Enough about the possibilities, now the "canonical story":
The men are strangers in a strange land, the seawater is azure blue, everything baths under bright, warm sunlight. They are now in Iberia, and they are here to kill.
In the Aragon front, Anarchists have launched a takeover of local areas, Soviet troops, originally the best chance the government forces have to win the war, now find themselves stuck between hostile anarchist partisans and hardened German veterans of Von Manstein's 1st Gebirgsjaeger division.
The first reminder of war comes from the burnt metal wrecks of dozens of T-28s during the 1st Gebirgsjaeger division's attempt to clear out the Soviet tank brigade. The corridor is now open and held by Spanish forces. Pedro saw the charred metal colossuses, what are they coming up against? General Lopez and the staff has just been transferred to Iberia, it will take time for a proper staff shop to be established. Right now they are to be assigned a frontline and develop an offensive plan.
Mr. Dulles and members of the Office of Strategic Service, including Donovan himself, expressed strong desire for the company forces to engage the isolated soviet units and potentially capture personnel and documents with valuable information about Soviet Armed Forces. Spain, is an opponent of this request. Despite being encircled and badly out of supplies, the Soviets are still capable of dealing heavy damage to the German Gebirgsjaeger troops and forcing the latter to reconstitute and sent to another theatre. An assault on these dug-in elite Soviets will result in "unacceptable casualty" manpower-wise.
Instead, Gen. Lopez proposed the thrust to go through Barcelona and cripple the anarchist war effort in the northeast. Despite a numerical disadvantage it is beelieved that the force is sufficient to hold logistical strongpoints and deny the anarchists supplies However, Franco's nationalist government do not sufficiently trust the Corporation enough for this plan, deeming it too audacious. The Security Command under Lopez then opted for a quick thrust towards Lieida, penetrating the thin line of Anarchist resistance and then swing up north to envelop the anarchist frontline forces inside the pocket up north.
Pedro is nervous as every green man is, nothing truly prepares a man for war. Forward combat patrols have already engaged enemy troops at the line down south. Lt. Gonzalez is checking his watch for the offensive. The entire platoon marches through the green fields at 5, it was almost too quiet. Artillery rounds began to pound the hedgerows of the objective in the front, coating suspected strongpoints in a haze of smoke and explosion. The platoon took contact 200 meters west of the objective. Everyone went to ground immediately after contact as bullets whizzed across the field. "I'm going to be killed", the cold hands of the thought gripped around Pedro, he can feel his heart pounding at the dirt beneath him, hundreds, perhaps thousands have died on this land and their bodies returned to the soil. Will he be one of them. Five seconds later training kicked in and Hernandez led the maneuver group forward. A platoon flanked around the village and took fire from a concealed trenchline, Pvt. Martinez was hit and killed, he was the only casualty that day. B platoon assaulted a trenchline with the bomber lobbing grenades into the trenches backed up by the sergeant's shotgun assigned from the company headquarters' weapon pool. 15 minutes later the village was cleared and the bodycount indicated 20 of the anarchists were killed, they never stood a chance.
After taking the village the company came under a badly coordinated counterattack, the enemy apparently fails to conduct proper reconnaissance and led their infantry charging through a killzone. Sgt. Hernandez let everyone wait until their entire force came through the hedgerows. Then the combined firepower of two sections was let loose. It is like the range practices, Pedro simply have to shoot and the men will went down, a couple of them tried to run but quickly dropped as the bullets slice through their bodies. The rest ducked into the rich lush fields of crops. The three platoon's 2-inch mortars expended all their ammunition in a massed fire before Pedro's squad went to mop them up. There are only two survivors left, one took a shot that grazed Hernandez in the shoulder, the section quickly gunned him down, the other one surrendered and is escorted away to the prisoner collection point. "The MPs will take them away," they say.
The company is then led to conduct another attack on a fortified position in conjunction with Fox Company, the divisional artillery lets out a powerful barrage at the trench networks while company and battalion mortars start working on the individual strongpoints. The platoon 2-inches laid down smoke covering the attached pioneers set satchel charges to the wire. Immediately after the breach, A platoon launches their attack.
