Spanish Refugees from Malaga & Dr. Norman Bethune, 1937

 

Hi All,

Today I return to my Spanish Civil War project with this group of civilian refugees. 

Sarah and I have been fortunate enough to visit both Cebere France and Malaga Spain in previous vacations. Both of these communities are set in beautiful locations, nestled along the Mediterranean coast, but both share a dark history in that they were also sites to horrible events during the Spanish Civil War. I've written about Cebere before, but I've been wanting to do something specific for Malaga for a while now.

In February 1937, the Mediterranean port town of Malaga found itself threatened by the rapid advance of Nationalist forces. In a state of panic, 120-150,000 people, composed of men, women and children, fled along the coastal road leading to Almeria, 200 kilometers away. In an act of barbaric cruelty, the Nationalists and their Italian allies harried the refugee column for days, submitting it to both air attacks and off-shore bombardment.  Thousands were killed and wounded during the flight, in what many regard as a war crime exceeding that of the infamous bombing of Guernica. 

At this time, a volunteer Canadian surgeon, by the name of Norman Bethune, was working in the area with is independent blood transfusion ambulance. 

Hearing what was occurring along the coastal road, Bethune and his team quickly drove to the stricken column to give what assistance he could.  For three days and three nights Bethune and his assistants helped evacuate some of the most vulnerable to Almeria, and then provided medical care to the most grievously wounded.

In 2007, the city of Malaga officially honoured Bethune's heroic and humanitarian acts with a commemorative plaque and by naming that portion of the Malaga-Almeria road, Paseo de los Canadienses (The Canadian Promenade). In order to visit the plaque and pay our respects, Sarah and I spent a nice afternoon cycling up to the promenade, situated just a few kilometers outside of Malaga.

A fine way to spend a wonderful day in sunny Spain.

Accordingly, I've done up these figures and vehicles in homage to those events in Malaga. The saloon car and most of the figures are from 1st Corps, the Phenom Granit ambulance is from Empress Miniatures and the poor fellow with the crutches is from Eureka Miniatures. 

My only criticism of the 1st Corps range is that there are not many elderly people, nor any children depicted. I know it's tragic, but I think it is something that should be represented if depicting a refugee column. Maybe they will add some in future releases.

Small quibbles aside, I quite like the 1st Corps figures as they are well-sculpted and very characterful. Even more so is this wounded chap on crutches from Empress Miniatures - a brilliant mini.  

The two vehicles were fun to work on, especially the saloon, with its roof haphazardly overloaded with all manner of assorted household items. You really get a sense of a harried family who have just thrown what they could atop their car and pushed off down the road.

I had to get a bit creative in sourcing something for Dr. Bethune. I ended up using a German officer figure from Artizan which I cut away most of his military detail and modeled some baggy civilian trousers out of greenstuff. Granted, it's a bit crude, but I think it does an okay job at mimicking the good doctor.

Another 'one yard squint' is the ambulance. It's definitely not a close match to Bethune's vehicle, but has the benefit of generally having the right silhouette. 

I really wanted to include the identifying Spanish script on the vehicle's side panel, but my decal-making skills are sorely lacking, so I simply colour printed  what I needed, carefully cut it out, and glued it into place. Again, forgive me in my somewhat clumsy homage. 

Thanks for dropping in and have a great day everyone!

- Curt

Worst Case Scenario #19: SCW Rearguard during 'la Retirada' ('The Retreat') - Northern Spain, February 1939

This past spring we spent a few wonderful weeks vacationing in the south of France in the Roussillon area.  

This region is ruggedly beautiful and steeped in history extending back to the ancient period. Roman ruins, medieval castles, an excellent privately run Napoleonic museum, you name it - it's all there to take in and enjoy. In addition to all this, I managed to find the gravesite and pay my respects to one of my favourite authors, Patrick O'Brian (creator of the superb Aubrey-Maturin series of novels). He rests with his wife Mary outside the beautiful seaside village of Collioure, where they lived in their later life.

One of the other border towns we stayed in was Cerbere, which is situated along the Mediterranean, right alongside the Spanish frontier. Interestingly enough, Cerbere was one of the major crossing points for Spanish refugees who fled from Franco's final offensive in early 1939. 

