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"The Anarchists of Casas Viejas." Topic


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rvandusen12 Dec 2012 9:01 p.m. PST

I found a used copy of "The Anarchists Casas Viejas" by Jerome Mintz.
link

The subject of the book is a failed anarchist uprising in a southern Spanish village in 1933. The brief fighting in Casas Viejas involved small numbers and would make an interesting skirmish scenario or two.

The anarchists never have more than 30 or 40 men armed with shotguns and the Civil Guards and Assault Guards combined commit less than 100 men and these do not arrive all at once.

Initially there are only four Civil Guards in the town that are besieged in their barracks by seven revolutionaries. Of the seven anarchist gunmen, four are experienced hunters and crack shots. The gunman manage to kill two of the Civil Guards before a truck with 8-12 more police show up and scatter most of the FAI members into the hills. Three of the gunmen at the barracks retreat to a house at the edge of town and hold up with several civilians.

Meanwhile, the dozen or so Civil Guard are joined by 12 Assault Guards and this small combined force approach the house where they come under fire, losing one killed and another wounded. While this shootout is going on, armed FAI members that had taken refuge in the hills drift back toward the village and bring the police under largely ineffective, but irritating, fire. For some unexplained reason the dozen Assault Guards had neglected to bring rifles and had only sidearms to defend themselves. The police call for reinforcements and yet another truck arrives with more Civil Guards, rifles for the Assault Guards, grenades, and a machine gun. The grenades end up being ineffective and their blast effect is absorbed by the thatched roof of the house. The machine gun is jammed when it arrives and no one seems able to fix it at first.

The final act unfolds when another 40 Assault Guards in two trucks arrive with orders to level the house. These men manage to get the machine gun working and sweep the anarchists out of the nearby patches of cactus they have been using for cover(none of these men are killed, they simply escape into the hills again). The gun is then trained on the house and at least two of the gunmen are killed. In the end two improvised incendiary devices are thrown and the house is burned down with all but two of the occupants that manage to escape in the darkness.

That is basically how the battle unfolded and though quick to describe it actually lasted several hours. The battle seems like it would be a good basis for a scenario or two. I would add that the Captain of the Assault Guards was later convicted for executing a dozen mostly innocent men in reprisal for the deaths of the pair of Civil Guards and one Assault Guard. Of course I would not include the aftermath in a wargame.

peterx Supporting Member of TMP13 Dec 2012 5:53 a.m. PST

Sounds like it has possibilities.

rvandusen13 Dec 2012 10:29 a.m. PST

I was thinking that two separate scenarios; the attack on the barracks and the siege of the hut could be played, or one large game. The large game could start with the anarchists trying to isolate the town and seize the barracks. The police reinforcements arriving at random.

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