Initial Phase
No units are isolated or out of supply on the Nationalist side. For the Loyalists, all are in supply but those PA units in the northern Gobernitos are isolated. All Gobernito border garrisons are in place for the Insurgents. The 16 GC Sec III begins routing out insurgent supporters in Albacete (pacification begins.) Meanwhile, both hexes of Barcelona, Tarragon and Sabadell are fully purified.
It’s a big turn for Loyalist reinforcements, a good thing since there’s nothing in the way of a front near Valdepenas. Cons X’s show up for duty at Lorca and Madrid, while Anarchists X’s show up at Murcia, Valencia and Tarragona. Two more Anarchist X’s go into the ‘delayed reinforcements pool’, probably never to see the light of day (see above.) In Cataluna, a Cat Cav III and 4 Inf III’s show up at Barcelona, as does sufficient local shipping to form up another NT (Cat NT-1). Pos AA is imported at Alicante, while 1 AS each shows up at Gijon and Valencia. 1 Art RP is imported at Bilbao. Two X’s go into the Santander garrison. Three X’s are added to the Euzkadi garrison, while two are released, one each at San Sebastian and Bilbao. More importantly, the entire Asturian garrison is released thanks to the recent Nationalist attack in Asturias (as well as the number of RE’s now in Asturia itself.) These include 8 Inf X’s and one Eng III that would have gone into garrison but for the release. A number of old D.371’s are turned over from France for use by the Loyalists. The French apparently kept the airframes in fairly good repair, and Loyalist mechanics believe the birds will be ready for front line service in just 2 weeks (1 rolled on the delay for these ‘inop’ aircraft.) France also ships in a goodly number of artillery tubes for use in the on-going civil war in Spain (4.5Art RPs arrive in the France holding box, and then immediately go to the general pool.) The staffs for 3 arty III’s are formed up (3 III’s go into the pool for building.)
In production, 6 PA, 1 Ast, 1.5 Bas, 1 Cat, 0.5 San, 3 An & 1 POUM Inf RPs are produced by cities across Loyalist Spain. In addition, 1 ARP is made available, while 1 NRP arrives (a CL was completed at Cartagena.) All these points are used to bring the 1st and 2nd Art III’s at Madrid, the 10th Cat Art III at Barcelona, the PA’s 6 L Art at Bilbao (PA arty may be built at any factory, even an isolated one), and the Anarchist CNT Art III at Murcia. Two destroyed An X’s are rebuilt at Murcia as well, while 4 PA Inf III’s are rebuilt, 1 at Lorca and 3 at Madrid.
Next, engineers being serious spade work across the region. Forts are begun at Lorca, Gijon, southwest of Santander in the gap at 1604, southeast of Bilbao along the coast at 3031, and at Tortosa. Two more are created quickly west of Madrid (and north of Toledo) facing the Nationalist line thanks to assistance by local citizens. Finally, in naval affairs, mine handling procedures are barely sufficient to maintain safety (10 rolled on random mine damage roll), while the broken LC’s at Barcelona remain so (5 rolled.) No air declarations are made by either side.
Movement Phase
In naval mov’ts, the new Cat NT-1 loads up 1st Car Bdr III and carries it to Mahon, where it unloads, loads up the elite 37th Inf III, and then takes it to Tarragona. In the north, NT-3 loads up the 2nd Bas Inf X at San Sebastian, moves it to Bilbao and unloads it, at which point the NT replenishes. All other fleet units simply replenish and wait out the phase.
At the start of the ground mov’t portion of the phase 1 res pt as spent at Barcelona to increase the Loyalist rail cap for the turn to 18. In the far north, the new Asturian X’s settle into the line, joined by the rebuilt 6 L Art III railed in from Bilbao, and the 6thMtn II arriving overland from Santander province. One Asturian X heads into Santander and joins the line there in the mtns west of the city. In Euzkadi, new units plus the X moved from San Sebastian join the main line of resistance in front of Bilbao.
In the south, units freed up from purification duties quick shift up into the main line along the Cat-Aragon border, but nothing particularly offensive appears in the works. The right side of the line still hangs back from the Cuenca river, while the portion along the river from Lerida to 4529 is held in strength. From there, single units by and large hold the line from 4629 (northwest of Tortosa all the way to the mtn pass south of Teruel. However, a collection of Mtn II’s, a Mtn III, a Cat Inf III and a PA Cav III rail or move to the 3503 hex, from which point they overrun the 17th Inf III holding the pass south of Teruel. All advance into the pass, from which point they threaten both the town and the 20 GC Sec III to the west that had been flanking the pass itself. Other units put zoc’s around the 20 GC, but this may be to hold it in place. An attack against the town makes more sense to me, though it might result in a DR, whereas an attack against the 20 GC in the mountains would ‘guarantee’ a loss of a Nat unit due to zoc’s in the event of a DR.
On the Madrid front, an infantry unit from Cataluna is railed in to help hold the Gaudalajara side, while Eng III’s move into position south of the Nationalist mountain salient. To the west, one arty and either inf or eng III’s each take up residence in the new forts at 2612 and 2713. Inf & Eng III’s also take 2714, while the AAC armored car III moves into the wooded rough at 2914, via Toledo, mostly it appears for ownership purposes. More infantry rails or admins into the area north of Puertollano, defending the Don Benito-Puertollano rail line. Meanwhile, 3 III’s of infantry, security and mechanized infantry, each supported by an arty III prepare to assault the 1st Lt Inf II screening the main Nationalist line west of Valdepenas (actually I had intended to ‘advance’ this unit westwards after it helped cut off the northern portion of the PA line last turn, but somehow forgot to, so now it sits outside the mainline as an unnecessary screening force. More infantry and arty are railed in to form a line south of Valdepenas as well, into the mtns at 3302. South of this, a hodgepodge of PA and Anarchist units form up a line running in the very southeast portion of Andalucia, screening the port of Aguilas and Lorca in Murcia province. Anarchist units, including the new An art III, hold the gaps, while PA units hold the mtn flanks in the line running roughly 3403 to 3407 and then to 3508 on the coast.
Combat Phase
No DAS missions are flown, as no unit can reach the Teruel area, and the II isn’t large enough to support a DAS mission (only 1 a/c can fly per RE, and the II is only .5 RE’s.) No GS missions are flown either, as the odds are all high enough. In a bit of a surprise move to me, the Loyalists choose to attack the forward mtn position at 3404, rather than Teruel itself. Attack supply is provided, but thanks to mountainous terrain the PA units suffer a reduction in élan, causing the attack to go poorly compared to its potential (2 rolled for morale, so PA and Cat militia units are ½, so odds drop to 6:1 -2, AS provided, 2 rolled for an EX.) The 20 GC Sec III goes down fighting, taking the 6th Cat Inf III with it. The 9th PA Inf advances. Further west, the 1st Lt Inf manages to hold off the PA for a time, again resulting in a poor showing by the militia, but PA artillery is massed and eventually the Lt Inf II is overwhelmed (1 rolled for morale, so again PA militia ½, but there’s little of it, so odds are 6:1 +0 (AECA, rough), no AS provided, 6 rolled for a DE, killing the Lt Inf II outright.) The 5L Art III and 1st Mech III advance.
Exploitation Phase
The BBTF preps for NGS at Gijon, while the Basque LtTF does the same at San Sebastian. The Vild flying out of Bilbao and the Bre19 flying out of Madrid combine in an attack at the rail junction at 23:1909, rolling a 6 for a hit. The AAC armored car III runs back to west Madrid.
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