Spanish Civil War: More Minairons

Minairons get closer and closer to hitting the table!

As the figures have been cleaned, prepped and now primed, I have had growing excitement over these figs. They are a nice balance of old school in style and pose, but with the newer demand for pose variety well fulfilled - seems like all the boxes so far have no repetition of poses. They mostly cleaned up easily and have also been fun to modify with alternative heads and such. My one unfulfilled desire is that Lluis and his sculptors do not have the distinct hat of the Guardia Civil, perhaps best described as a reversed bicorne?

Anyway, I know that I am just crying out for a small unit of these fellows...

Below, the artillerists I cleaned and primed last time, notionally Republicans...

...and below with a big gun, a French Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider. In my ground scale, there is little use for such a big gun - it's main purpose is to either act as an objective or indicate artillery support at the edge of the board, where it can also be an operational target for aircraft [which are forthcoming!].

And below, a likely tow for the gun at this point. I have three of these Lledo trucks, and they will provide motor support for now. They may be just a little bit large, but they are close enough until I can score some good truck models.

Below, some pictures of the French that helped me to assemble mine - I was a bit uncertain as to how it fit together:

Below, the Anarchist militia milling around in a chaotic jumble, as is their wont:

Lots of pose variety, and some kneeling and crouching figs for good measure. Kneeling is probably one of the best alternative poses, as prone figs take up a lot more space on the table, about double. Still, I like them, and my 15mm WWII on FoW basing has as many as possible.


Finally, the Nationalist Infantry, two boxes, 15 poses each, 30 total, awaiting a cleanup. Poses include firing, loading, grenade & walking, and five running.

The Nationalist HQ and Support Weapons are cleaned and ready for a bath and then priming - this'll happen with the other 30 and the next day with low humidity.

The box included two LMGs, one HMG, one 2" knee mortar, and a command group of officer, sergeant, banner bearer, and bugler. A nice variety!

Looking forward to getting paint on these fellows. Will have to start figuring out a painting scheme next...

Spanish Civil War: Book Reviews

EDIT 2024.06.10: Orwell and Kemp's memoirs

from Dreamtime.com

Be wary of inflammatione librorum! 

It is easy to find books on the Spanish Civil War, but hard to find books where the author doesn't have a "perspective" they value more than history, facts, or quite possibly "reality". Ergo, I'll be putting the books that have been helpful to me in this post which I will update as I read them. Regrettably, I'm limited to English at this time, altho I'm working on Spanish...we'll see!

If anyone cares, I have a degree in history and a passion for it as long as I can remember. Modern Europe and military history are my areas of specialty. I am a former investigator and presently in the military, which means my interests and credibility criteria will likely not match yours. Feel free to just use these brief summaries as an opportunity to look these books up in greater depth elsewhere to determine if they would suit YOU and your interests!

What am I looking for in my SCW books? Strong historical narrative [storytelling...but using historical practices, e.g. Barbara Tuchman] and authentic voice are my priorities.

Memoirs are a great way to get that "authentic voice" and perspective, e.g. "I was there and this is my experience of it"; this may occasionally be at the expense of facts and involve intentional manipulation of that which is included or left out. Such is the limitations one pays for the exciting immediacy of an eye witness account.

I prefer a history book to be more balanced. If an author discusses war crimes [or civil crimes] I expect them to present the Red and Republican excesses coherently alongside Nationalist ones.  If memoirs are used I expect them to be representative and back up the historical narrative, not just create drama or sympathy for the author's preferred side. As I don't have a dog in this fight, I'm uninterested in being manipulated into sympathy for either side at the expense of the other. Neither Red Revolution or authoritarianism in any form are appealing to me, personally.

As for the Spanish Civil War, or ANY civil war...let's turn to some great philosophers:

Look - in the doubt we've wallowed

Look - at the leaders we've followed
Look - at the lies we've swallowed
And I don't want to hear no more

I don't need your civil war... What's so civil 'bout war anyway?

Yep...this is GnR... 

OK, not exactly Alexis de Tocqueville, but whatever.

ON TO THE BOOKS!

CONCERNING THE WHOLE WAR

Some are not for the casual reader...but some are!

Nice, relatively short and manageable overview of the war.  Appears to be politically neutral [hard to find on this subject] or at least "balanced". Leaves you with the distinct impression that you have actually learned something that is useful to know in a way that you can remember. Written in plain English - doesn't have you looking up erudite words constantly, and explains foreign terms well. A great place to start!