Pedro is second in line, the entire air is filled with hot shrapnel and caustic fume, the BAR is firing from behind. A machinegun position was still capable of firing and let out a long stream of bullets, a man from 2nd section dropped. The squad navigates through the killing field as enemy spotting rounds for their mortars began dropping down from the air. They have to forward. Losing another man in the process, the squad closed onto the trenches as the creeping barrage shifts to the rear area of the trenches. Pvt. Trujillo, the section bomber, lobs grenade after grenades into the trench before Hernandez rolled into the trenches and shot an enemy down with his Garand gun. The BAR team quickly follows in to join the squad. The men move through the trench network bayonet ready, they must not stop to give the enemy any time to reconstitute. The anarchists who tried to flee the onslaught are quickly killed by the barrage that crept behind the trench system, all they can do is to stand and fight and die. At each corner, Pedro throws a grenade and then ducks to avoid the blast. Hernandez then advances and fire through the piles of concussed and dying enemies. It feels just like training. 2nd section lost two men, one of them section leader, due to the enemy mortar crews who tossed mortar bombs at them like hand grenades. Eventually, one grenade landed into the ammo storage and evaporated the enemy mortars. In the west Fox company runs into heavier resistance until pioneers descend with flamethrowers to burn the anarchists out.
The whole position smells of gasoline and burning flesh. Years later, the area is turned into an orchard with lush green apple trees where sweet red apples grew on, the childrens play around the trees while birds sing at the branches.
The next few days are similar, sometimes the anarchists put up a good fight and kill someone, but in the end they never wins. "We win, they die", as a operation advisor says, which went on to become the brigade's motto. Quickly the anarchists began losing cohesion, entire units will melt at contact, leaving their comrades to envelopments. Dog company was sent to eliminate a breakout attempt, it was a total massacre. Over a hundred enemy casualties, only 3 men were killed.
At Lieda the enemy offered practically no resistance. Echo Company mopped up an enemy platoon of stragglers. The rest simply rolled over.
1st squad, A platoon, Dog Company, 7th battalion, 1st Brigade. (1/A/D/7/1)
"The performance of the security division is satisfactory so far, but we must strive to further improve their combat proficiency. There is never 'too good', only 'better'. We have another division in training, keep in mind with that." - Samuel Zemmuray
Every company has a dedicated radiotelephone operator who serve alongside commander. Battery commanders are also assigned radios to communicate with their batteries when observing enemy positions.
Pedro watched the long rows of prisoners being herded down the road. At the end of the road the "inteligencia" troop set up a tent where they took prisoners in and separates them into two groups. The big group is led down south by the regular Nationalists. Another smaller group is led north by the MPs into the hills. "Why the hills?" Pedro wondered, "don't think they have a prisoner camp up there."
The next few days are spent climbing through the difficult hills and mountains to finish the envelopment of the reds. Up north they are ordered to keep alert "Los Rusos" are just west, nobody want to face them. The food and other supplies are running short, but the Captain said they will be rotated out as soon as the rest of the nationalist force follows on.
After the last month of combat the troops are rotated out to have some rest before the order to the "south”. Down at a bar Pedro heard a women has just circumnavigated the globe. Trujillo was shot by a guerilla the same day outside the bar. A man walked up to him, pulled out a gun and shot him four times before running away. Nationalist militias eventually cornered the gunman. They were about to hang the bandit when Hernandez convinced them to have the Dog company shoot him. The forlorn prisoner was tied to a pole, no priest had been called to make a final prayer. The entire platoon fired four salvos, one of the bullets penetrated the body and broke the pole. The condemned dropped to the ground like a strange looking cloth sack. Gonzalez walked in front, pulled out his trophy pistol and shot that bastard three more times in the head.
