The Battle of Caspe AAR Part 4

This post is long overdue. We fought the 4th day of the battle of Caspe before Christmas. Since then, three of us have started a punk band and the 4th has been on strike, so at least we're being good anarchists.

We are finally resumed the game this summer, so I figured I should at least upload the photos from the previous fight and see what I can piece together, 7 months later. Thanks to Lee for taking the notes for the report.

We rejoined the game at the start of round 10. The Nationalists (it's my turn to be them) have clung stubbornly to the small town of Caspe, which with its steep central hill face has turned out to be a strong defensive obstacle. Of three objectives, the anarchists have destroyed one with long-range artillery. The Nationalists have control of the town and have only lost 17 soldiers, a few outlying positions, and have only allowed the attackers to penetrate in one spot, south of town down in a valley.

The edge of Caspe has turned into a graveyard for Durruti Column members, but the anarchists finally have numbers within striking distance of the town.

Both sides are due to receive reinforcements: 150 fighters, HMGs and supplies for the Durruti Column, and 60 infantry and an artillery battery for the Nationalists.

Round 10 opened. I won the initiative roll, and set to fire my ranged weapons. At the main intersection south of town, which was under the most pressure from the workers, a Falangist grenadier tried to toss a bomb out of the door at the anarchists on the other side of the rubble.

I rolled a 1, and the explosive went off in his hand, killing him and reducing the building's health to only 6. 

Next, I fired cannon at the workers militia advancing from the graveyard through the olive groves. One shell hit its mark, killing a few anarchists and pinning another.

The small house collapsed in flames.

With my Ranged turn finished, anarchists debated where to aim their cannons. 

The main objective of the scenario is the Caspe Church (The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria la Mayor del Pilar). The Nationalists had dragged captive civilians to the rooftop as a deterrent, though that hadn't always stopped the godless commies from firing on the church before.

Objective C, the yellow house south of Caspe where the fascist Falange had established their hard point, had been obliterated by CNT-FAI artillery the previous day. Objective B, however, still stood formidably over the main intersection. It housed my last remaining HMG and many other defenders.

The anarchists settled on Objective B for their target.  They peppered the area around the intersection with 75mm shells. Some land dangerously close to their own fighters.

And even hit their own forces.

But with their reinforcements arriving and their other cannons in place, they have a lot of fire power.

 

As the volley continued and their aim improved, they hit the building hard.

The damage brought the building down, killing the MG crew and two other Nationalists. Nearby fascist troops in the street fled from the crumbling three-story building.

By bringing the full weight of their cannons down on the intersection, the anarchists had destroyed Objective B and changed the nature of the battlefield just 1 block from my headquarters. Could they advance fast enough to take advantage of the gap?

When the Movement Phase began, I made minor defensive adjustments to strengthen the area behind Objective B, and the anarchists decided to more or less sit still. They had some attacking forces in range, but were pretty battered, and waiting for reinforcements to arrive at the start of the next round.

I won the roll to open Round 11. During the Range Phase, I decided to focus on the CNT-FAI artillery positions, which were starting to cause me serious issues.

I landed two shots close enough to threaten the anarchist artillery positions in the south-east corner of the table. The first shell pinned the crew of one cannon.

The second killed all three crewmen of another cannon.

The third fascist gun fired at the train just arriving this round on the tracks from Barcelona. 

 The blast damaged the locomotive, but the train continued forward.

With two cannons already out of commission, the thunderous CNT-FAI bombardment of last round was but a whimper this time. The other cannon all missed their marks.

Movement phase began and reinforcements came onto the table. From the Northwest corner, a new battery of three cannons rolled toward firing positions.

Three platoons of Peninsular Infantry arrived from the Southwest. Two immediately raced towards predetermined positions for a 2-pronged counterattack against the southern flank.

The third platoon crossed Caspe headed North.

During their part of the movement phase, the anarchists advanced across the table. On the left flank, they moved past the farmhouses, with trucks parked in field as cover (for both sides).

In the center, workers advanced across the edge of the ruined town, toward the rubble of the Objective B building.

One worker raced toward the barricade at the intersection. A fascist sniper gunned down him down.

Not far behind the main thrust of the Durruti Column, reinforcements hurried across the field. 

Four more cannons rolled into position.