This is an old [and inexpensive] reader. The perspectives and excerpts should catch the interest of nearly anyone interested in the war. There's a wide variety of points of view, and it's a cheap way to discover other authors and books that may be of interest. I found all the accounts to be engaging and well selected.

MEMOIRS

A great way to get a biased perspective!

Two wonderful memoirs in English. 

The first, "Homage to Catalonia" is by the well-known author of "1984" and "Animal Farm", George Orwell. It is impossible not to find Orwell a completely creditable witness, especially since he specifically refers to the limits of his personal witness; what are his best guesses, and what he gathered from those whom he deemed reliable sources, his speculative conclusions, etc, are explained. 

He has lovely observations like, "I suspect it is the same in all wars - always the contrast between the sleek police in the rear and the ragged soldiers in the line." [which Bill Mauldin wrote and draw about in some detail]. 

Also, "The Fat Russian agent...was the first time I had seen a person whose profession was telling lies - unless one counts journalists." 

This and many more wry and insightful observations are yours to enjoy!

Finally, his chapter of analysis concerning the betrayal of The Revolution by the Government and its Communist String-Pullers is prefaced by, "It will never be possible to get a complete, accurate and unbiased account of the Barcelona fighting because the necessary records do not exist. Future historians will have nothing more to go upon except a mass of accusations and party propaganda. I myself have little data beyond what I saw with my own eyes and what I have learned from other eye-witnesses whom I believe to be reliable. I can, however, contradict some of the more flagrant lies and help to get the affair into some kind of perspective."  This is the essence of honest  witnessing, IMHO.  

Highly recommended!

The second, "Mine Were of Trouble" is even more interesting in several ways. Author Peter Kemp, MC DSO [CLICK] who fought in several wars and theaters and then became a very competent journalist and writer. Basically, he was a literate adventuring Brit Soldier, in the best sense. Kemp volunteered on the Nationalist side, which had only a fraction as many foreign volunteers compared to the Republicans.

[this was due to the communists having a far superior international organization and propaganda / press system; this greatly facilitated recruitment until word started to get around that the communists were getting rid of the volunteers in a variety of ways...but this is covered in detail in another excellent book to be reviewed soon!]

Got my copy through Mystery Grove Publishing Co, and it is a solid paperback with a soft waxed outer cover to protect it. There are only rare opportunities to buy any other edition of this book. 

Kemp finds a nice balance of his eye witness, repeating what he hears from others as it seems pertinent, examining the same with a critical eye, and occasionally give a "big picture" with some of the key names.  Overall, you do not have to be more than wiki-level familiar with the war to get thru this book, largely due to Kemp being an excellent writer who uses clean simple prose.  Orwell is a bit more long-winded and inclined to self-analysis and some lengthy explanations [which is fine if you want to hear about process].  Kemp's style is more journalistic and less reflective.

Kemp saw heavy combat on a number of occasions, and is excellent at explaining complex military situations in a way that anyone can understand. In other words, you don't need to be in the military to understand his account of his fighting at Jarama. Very occasionally, some of the technical details are incorrect [e.g. 37mm guns on the Russian tanks...an easy mistake to make as the German gun was copied by the Russians - stolen, most likely - and enlarged to 45mm]. But, considering how eventful his service was, it is amazing he was able to write a coherent account of it at all.  

This is an excellent memoir to balance out the plethora of Leftist apologetics, as well as their irritating style and thoughtless repetition of propaganda [more on this anon].  

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This was a quick read, and an unvarnished perspective. Lee didn't see much fighting, so the title is well chosen. It still has a bunch of punch and a minimal amount of sentimental ruminations. His experiences show what a sad, dreary affair the whole thing was for so many people. A useful tonic for those who are inclined to romanticize an ugly conflict. 

MEMOIR or NOVEL?

This is a great novel!  It is also a thinly disguised memoir by William Herrick, a former Communist. It is well written and without a distracting style that encroaches on the plight of the people in the book [a great contrast to Hemingway]. While it is mostly about U.S. volunteers in an international battalion [the author fought for the Republic] you do get a broader picture of the internal issues that undermined the Republic as a democracy and ruined its morale claim to being a legitimate government of Spain. This made defeat inevitable as the Republic lost not just confidence in its military potential but confidence in its political practices. 

The combat scenes are hair-raising. The hilarious and vulgar lives of the volunteers are presented in an authentic way that is emotionally riveting but without sentimentalism. Some characters are clearly created as foils to demonstrate the situation and times, while others are clearly based on real people; I guess it is obvious who they are "if you know them".

