M A N D A T O R Y I N T R O D U C T O R Y
Hello everyone once again, I decided to change my course of action for Blitzkrieg I Screenshot Storytelling a little. Instead of writing one about the Spanish Civil War and one about the German POV of the war I decided to "merge" this two and start with the early German involvement in the Spanish Civil War. I realized that my blog entry production rate had increased somewhat but I doubt this will hold. By the way, this mission was created as kind of a homage to the old Commandoes series of field spying games. On the with the blog.
Somewhere on the coast of Southern Spain, July 1936, Single Ju-52 transport plane flies from an unknown location in the sea to the a small Spanish military docks and a small airfield that is occupied by not entirely loyal to the Republican cause. On board it is a single German scout that risks a lot with this operation. He could get shot down before jumping by the Bofors AA guns that are protecting the airspace, he could get caught therefore finishing the operation or failing it on the ground risking political problems over the fragile Spanish grounds. One thing is certain however, the nation of Spain is divided like never before making the current law practically ineffective. There will no tribunals or military courts in here.
In the sun the planes flies to it's paradrop destination. Unnoticed by most the Guardia Civil members that are in the airfield do not know from where it is coming from or who's property it is. FlaK fire coulds the couldless sky, the plane losses some vital parts and is nearly blown off course but still manages to drop the priceless cargo. Moments from that it is finally destroyed, blown into small bits that litter the ground and is forgotten as the guards probably believed it was some kind of a yet another undercover recon plane of the Nationalists. Equally forgotten lands the cargo which will bring some more of it's own to this lands and soon after, it will spread fast, like a disease and taint this lands. Who will own what remains of this all? The fanatical Nationalist or the corrupt Republicans? The history will show that amidst all of this, most important is who holds the gun and with it holds the power which is truly the hidden reason for this all.
TOUCHDOWN!... the cargo hits the ground uninterrupted and releases it's chute. Thus emerges a German scout codename Heinrich who's objective now is to arrive to "The Meeting" point. A double cypress tree marks the spot. Seemingly no Republicans have been spotted in the dropzone. The Guardia Civil contiune their daily patrols around the airfield and some Republican conscripts have been seen lollygagging around a small farming village possibly trying to steal something useful.
Both scouts now have joined hands. There is always a snitch that'll leave a backdoor open either for some lumps of money or because of ideological similarities. Local cops can't touch them with their pissy little Astra 400 pistols and ceremonial uniform swords. Five minute time is given to clear out the airfield, priority is to de-crew the two Bofors 40mm AA guns, secondary is to cut down the number of guards to a minimum so our surprises don't end up as burning wrecks seconds after landing like in some dumb movie. Mausers go into the action.
The airfield has been liberated and semi-organized masses of Nationalist Moorish Garrisons troops pour out from the Ju-52's. Command was unable to provide any more forces as the only battle ready ones where from the African garrisons. They are one of those who felt the most forgotten by the Republican government. In silent haste the troops move out form the airfield's perimeter and begin to count themselves up, preparing to storm the bridge which is separating us from our next main important objective. The docks are also guarded but this time with regulars not some local cops but we need to overcome those defences. All remaining stationary guns were re-crewed by German sappers and Spanish gunners, Studebaker truck along with the police wagon was handed over to the Moorish soldiers. Unique rarity in these parts which is the Opel-Kadett officer car was taken over by the pair of German scouts. Time to move as the undercover Italian merchant ships are waitng near the coast with some heavy hardware taken from Africa and back into the homeland.
Key to sucess is the utilisation of given troops in frontline shock assault roles. In the downpour undermanned birdge defenders fall down one by one being hit by Spanish bullets from the 1893 type Mausers, same bolt-action rifles as used by their comrades. Covering fire given by the Republican Vickers 12,7mm HMG's failed to contain the assault as aimed shots from the scouts quickly put a hole through the helmets of the Polish crew members. As weird it was the appearance of Polish soldiers in such a distant region, nobody really cared about this fact except for a one Nationalist DP-27 LMG operator who was flabbergasted after seeing their uniforms. After the skirmish one of the scouts gathered the remaining troops and issued an order to abandon the trucks, focus on moving through to forest so the docks can be reached more safely and also quickly if there won't be too much bunching up.
Suprisingly the forward defenders immediately surrendered and joined us upon seeing our group. Civilians, who were obviously tired of moving heavy crates around join the revolt, burning down the Republican soldiers present in the warehouses section. The revolters hidden in the back of the Studebaker truck killed off the Polish crew of the grand and ancient Schneider Mle.1913 artillery gun dated back to the pre-WWI French Army use. Only one of the tanks did not follow his majority of armoured friends, was beated by managed to scratch some of the FT-17M's because the tankcrews were seemingly too scared of the present situation. Playing the right card the docks were taken with minimal losses as the scouts quietly marked and picked off dangerous targets such as gun crews while the Schneider pounded down with fragmenting shells the enemy soldiers hidden in the warhouses and in the administrative office of the docks. The last remnants perished under grenade barrages. Panicked remaining two enemy tanks couldn't stop the lucky rush of the infantry. This battle ended up very incredibly well.
Italians unloaded a motorized unit from the Spanish African Army and quickly sailed off back to their homeland. Command staff was deployed as this operation is now in the hands of the African Army leadership. Remaining important gear was taken, guns crewed again, rinse and repeat. Now the new commander must decided whenever it is more important to strike at the last Republican forces that retreated to the dockworker's village or to aid a small revolting Army military base that has come recently under siege. Whatever happens, victory in this region is already assured. Sadly, scout Heinrich had died during the assault while leaning a little too much out of the cover hoping to shot away some skulls of enemy soldiers that were hiding in the administrative office building.
CONTENT USED:
Blitzkrieg I Real Time Tactics strategy game with Spanish Civil War Mod Redux V1.0 by Corpbob.
