Wargaming | Crossfire | Fuego Cruzado
Generic Order of Battle for Fuego Cruzado

Posted 7 Jun 2001

Note, a Crossfire Platoon corresponds to a Section in a real Company of the Spanish Civil War. I've adopted the Crossfire terminology here to avoid confusion.

Generic Organisations and support units

Generic Infantry Battalion

The Infantry generally had the following organisation.

Crossfire - Generic Infantry Battalion

  • 1 x BC
  • Battalion Heavy Weapons
    • 0 or 1 x Mortar and FO *
    • 1 Machinegun Company **
      • 4 x HMG
  • 4 x Infantry Company **
    • 1 x CC
    • Company Heavy Weapons
      • 0 or 1 x LMG ***
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons
      • 1 x PC
      • 3 x Rifle Squads

* Some battalions, notably Nationalist units later in the war, had a mortar assigned to the headquarters.

** The official organisation for an infantry battalion was four rifle companies and a machine gun company. Few ever achieved this organisation, and most real battalions dropped either a rifle company or the machine gun company.

*** Unlike their WWII counterparts Spanish Civil War Companies lacked integral heavy weapons. Normal companies of the period are assumed to have only one LMG per platoon; such “normal” companies don’t have a LMG stand. Certain units (the Foreign Legion, the International Brigades, Communist units, dismounted Cavalry, Assault Guards) are given a LMG stand at the company level to reflect the fact these units typically had a full complement of LMG (2 per platoon = 6 per company). This LMG stand operates like a HMG stand for all game purposes reflecting the high firepower of these units.

Generic Cavalry Regiment

Cavalry normally fought dismounted as infantry. When dismounted a Cavalry regiment has this organisation:

Crossfire - Generic Cavalry Regiment

  • 1 x BC
  • 1 x Machinegun Squadron
    • 2 x HMG
  • 4 x Sabre Squadrons
    • 1 x CC
    • Squadron Heavy Weapons
      • 1 x LMG *
    • 3 x Sabre Troop
      • 1 x PC
      • 2 x Rifle Squads

* Cavalry, like certain other types of unit, had a higher complement of light machine guns (three per troop). This is represented by a LMG stand at the company level; this stand operates like a HMG for all purposes once dismounted.

Support Units

All units, except Militia, can call upon elements of their higher level organisation, which typically means they have access to:

For both Republicans and Nationalists

  • HMG squad or even a whole company
  • Mortars (all off table with a FO on table)
    • 50 mm
    • 51 mm (2 inch)
    • 81 mm
  • Artillery (all off table with a FO on table)
    • Italian made 65 mm Infantry Guns
    • 70 mm Mountain Gun (the 70 mm Schneider M08 was the main Mountain gun in use before the war).
    • 75 mm Field Artillery (if on table it is optionally horse artillery; the 75 mm Schneider M06 Field gun was the main field artillery in use before the war - for both field and horse artillery)
    • 105 mm Field or Mountain Howitzer (the 105 mm Vickers M22 and the 105 mm Schneider M19 were most common instances before the war)
    • 122, 150, 152 and/or 155 mm Heavy Artillery
  • Anti-tank guns
    • Italian made 37/45
  • Tanks / Armoured Cars
    • Renault FT-17 (both machine gun only, and cannon equipped versions)
  • Engineers (but not Assault Engineers)

For Republicans only

  • Dinamiteros squads (max of 1 attached to any non-Dinamitros platoon) or complete Dinamiteros platoons.
  • Anti-tank rifles for rifle squads
  • Mortars (all off table with a FO on table)
    • 82 mm
  • Artillery
    • 45 mm Infantry Guns
    • 76.2 mm Field Guns
    • 107 mm Field Guns
  • Anti-tank guns
    • 37 mm
    • 45 mm
  • Tanks / Armoured Cars
    • BT-5
    • T-26
    • FAI Armoured Cars
    • BA6 Armoured Cars

For Nationalists only

  • Mortars (all off table with a FO on table)
    • 45 mm with Italian crews to support Italians only
    • 80 mm
  • Artillery
    • 65 mm Infantry Guns - with Italian crews?
  • Anti-tank guns
    • 37 mm PaK 35/36 with German crews
    • 88 mm Flak 18 with German crews
  • Tanks / Armoured Cars
    • Panzer I A and B - with either German or Spanish crews
    • CV-33 and CV-35 with Italian or Spanish crews
    • CV-33 Flame Thrower version
    • Autoblinda IZ Armoured Car
    • Captured T-26