Many more anarchist fighters approached along the rail line. Groups both rode in the train and advanced along-side the machine, which served as a moving barricade against the Nationalist cannons.

On the other side of the train, a Durruti Column grupo charged at the farm's out-building, recently held by Falangists and Guardia Civil.

As the Durruti Column fighters advanced, the defenders repeatedly called overwatch. On the South end of town, a Natioanlist grenade landed in the back of a truck workers used for cover in a garden.

The blast killed two and pinned others. 

In the valley just North of the garden, workers readied to rush up the hill at the Yellow House survived a volley from nearby soldiers.

At the center of the front line, Nationalists lobbed grenades down at the coming militia.

The projectiles caused some casualties but didn't slow the approach of the anarchists.

The Durruti Column fighters were difficult targets, chosing good cover to mass near the front line.

During the Fascist movement phase, a squad of regular troops went over the ridge, counterattacking towards the anarchist troops in cover behind a damaged truck and burnt-out farmhouse.

The squad leader lead five across the open ground, including 3 riflemen, one LMG and one SMG. A grenadier and some riflemen held back in cover. Up the hill and behind the first block of buildings, the other squad of the infantry company advanced into firing positions.

Calling Overwatch, anarchists in cover behind a farmhouse were able to kill three of the fascists, including the squad leader, but the troops passed a morale roll and continued to advance.

The surviving soldiers approached the anarchist positions and, when the Skirmish Phase began, fired. With a roll of 7, the light machine gunner managed to shoot 4 at close range (10 inches), killing a heavy machine gun crew and rifleman. The Nationalist SMG and rifles cut down more militia. 

The first thrust of the Nationalist counterattack was having an effect, but anarchist fighters continued to trickle in ahead of the expected flood of reinforcements.

On the North end of the line of engagement, the Nationalists fired rifles and an LMG with futility at workers far off in the fields and along the train line. For the anarchists, the fascist left flank is still a hard nut to crack, being a bottleneck with one large garrisoned building providing convenient overwatch from the second floor.

The 12th Round commenced with another deadly exchange of cannon fire. Both sides deployed extra artillery pieces just arriving in the previous round, so the earth around Caspe shook.

I continued to win the Round Initiative rolls. My spotters selected the central sector for the bombardment. 

Shells landed in the ranks of militia advancing through the groves toward the steepest face of the hill. A few more anarchists died, and others were pinned.

At the top of the slope, at the foot of the church, a Carlist hurled a grenade into the field.

It killed another militia fighter, this one taking cover by the destroyed wall of the cemetery. 

I aimed two other cannon at the CNT-FAI's artillery positions.

My shells continued to find their marks, as more anarchist artillery crew died and others remained pinned.

The remaining four or so Republican cannons returned fire on Caspe. A few shells sailed toward the site of the Nationalist counterattack, causing minor damage to buildings and pinning some militia when one fell shorter than intended.

The anarchists picked up the debate about whether to shell the church. They decided again to fire on the roof, where civilians were held hostage.

The shell sailed far, threatening the courtyard below the church where the Nationalist senior command group stood with an artillery crew and a machine gun section.

The shell fell south of the courtyard, damaging some buildings and barricades but killing noone.

The anarchists pummeled the edge of the town.

The shells caused major damage to the buildings around the church and courtyard, buildings heavily garrisoned by my forces.

To finish off their Ranged Phase, the anarchists deploy a few dynamiteros to attack toward the courtyard. One of their explosives landed behind the 2-story gray building sitting beside the church.

 It came down, killing some of the defenders.

To begin Movement Phase, the Nationalists began to consolidate a little. The livestock and civilians were evacuated from the north outskirts of town and driven toward Caspe. A truck dropped off the third platoon of reinforcing infantry to defend around the train station.

In the center of town, the 2nd platoon moved toward their intended positions.

 

The first platoon, south of town, could not advance, as it was caught in a skirmish already.

For the anarchists' Movement Phase, workers on the left flank loaded up a truck with a machine gun. They drove it west to return fire on the remaining fascist squad sheltering behind the farmhouse. As they inched toward the farmhouse, which the fascist counterattack reached last round, up the hill a brave worker vaulted the barricade to raced across the intersection.

