Robert Martin’s back again this week, following up on his article about the Spanish Blue Division, with the first in a series of three new scenarios on their heroic actions outside of Leningrad.
Black Wednesday
Spanish Frontline near Krasny Bor, early morning 10 February 1943. As the two-hour preliminary bombardment died down at 8.40 am, the 63rd Guards Division and their supporting KV1 advanced on the disrupted Spaniards. The Spanish were well dug in but had suffered from the bombardment that had created several gaps in the line, which the Russians were quick to exploit. The remaining Spaniards were unable to retreat and most fought to the death.
Soviet artillery pounds the Blue Division’s positions.
Forces
The Spanish player has a single reinforced platoon consisting of a 1 st Lieutenant, an artillery spotter, a PAK 36, two MMG teams, a medium mortar team with a spotter, and two eight-man squads, each with one SMG, six riflemen, one LMG and AT grenades. All Spanish troops are veteran and fanatic.
The Russian player has two regular Guards reinforced platoons led by a Captain and supported by two KV1 heavy tanks. Each platoon has a 1st Lieutenant, a two-man medic team, and three twelve-man squads (a regular rifle squad with ten rifles, one LMG and one SMG; one regular SMG squad with twelve SMG and an inexperienced rifle squad with twelve rifles).
The Russians receive a preliminary bombardment. Due to the ferocity of the bombardment the Russians may roll two dice on the results chart for each enemy unit and apply the best result.
If players wish to choose their own forces, use the Blue Division force selector in this article and the Operation Uranus selector from the Armies of the Soviet Union book. The Russians get twice as many points as the Spanish. The Spanish may not select any vehicles and the only artillery they may choose is the PAK 36. The only vehicles the Russians can choose are KV1 heavy tanks and T34 medium tanks.
Spanish soldiers on the advance!
Setup
The game is played on a normal 6’ by 4’ board. A few low hills should be scattered around to help break line of sight, otherwise, the board is flat and barren.
Deployment
The Spanish set up dug-in (Ostfront, page 102 and 103) up to two feet from the southern, western and eastern board edges. The Spanish have six minefields and eight 6” strips of wire which must be placed such that some part of them are within 6” of any Spanish unit.
The Russians enter from the southern board edge on turn 1.
Objective
The Russians are attempting to create a breach in the Spanish Line, they must destroy all Spanish units. The Spanish are trying to sell their lives as dearly as possible.
Game Duration
The game lasts six or seven turns. At the end of turn six, roll a dice: on a 1-3 the game ends, on a 4-6 a seventh turn is played.
Victory
At the end of the game calculate which side has won by adding up victory points. If one side scores at least two more victory points than the other they have won. Otherwise, the result is a draw. The Russians score two victory points for each Spanish unit destroyed. The Spanish score one victory points for every Russian unit destroyed, except that they score three victory points for each vehicle with armour 9 or better destroyed.
Dan Hewitson
Aaron Trueman