This book is available as a free download in a few locations. I liked his writing enough that I'd consider reading almost anything by him.

  

MILITARY

For those with a wargaming problem! 

Zaloga... Osprey... predictable but solid. Lots of good pics and some nice illustrations. Too much emphasis on the T-26, Pz Mk I, CV 33 & 35, and other well-known vehicles.  As there is good coverage of armored cars, the title seems insufficient. I would have preferred more on the less common but unusual Spanish vehicles and their use, also, including the improvised armored cars.

The sub-title is with very little supporting evidence in the book. It would be more accurate to state that the SCW demonstrated a need for training in combined-arms operations in support of infantry attacks, which sounds more like French doctrine to me. There were no armored breakthroughs and no rapid advances... or at least no advances much faster than infantry can march!  Still, I didn't find that it fabricated or attempted to make fantasy a reality. My opinion is that Osprey simply felt they had to put the words "tank" and "blitzkrieg" on the cover for sales purposes.

Hooton's intent is to focus on a succinct coverage of the military conflict. This book  does succeed in that goal altho the style is dry and in the vein of a military journalist...which Hooton is. While the political aspect of the war is complex and important to the course and outcome of the war, there are so many books about it that Hooton intentionally includes only the minimum needed to create the military narrative. This keeps the book at a manageable 240 pages of text. 

It will likely be necessary to keep Wikipedia or the like nearby, unless you are familiar with Spanish geography and the military campaigns. As a resource of the Spanish battles it is not that useful, the organization and index being insufficient. I think that the 2nd edition should be done with that approach, which would make this a much more valuable book, and suit the author's style. Still, with very few alternatives, one has to make do with this and Esdaile's book.

Check in for more books later!

Spanish Civil War: Minairons Progress

The Revolutionary Militia need more figures!  

Of course, opinions differ on this...

 

Another great thing about this period: Spanish Civil War propaganda art is better than American Civil War or English Civil War propaganda art!

From the Minairons Website [CLICK], the below packs provide alternative figures, poses, and with head swaps additional variety in what is already a generously varied figure line. I previously reviewed the line in some depth [HERE]. 

BLUF: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND these figures!

I have been very happy with the price point [$1.25 a fig +/-] and visual impact of these figures. 20mm makes them large enough for easy visual identification on the tabletop and rewards additional figure details like rank and medals which are also easier to paint than in 15mm. 

Despite the substantially larger bulk compared to 15mm, the figures still have a modest footprint and the vehicles / houses are substantially smaller, allowing for more "space" on even a smaller table. While 25-28mm is great for infantry battles, the use of vehicles - usually tanks - ends up pushing the scale distortion v. table space ratio into difficult places. As far as I am concerned, if you want all branches of the service on the table, then 20mm would be my new "ideal scale". Depending on the rule set, you can play small skirmishers easily on a 4x4' or even 3x3' table, but go all out 6x4' or 8x5' and still identify figures 6' away. Rant over!

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In this post, I worked with the below revolutionary militia a d Republican figures to create more interesting poses and situations, both as figures and as game markers; unit status, victory point locations, etc. For example, the below wounded female militia figures could indicate that a unit is pinned, or be used in a small diorama as an aid station that doubles as an objective marker.

Got two packs, 8 figs total. I dislike duplication in skirmish games and skirmishing units. There are no male casualties [oddly] so I will convert some using head swaps to get rid of the main female indicator on the sculpts, the longer hair.

These gals are realistically proportioned to be a bit smaller.  However, the substitute heads are also a bit small, so didn't really look that out of place on them. Also, according to George Orwell, the militia had a lot of teenage boys in it, who ended up serving as a means to keep them out of trouble and also fed. Their smaller stature fits the female sculpts nicely. Side note: unlike lots of female historical and - especially - fantasy figs, these women do not have grossly exaggerated body parts and are _not_ pinups - thank you Angel Terol!

The below pack is for large artillery pieces, which is why the figs are standing poses. I like the rangefinder sculpt. It appears the officer is sculpted to peer through it, which will make for a nice independent base. The artillerists are a bit blandly posed, IMHO, and I'd have liked to seen them more in an "action stance" in various firing positions.  But maybe I'll change a pose or two...

Not only will these add some flavor to a command post, but they will provide a visual mechanic to transmit orders or a victory condition [help the dispatcher leave the board].  The big metal bases seem like a waste of metal / cost, and I'd have done them in plastic personally. Might've afforded another rider in the pack...

Various heads. The Pasamontana Cap heads below are a bit too small - would make good heads for young / small soldiers.