A bit of background. The Spanish call this period 'la Retirada', The Retreat. At the time it was one of the largest refugee crisis in Europe, with almost a half million people fleeing into France during January and February, 1939. It quickly became a humanitarian crisis as the harsh weather along with the poor conditions of the refugee camps caused many to die of undernourishment, disease and exposure.

Some of the refugees, spurred by the terrible camp conditions, accepted deportation back to Spain. Unfortunately, they suffered oppression, discrimination and often execution by Franco's vitriolic fascists. Others were lucky enough to be accepted as exiles in the Americas and other parts of the world, but many chose to remain in France. Those who stayed had to endure a new war against fascism, some tragically being transferred to German concentration camps, while others fought with French Resistance cells and the Free French Army under de Gaulle. 

Over time, the Spanish refugees that remained in France were assimilated into local Occitanie communities, adding to the rich and diverse culture found in that region today.

The site commemorating 'la Retirada'  at the border crossing between France and Spain near Cerbere .

Me at the la Retirada memorial.

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This visit (and subsequent research) prompted me to put together a small 'Chain of Command: Espana' scenario for the guys. 

The Scenario

The scenario is a simple affair,  depicting a cobbled together Republican rearguard attempting to buy precious time for their refugees to make it to the frontier unmolested. 

Peter commanded the Republicans, which were composed of a platoon-strength smattering of anarchists and militia, salted with a few regulars and assault guards from the shattered Republican army. Not surprisingly, they have no heavy equipment, with only a couple light machine guns to bolster their firepower. Nonetheless, one huge benefit they do have is that they are all fanatical volunteers, making them damnably hard to break. 

Stacy and Jeremy ran the Spanish Nationalists. This force is mostly comprised of ardent-though-brittle Falagists, stiffened with a squad of Morroccan Regulares and a some Carlists. Perhaps more importantly, they have access to an armoured car along with artillery support from their navy posted just off-shore. Yes, an overwhelming force, but it needs to be brought to bear in a very short period of time.

This leads us to the victory conditions: The Republicans have to hold back the Nationalists for six turns, by which time they have purchased enough breathing space for the retreating refugee columns to reach the frontier. 

In order to mimic the steep terrain of the region, I propped up the play surface on a row of stacked books. This is a nod to Simon over at BigRedBat who used this to great effect for his Battle of Mancetter, 61 CE game at Salute this past spring. Thanks for the inspiration, Simon for this simple but effective hobby hack.

The Planning

The Nationalist players, knowing that they had a distinct superiority in firepower, planned to set up several firing positions hoping to simply destroy the Republicans under sheer weight of firepower. 

Peter in turn, felt it would be unwise to risk any close assaults over open ground and instead decided to keep his forces' heads down, exploit any Nationalist mistakes and play for time.

Looking left down the hillside from the Republican held crest.

...and looking down from the right.

The scenario essentially played-out along these lines. The Nationalists kept up a constant tempo of fire, whittling down the Republicans every turn, whereas the Republicans kept close to their cover and returned fire when they could. It was all very attritional for both sides, with many fingernails being chewed as the casualties mounted and the clock worked its way to the game's conclusion. 

Above, units from the Nationalist left wing attempt to move forward into assault range. They are ultimately pinned down from accurate Republican rifle and LMG fire.

Republicans taking shelter in a shellhole while trying to hold their right flank.

The fearsome Moroccan Regulares advancing under fire to establish future assault position.

Carlists move alongside the Moroccans trying to try to press the Republicans.

A fascist armoured car slowly makes its way up the treacherous switch-back road to add its fire upon the Republican positions.

The Nationalist HQ finally got their field phone set up and, after a few turns, started to bring down artillery fire from their naval assets positioned off shore.

The Nationalist navy guns find their range and begin to pound the Republican positions - ouch!

A remnant of a shattered Republican squad taking shelter in a stream bed.

In the end the Republicans managed to weather the Nationalist firepower and hold on until nightfall, forcing the Nationalists to call off their attack for the day. This allowed the refugees a few more hours to seek safety at the French frontier. A pyrrhic Republican victory, for sure, but somehow fitting for the period.