By the time the company reached the road to Madrid the section has a new bomber, Private Basilio. Sgt Hernandez spent the whole journey coaching him into the big family of 1st Brigade
The men are strangers in a strange land, the seawater is azure blue, everything baths under bright, warm sunlight. They are now in Iberia, and they are here to kill.
In the Aragon front, Anarchists have launched a takeover of local areas, Soviet troops, originally the best chance the government forces have to win the war, now find themselves stuck between hostile anarchist partisans and hardened German veterans of Von Manstein's 1st Gebirgsjaeger division.
The first reminder of war comes from the burnt metal wrecks of dozens of T-28s during the 1st Gebirgsjaeger division's attempt to clear out the Soviet tank brigade. The corridor is now open and held by Spanish forces. Pedro saw the charred metal colossuses, what are they coming up against? General Lopez and the staff has just been transferred to Iberia, it will take time for a proper staff shop to be established. Right now they are to be assigned a frontline and develop an offensive plan.
Mr. Dulles and members of the Office of Strategic Service, including Donovan himself, expressed strong desire for the company forces to engage the isolated soviet units and potentially capture personnel and documents with valuable information about Soviet Armed Forces. Spain, is an opponent of this request. Despite being encircled and badly out of supplies, the Soviets are still capable of dealing heavy damage to the German Gebirgsjaeger troops and forcing the latter to reconstitute and sent to another theatre. An assault on these dug-in elite Soviets will result in "unacceptable casualty" manpower-wise.
Instead, Gen. Lopez proposed the thrust to go through Barcelona and cripple the anarchist war effort in the northeast. Despite a numerical disadvantage it is beelieved that the force is sufficient to hold logistical strongpoints and deny the anarchists supplies However, Franco's nationalist government do not sufficiently trust the Corporation enough for this plan, deeming it too audacious. The Security Command under Lopez then opted for a quick thrust towards Lieida, penetrating the thin line of Anarchist resistance and then swing up north to envelop the anarchist frontline forces inside the pocket up north.
Pedro is nervous as every green man is, nothing truly prepares a man for war. Forward combat patrols have already engaged enemy troops at the line down south. Lt. Gonzalez is checking his watch for the offensive. The entire platoon marches through the green fields at 5, it was almost too quiet. Artillery rounds began to pound the hedgerows of the objective in the front, coating suspected strongpoints in a haze of smoke and explosion. The platoon took contact 200 meters west of the objective. Everyone went to ground immediately after contact as bullets whizzed across the field. "I'm going to be killed", the cold hands of the thought gripped around Pedro, he can feel his heart pounding at the dirt beneath him, hundreds, perhaps thousands have died on this land and their bodies returned to the soil. Will he be one of them. Five seconds later training kicked in and Hernandez led the maneuver group forward. A platoon flanked around the village and took fire from a concealed trenchline, Pvt. Martinez was hit and killed, he was the only casualty that day. B platoon assaulted a trenchline with the bomber lobbing grenades into the trenches backed up by the sergeant's shotgun assigned from the company headquarters' weapon pool. 15 minutes later the village was cleared and the bodycount indicated 20 of the anarchists were killed, they never stood a chance.
After taking the village the company came under a badly coordinated counterattack, the enemy apparently fails to conduct proper reconnaissance and led their infantry charging through a killzone. Sgt. Hernandez let everyone wait until their entire force came through the hedgerows. Then the combined firepower of two sections was let loose. It is like the range practices, Pedro simply have to shoot and the men will went down, a couple of them tried to run but quickly dropped as the bullets slice through their bodies. The rest ducked into the rich lush fields of crops. The three platoon's 2-inch mortars expended all their ammunition in a massed fire before Pedro's squad went to mop them up. There are only two survivors left, one took a shot that grazed Hernandez in the shoulder, the section quickly gunned him down, the other one surrendered and is escorted away to the prisoner collection point. "The MPs will take them away," they say.
The company is then led to conduct another attack on a fortified position in conjunction with Fox Company, the divisional artillery lets out a powerful barrage at the trench networks while company and battalion mortars start working on the individual strongpoints. The platoon 2-inches laid down smoke covering the attached pioneers set satchel charges to the wire. Immediately after the breach, A platoon launches their attack.
