long gray building and the Hotel Colón. MG 2 managed to roll a 6, but could still only suppress 2 defenders. Amor ordered the MGs would to advance in the following rounds, to get better range.
In the Overwatch Phase, five rifles from Attack Group 3, waiting in the long gray building on the north of the table, killed two of the advancing fascists. Another worker from the group fired an SMG, killing another soldier from the rump of Platoon 4. The three remaining infantrymen loss a morale point, and folded into the falangist unit.
Next came the Skirmish Phase. The advanced row of falangists, returned fire into the gray building, killing two of the workers inside. On the South edge of the table, Infantry Platoon 3 charged out the door of the two-story gray building, climbed over the barricade, and killed the three defenders on the other side.
With only five workers remaining in Defense Group 5, John's unit faced a morale check. They barely passed the test, and joined other Defense Groups in their own melee push. Another worker fell in the struggle, but the anarchists killed seven of the soldiers. The surviving eight infantrymen, surrounded by angry militiamen and advanced beyond the rest of their company, passed their own morale test and refused to withdraw.
For the Regroupment Phase, my Attack Group 3 evacuated the long gray building. They retreated east toward the radio building. I didn't think the small attack group could hold the building against the fascists, and thought it would be better to allow the fascists to reach the barricades and fortified buildings by the radio station, and then attack them from behind with Attack Groups 1, in the red building, and 2, who would be withdrawing from the blue building.
In the Movement Phase of Round 6, the 1st Infantry Platoon covered the front edge of the roof of the building above the southern barricades. On the floors below them, 2nd Platoon was executing its objective by fortifying the building. They prepared for the arrival of one of the four Machine Guns, which was to be installed on the roof. The 2nd Platoon's captain sent a runner back to headquarters to report their success. The 3rd Platoon, on the street to the East, could not move in that phase, as they were engaged in a skirmish.
Across the table, the falangists reached the Northern gray building. Just down the street, the 1st Attack Group reached the red building and took positions in the first floor windows and doors.
The 3rd Attack Group continued to withdraw toward the radio building.
For the Ranged Attack Phase, the Peninsulars' machine guns were already disassembled and loaded into trucks, headed toward their objectives, but John had a dynamiter waiting in the Hotel Colón.
Unfortunately for the CNT militants, the fuse would not light. The Overwatch phase was next. Four workers from Defense Group 1 and another from Group 3 fired from behind their barricade at the soldiers of Platoon 1, appearing at the edge of the rooftop. They killed three soldiers.
To begin the Skirmish Phase, the eight survivors of Platoon 3 won the initiative roll against the defense groups surrounding them. In the ensuing Melee, one infantryman died, but the unit cleared the street, killing 6 of Defense Group 3, and pinning two more. The survivors passed a morale check, but then soldiers from Platoon 1 on the roof above, fired down at them. Others from Platoon 2 fired at them from inside the building. Somehow, the remaining workers of Group 3 escaped injury.
CNT-FAI Attack Group 2, who had thus far spent the entire game moving toward firing positions in the blue building near the action, were finally ready to enter the fight. Seven militants fired up at the soldiers on the roof across the street, killing four. Return volleys from the soldiers caused no casualties.
After 6 Rounds, we called it a day. The CNT militia groups had for most part held the line at the edge of the Plaça. The mutinous army had come nowhere near the Telefonica.
While the Infantry Platoons advanced toward their objectives, and appears poised to force a breakthrough at the south-west barricades, our strategy of drawing the attack across a broad front-line appeared to be working, with the 4th platoon destroyed and the Falangists isolated on the northern edge of the table.
John and I planned to return to finish the game off. Stay tuned.