And here is Earnest and George, giving a cameo appearance for the close of the scenario (Thanks Phil!)

Next up: A few of the projects I've been (slowly) working on over this summer.

NATO Scuba Assault Team

Here is a contemporary scuba assault team with their fast attack boat all ready to take down targets like a hijacked freighter, a terrorist controlled oil platform, or perhaps even a suspicious water skier.

This set is from Eureka Miniatures. I thought it would nicely compliment the German special forces frogmen I did a few years ago.

I kept the three kneeling poses on their stock bases so they would still fit in the assault boat. The other three's bases were trimmed so I could put them on clear acrylic like some of my other skirmish figures.

As you can imagine these were pretty simple to knock out: black with increasing highlights of P3 Gravedigger Denim for the scuba suits and gear. Then black again with a VMC Blue Grey highlight for their weapons and metal bits. I find the trick to blending dark tones is to use a few thin coats of Liquitex Statin Varnish (which has an added bonus of providing a nice slick look to the wetsuits). I quite like the effect and may try this with some other figures (I think it would look pretty bang-on for Sisters or Imperial Sardaukar troopers from Dune).

Thanks a bunch for dropping in!

Curt

Viet Minh Infantry and Palm Trees

One project which I'm happy to revisit is my slow foray into 1950s French Indochina. I've been working on this collection since 2013 and, heaven forbid, with this group done, I think I may actually have enough to put on a game. So yes, it may take a while, but the manic hobby squirrel eventually gets the job done.

Here for you today is a Viet Minh assault squad along with some new palm trees for them to advance through as they close in upon their French foes.

These figures are from Empress Games and are sculpted by the talented (and bewilderingly prolific) Paul Hicks. I had the pleasure of painting most of this unit while visiting with Greg in Winnipeg last month. Being pretty much an all khaki force, it allowed me to think-less and drink-more while working on them - a great, if often unsung feature of this period. :)

This squad was originally composed of 10 castings, but I felt these boys really needed a banner bearer to properly send them off. I have this pathological need to have flags in as many units as possible, especially for any modern force that had the stones to carry a flag into pitched combat. I find the whole notion of banner bearers (eagle guards, draco carriers, etc.)  all very nutty, utterly vainglorious and absurdly romantic. Anyway, I didn't have a suitable figure in my unpainted pile, so I used a model which was originally posed to throw a grenade. So a few minutes under the saw and pin vise and presto-flago: a suicidally keen banner bearer! I liberally brushed the flag with watered-down PVA and then shaped it so that it's rolled around the flagstaff. This way he looks like he's slowly unfurling his banner which he has had cased while moving through the jungle.

I freely admit that the basework may be a little over the top, but having seen pictures and film footage of the verdant undergrowth in Southeast Asia I figured I could indulge a bit with these guys. I like that when they're all bunched up they convey advancing through a rainforest.  

Finally, speaking of terrain, here are a few more palm trees to add to my burgeoning rainforest. These were made with a clustered wire armature, wrapped with glue-soaked medical gauze and then artificial fern leaves were hot-glued on the upper wires. 

Have a great week everyone!

Curt

SAS / JTF2 Operators & Defender Series 1

A few more special forces operators to add to the collection, plus a venerable Land Rover Defender Series 1 for them to roll out in.

The figures are from the Empress Miniatures SAS range, though I think they'll stand in nicely for Canadian JTF2 as well. I've painted them in my (very rough) facsimile of the CADPAT AR (Arid Region) camo. 

I quite like these figures, especially the guys in the soft hats. The poses are perhaps not as dynamic as what Spectre offers, and their weapons are a bit beefy, but their overall look appeals to me. 

The Defender was a 3D print file that I found on Thingiverse (thanks UHStech3). I manipulated it slightly to get the scale closer to around 1/50. It still may be a touch big, but I'd rather that than having it too small.

After the print it was just a matter of a quick airbrush and some slapdash weathering to get it sorted for the tabletop.

Now it's ready for some hard-bitten mercs to pick up an arms shipment, or perhaps for a posh mom to get the dry cleaning and grab a quick cappuccino before collecting the kids from soccer.

Next up: Some more modern OPFOR