Coordinacion*
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Date: October 29, 1936*
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Battle Type: Republican Assault vs Nationalist Defend*
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Design: Ed Mortimer*
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Updated for v6*
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The Spanish Civil War taught the world many lessons about tank combat, and many of those lessons were learned the hard way.  This scenario simulates a combined arms attack by the Republicans against Nationalist positions outside of Madrid.  The attack was led by the flamboyant Latvian tank commander, Paul Arman ("The situation is not so hopeless. They have fifteen thousand soldiers, we have fifteen tanks, so the strengths are equal!").*
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The planning for the assault had all the essentials: artillery, aircraft, infantry and tanks.  The actual operation lacked only one thing: coordination.  What could have been a decisive victory for the Republicans that day, instead became an engagement where both sides claimed victory in the after-battle reports.*
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The artillery strike landed in the wrong place, and then was slow in finding the right target.  The air assaults were ineffectual, having no definite targets. Arman swept out in front of the infantry, and kept going -- leaving the infantry far behind and strung out.  The infantry just tried to keep up with the disappearing tanks.*
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The tanks came upon a newly formed Nationalist company gathering on the Sesena town square, and routed the inexperienced infantry.  Arman pushed past Sesena trying to strike at the Nationalist rear positions in Esquivias and Borax -- and because his infantry was far behind, there was nobody to stop the routed Nationalist forces from regrouping and closing in behind the tanks.  What started out with great possibilities, became a desperate struggle.  Eventually Arman had to retreat from Sesena.*
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Soviet military "advisors" manned every one of the T-26 tanks the Republicans fielded that day (34 Soviet tankers, 11 Spanish crewmen).  The Nationalists had many Italians in their ranks.  This battle was as much a learning experience for the Soviet Union and Italy as it was for Spain.*
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As a side note, this battle saw the first Molotov Cocktail (petrol bomb) used in Spain, and one of the first ever uses of anti-tank mines.  It also graphically demonstrated for the first time that the Italian tankettes were woefully under-armed and under-armoured to battle "real" tanks.*
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This scenario is designed to be played on the Republican side.  If you desire to play the Nationalists I suggest not moving the troops in the town of Sesena until engaged by the tanks -- and increasing Republican Tank Toughness and Searching to 150% to counteract the AI's lack of tactics.*
