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

Posted 7 Jun 2001

Republican orders of battle for Fuego Cruzado - my variant of Crossfire for the Spanish Civil War.

• Militia (CNT, FAI, POUM, PPR, PSOE, UGT, ERC)
• International Brigades
• Battalion of Communist 5^th Regiment
• Republican Infantry Battalion

I've added suggested organisations to the morale from the official Crossfire site.

Militia

Includes all early war Republican Militia columns under Anarchist, Marxist, Republican, Socialist, Catalan, and Basque control but not later Communist (PCE, PSUC, JSU) control. Militia units originated from both political parties and trade unions, and I've tried to indicate the origins of the main ones below:

Abbrev.	Originating Group	Type of Org	Ideology	Comments
CNT,	Confederacion Nacional de Trabajo	Trade Union	Anarchist	Many CNT men were also FAI men.
FAI	Federacion Anarquista Iberica	Trade Union	Anarchist	The purist anarchists within the CNT. Formed backbone of Anarchist militias.
POUM	Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista	Political Party	Marxist	Anti-communist.
PPR	??	Political Party	Republican
UGT	Union General de Trabajadores	Trade Union	Socialist	Affiliated to Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (PSOE)
ERC	Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya	Political Party	Catalan	Left Republican and Nationalist.
PNV	Partido Nacionalista Vasco	Political Party	Basque	Conservative, Christian democratic, Basque Nationalist.
ANV	Accion Nacionalista Vasca	Political Party	Basque	Small Democratic.
-	Jagi-Jagi	Grouping	Basque	Nationalist.
MAOC		Militia	Communist	Pre/early war militia - I presume these were before the steel company days.

The militias were formed into columns, theoretically of 6 centuries, each of 100 men divided into 3 sections. In practice most columns would have been smaller. This structure is easily mapped in Crossfire:

The table below shows variations.

Troop Type	When	Morale	Command & Control	Reckless	PC	CC (BC)
Durrutti Column	1936	Veteran in towns otherwise Regular	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+2) +2 rallying only
Other Anarchist Militia	1936	Veteran in towns otherwise Green	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+2) +2 rallying only
Basque Communist Militia		Regular	Dependent	No	PC (+1)	CC (+1/+2) +1 close combat; +2 rallying
Foreign Centurias	1936	Veteran in towns, otherwise Regular	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+2) +2 rallying only
Other Militia	1936 – 1937	Regular in towns otherwise Green	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+2) +2 rallying only

In either Column organisation you can replace up to 6 Rifle Squads with Dinamiteros squads. These can either be grouped together or not as you please, although no more than 3 can be in any one Century.

Early war Republican militia often had insufficient weapons to arm all the volunteers, so as the armed milicianos became casualties, they were replaced by new bodies that picked up their weapons. This can be simulated by WWII Soviet style human wave attacks.

Random Support Arms

You could throw randomly for additional resources available to the Column. In addition to Rifle stands, each column would be supported by one of the following (throw 1d6):

1. Nothing
2. 1 x HMG stand
3. 1 x HMG stand
4. 1 x 75 mm infantry gun and crew off table, and FO
5. 1 x armoured car or truck (homemade)
6. Two of the above (throw twice more, but another 6 is a HMG)

Random Column Composition

You can generate the entire column semi-randomly.

You get the BC (0/+2) plus one CC (0/+2) for each Century (2-6).

You then get a number of militia rifle platoons equal to 3 x the number of centuries, for example, with three centuries you get nine militia rifle platoons. For each militia rifle platoon throw on the following table.

1. PC (0/+1) + 1 x Militia Rifle Squad + Throw on special forces table
2. PC (0/+1) + 2 x Militia Rifle Squads
3. PC (0/+1) + 3 x Militia Rifle Squads
4. PC (0/+1) + 3 x Militia Rifle Squads
5. PC (0/+1) + 4 x Militia Rifle Squads
6. PC (0/+1) + 4 x Militia Rifle Squads

Special Forces Table

1: 2 x Veteran Para-military Rifle Squads with optional PC (+1)
2: 2 x Militia Dinamiteros Squads with optional PC (0/+1)
3-4: 1 x HMG
5: 1 x On-table 75 mm infantry gun and FO
6: 1 x homemade armoured car or truck

You must allocate three militia rifle platoons to each century. HMG can allocated to centuries and platoons in any way you want. Infantry guns and armoured vehicles are not allocated.

Militia PCs get +1 for rallying only. Militia BC and CC get +2 for rallying only. Militia stands are Veteran within the boundary of the town, otherwise Green.

Para-military Rifle Squads are grouped together under a Para-military PC (+1), which you get for free. You get one Para-military PC if you have 1-3 Para-military Squads, 2 PCs for 4-6, etc. Para-military platoons can be assigned to centuries or left unattached.

Clumsy Variation

The Militias were considered clumsy organisations, hence I'm toying with the idea of leaving out the Section Commanders thus making each century the equivalent of a very large platoon, and the column the equivalent of a company.

This organisation requires the added rule that a Militia Century can not use a Crossfire, but can use a Fire Group (a suggestion from Tim Marshall).

Battalion of Communist 5^th Regiment (1936-37)

This was the Communist Militia formation. Unlike the other Militias the Communists were well organised, equipped and disciplined.

The CC/BC gives +1 in close combat and +2 when rallying

International Brigades

The International Brigades were more likely to be at full complement than other Republican Battalions. Not only did this mean they had all four rifle companies and the machinegun company, their rifle sections typically had the full complement of LMG. As a consequence a LMG stand is attached to each company.

* Representing a higher than normal proportion of LMG in the companies.

Troop Type	When	Morale	Command & Control	Reckless	PC	CC (BC)
XI & XII International Brigades	1936	Veteran in towns, otherwise Regular	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+2) +2 rallying only
Elite International Battalions: Anglo-American, Commune de Paris, Garibaldi, Thaelmann	1937 – 1939	Veteran	Independent	No	PC (+1)	CC (+1/+2) +1 close combat; +2 rallying
Other International Brigades	1937 – 1939	Regular	Independent	No	PC (+1)	CC (+1/+2) +1 close combat; +2 rallying

Republican Infantry Battalion

Republican units were typically under equipped and under manned.

* 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.

** Very few Republican units would have sufficient infantry support weapons to warrant getting the LMG stand.

Troop Type	When	Morale	Command & Control	Reckless	PC	CC (BC)
2nd and 3rd Mixed Brigade		Veteran	Dependent	No	PC (+1)	CC (0/+2) +2 rallying only
10th, 15th, 34th and 35th Divisions		Veteran when attacking otherwise Regular	Dependent	No	PC (+1)	CC (+1/+2) +1 close combat; +2 rallying
11th and 46th ('Campesino') Divisions		Veteran when attacking otherwise Regular	Independent	No	PC (+1)	CC (+1/+2) +1 close combat; +2 rallying
Anarchist 84th Mixed Brigade		Veteran when attacking otherwise Regular	Dependent	No	PC (+1)	CC (+1/+2) +1 close combat; +2 rallying
Other Mixed Brigades		Regular	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+1) +1 rallying only
Army of Catalonia	1936 – 1937	Green	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+1) +1 rallying only
Army of the East	1937 – 1939	Regular	Dependent	No	PC (0/+1) +1 rallying only	CC (0/+1) +1 rallying only