A soldier from the 2nd Infantry Platoon, now in position west of the intersection, gunned the worker down on overwatch.

To the North of the town, the train inched forward, with its column of militia walking beside it for cover. In the fields in the center of town, workers drew nearer to Caspe--and into range of the Nationalist weapons.

The Skirmish Phase began in the south sector. Lee won the roll and gunned down a couple of the advancing soldiers south of the farm house, including the one with an SMG, and pinned a rifleman in the open.

The soldiers fired back, with minor success. The skirmishes in the Center and North sectors were quite minor, and both sides regrouped toward the frontline.

The anarchists finally won an initiative roll to open Round 13. Their cannons fired on the front-line targets.

The two sides exchanged artillery fire, each causing one death to the other. 

The train on right flank advanced slightly, under heavy enemy fire. International volunteers remained with the train, using it as cover and fixing the damage with their action points.

Armed workers stormed through the rubble and smoke, nearing what remained standing of the Objective B building.

The anarchists pushed into the ruined building and headed up the stairs to take window positions overlooking the central Caspe courtyard. 

This position (windows in the gray building on the right of the photo below) would allow them to fire down on the Nationalists defending their HQ.

A block south, skirmishes unfolded as the workers tried to advance. One worker headed forward alone, but was shot for his effort.

Gunfights continued for the farm yard and CNT-FAI reinforcements and the Nationalist counterattack came into contact.

Workers behind the pickup truck and barn fired at the squad of flanking soldiers in the open field, killing three of four.

Soldiers of the same platoon returned fire from behind the farmhouse, but didn't hit anyone.

An anarchists' grenade killed a soldier behind the farmhouse.

Another grenade flattened a squad of soldiers on the next block.

In the ranged phase of Round 14, the two sides shelled the frontline. The anarchists won initiative again and focused their shells on the church, the final objective standing, hoping to end the game.

One shell landed on the western edge of the church, damaging the building and killing the nationalists' spotter.

Two more shells fell just past that point, into the courtyard where nationalists had been gathering in numbers. There were no casualties, but a truck took a direct hit.

Next, I aimed my cannons at the column of workers advancing up the main road.

My shells fell among their numbers, causing death and damage.

In the movement phase, workers reached those dangerous positions in the top floors of the Objective B building. 

At the end of a 4th long day of battle, I felt victory slipping through my fingers! The enemy was at the threshold of my headquarters, with death and smoke all around.

On the other side of the church a CNT truck headed north.

At the top of slope, a grenader amongst a group of workers through a bomb into the courtyard. 

It was an accurate through, the blast killing a machinegun crew, a couple soldiers, the HQ's runner, and a bunch of nuns!

During my movement phase I brought a new spotter to the roof of the church.

I began moving all of my units around. I abandoned my positions that were furthest back and started bringing them up toward the church.

I did not withdraw from the flanks, however. What remained of the counterattacking platoon solidified its position at the burnt remnants of the farmhouse.

During the skirmish phase, they killed a CNT-FAI flag-bearer.

Up the hill from there, soldiers behind the Yellow House came under fire from the anarchists.

A soldier in the corner was hit.

As the skirmish phase wrapped up, the nationalists still held their positions. 

In regroupment, I moved my forces toward the church.

I began to gather as many soldiers as I could within striking distance of the ruined Objective B building. I hid them in the smoke and I don't think my opponents really took notice of the small groupings adding up to a substantial force I was beginning to assemble.

As the day's action ended, the frontline had shifted, with the anarchists advancing across the board. On the south flank, CNT-FAI reinforcements, with vehicles and machineguns, were in the farm yard.

Up the hill from their, CNT-FAI militia, including Durruti himself, held the Objective B building.  

The anarchists controlled the graveyard and the orchards west of there.

In the north, the column fanned out to advance past the burning shack and toward the factory occupied by Assault Guards.

Behind the factory, I brought up trucks to try to slow down the train inching toward the station. 

That is how we left Caspe for the day, and for a few more months before we were able to pick it up again. 

Caspe was badly damaged, but still in the hands of the nationalists. The situation looked dire. I figured I had one real chance to push back the CNT-FAI's advance on my headquarters. Would the soldiers break the assault, or would Caspe's church fall into the hands of the athiest workers. I hope to post the following game's report soon...