The woolen caps [favorite knits in cold weather, and can go under a helmet - we do the same thing today] are a bit bulkier, and there's a bearded fellow also.

THE Spanish cap of the war, still used today [heck, WE still use it today, without any tassles of course], Isabellinos are inexpensive but can carry a jaunty air when tilted.

Both tassled and non-tassled are provided, which makes for easier Nationalist v. Republican distinctions.

In general, the heads are a little small for men, and a little big for women, and none have a neck - the sculptor should take a cue from others and put a larger ball underneath the head. I made do, as explained below.

So, how did customizing these figures go?  Quite well, overall.

Below, the hobby weapons of construction used for most of the work - only thing not shown is the Dremel tool: X-Acto blade knife, pin vise, forceps [medical clamp], small hack saw, AKA a jeweler's saw.

Above, an artillerist loses his head - I wanted a helmet, and more diversity with the artillerists. Besides, since they are behind the lines, I figured they'd be going for comfort and a cap! The jewelers saw blade is very delicate and breaks easily [or I'm doing something wrong] but with a light hand, I was finally able to cut off all the heads I needed and the blade survived. 

I wonder if I bought the wrong blades for this thing....? There's definitely a ratio of tooth size and strength, I may have too fine a blade for the weight of the saw itself.  It did work in the end, however, and gave a very clean cut.

I started a little hole in the torso / neck with the X-Acto, then used the pin vise with a drill bit to get a good start, then finished it off in a couple seconds with the Dremel tool and a larger drill bit that matched the stem of the heads. NOTE: The Dremel really goes too fast for this type of work, I wish I had something else that had a much lower RPM.  Still, it only takes a minute or so for the entire process.  

Below, female casualty has lost her head!  Doctor is attempting repairs with a pin vise!   Where did he study medicine, anyway - on line???

Below, final product. Isabellino cap [US Army garrison cap] head instead of the woman's head with splayed out hair. This casualty now has some options...

Another replacement, this is the artillerists head with - I believe - a "Trubia" helmet, a domestic Spanish helmet similar to the German coal-scuttle helmet.  Also similar to the Czech helmet, far as I can tell.  While it looks large on the female's body, I'm OK with that as the helmet's are probably "one size fits none" or if there were size options then they would have been badly organized by Republicans anyway!

Sometimes there isn't a neck on the figure due to sculpting and cutting. The heads as pictured above, do not have necks. So what I did was attach it a bit "high" as though there was a neck there...

...which does look a bit 'pencil-necked' from certain angles...

...then I put a big drop of "extra-thick Maxi-Cure" on it [the viscous super-glue].

Final result: Three artillerists, two with changed heads - an Isabellino and a wool knit cap. 

I ended up re-positioning an arm on the left fellow, who is the stiffest of the bunch - I think he'll be yanking the lanyard. 

"Female" casualties with Adrien [French] helmet and wool knit cap.

Their hight makes them useful for picking up, hmmm....

Same, with Isabellino and wool knit caps.

Same, Trubia helmet and Isabellino.

What will these eight casualties do?  Well, perhaps objective markers, perhaps "pinned" markers, etc.  I'm not 100% certain yet.  It'd be more money and work, but it'd be nice to have a wounded fig as pinned markers for each infantry unit.

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As for the dispatch riders...these are good sculpts, one is actively riding [a bit upright in posture] the other is standing and waiting. 

After some thought, I decided to assemble them completely, and paint them assembled. It's a constant debate with people, but it saves needless painting and cyanoacrylate glue holds better on bare metal anyway. 

I used the slo-zap glue for the rider's seat.

Their hands had no indentation for the grips, so I filed a groove into each hand...

...which will both look better and hold better with the glue.

Yeah, the handlebars need to be re-shaped. I ended up cutting out the center, and doing some bending which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Hands fit pretty well now!

Final result, a solid, natural pose.

Being a [former - I decided I like my body parts attached] motorcyclist, I thought the pose on the box of the standing dispatcher was unnatural - hard to relax on a bike like that as the bike tips. I find it easier to sit astride the bike when standing around. 

Fig fit nicely like this, also, I might add...

...with both feet and seat nicely settled and glued in.

Also had to move his arm over a bit.

I think he looks natural enough - just waiting for the next message to be sent!

This all took a couple of hours of work. I enjoy doing some converting and either refreshing my skills or learning new ones. These figures will give some character and satisfaction to my project, so I'm very happy with the result.

Feel free to ask any question clarifying how I did the work.