Pedro is second in line, the entire air is filled with hot shrapnel and caustic fume, the BAR is firing from behind. A machinegun position was still capable of firing and let out a long stream of bullets, a man from 2nd section dropped. The squad navigates through the killing field as enemy spotting rounds for their mortars began dropping down from the air. They have to forward. Losing another man in the process, the squad closed onto the trenches as the creeping barrage shifts to the rear area of the trenches. Pvt. Trujillo, the section bomber, lobs grenade after grenades into the trench before Hernandez rolled into the trenches and shot an enemy down with his Garand gun. The BAR team quickly follows in to join the squad. The men move through the trench network bayonet ready, they must not stop to give the enemy any time to reconstitute. The anarchists who tried to flee the onslaught are quickly killed by the barrage that crept behind the trench system, all they can do is to stand and fight and die. At each corner, Pedro throws a grenade and then ducks to avoid the blast. Hernandez then advances and fire through the piles of concussed and dying enemies. It feels just like training. 2nd section lost two men, one of them section leader, due to the enemy mortar crews who tossed mortar bombs at them like hand grenades. Eventually, one grenade landed into the ammo storage and evaporated the enemy mortars. In the west Fox company runs into heavier resistance until pioneers descend with flamethrowers to burn the anarchists out.
The whole position smells of gasoline and burning flesh. Years later, the area is turned into an orchard with lush green apple trees where sweet red apples grew on, the childrens play around the trees while birds sing at the branches.
The next few days are similar, sometimes the anarchists put up a good fight and kill someone, but in the end they never wins. "We win, they die", as a operation advisor says, which went on to become the brigade's motto. Quickly the anarchists began losing cohesion, entire units will melt at contact, leaving their comrades to envelopments. Dog company was sent to eliminate a breakout attempt, it was a total massacre. Over a hundred enemy casualties, only 3 men were killed.
At Lieda the enemy offered practically no resistance. Echo Company mopped up an enemy platoon of stragglers. The rest simply rolled over.
1st squad, A platoon, Dog Company, 7th battalion, 1st Brigade. (1/A/D/7/1)
"The performance of the security division is satisfactory so far, but we must strive to further improve their combat proficiency. There is never 'too good', only 'better'. We have another division in training, keep in mind with that." - Samuel Zemmuray
Every company has a dedicated radiotelephone operator who serve alongside commander. Battery commanders are also assigned radios to communicate with their batteries when observing enemy positions.
Pedro watched the long rows of prisoners being herded down the road. At the end of the road the "inteligencia" troop set up a tent where they took prisoners in and separates them into two groups. The big group is led down south by the regular Nationalists. Another smaller group is led north by the MPs into the hills. "Why the hills?" Pedro wondered, "don't think they have a prisoner camp up there."
The next few days are spent climbing through the difficult hills and mountains to finish the envelopment of the reds. Up north they are ordered to keep alert "Los Rusos" are just west, nobody want to face them. The food and other supplies are running short, but the Captain said they will be rotated out as soon as the rest of the nationalist force follows on.
After the last month of combat the troops are rotated out to have some rest before the order to the "south”. Down at a bar Pedro heard a women has just circumnavigated the globe. Trujillo was shot by a guerilla the same day outside the bar. A man walked up to him, pulled out a gun and shot him four times before running away. Nationalist militias eventually cornered the gunman. They were about to hang the bandit when Hernandez convinced them to have the Dog company shoot him. The forlorn prisoner was tied to a pole, no priest had been called to make a final prayer. The entire platoon fired four salvos, one of the bullets penetrated the body and broke the pole. The condemned dropped to the ground like a strange looking cloth sack. Gonzalez walked in front, pulled out his trophy pistol and shot that bastard three more times in the head.
By the time the company reached the road to Madrid the section has a new bomber, Private Basilio. Sgt Hernandez spent the whole journey coaching him into the big family of 1st Brigade
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