Shiloy Tshernez

 Shiloy Tshernez

Russia, January 17th 1942 by Richard Baber

 A tabletop skirmish scenario involving the Spanish Blue Division in Russia based on a historic incident.

With the onset of winter the Germans and their allies quickly found their units were losing all mobility; in an effort to reverse this they ordered all formations to form ski companies. The 250th Infantry Division (the Spanish Blue Division) followed suit and formed its own ski company (Compania de Esquiadores) under the command of Captain Ordas.

                                                         Teniente José Otero de Arce.

After Marshal Zhukov`s offensive in December halted the German drive on Moscow, the Soviets turned their attention to Army Group North! By January 8th They had smashed through the German 290th Division along the River Lovet and surged forward across the steppe fifty kilometres to the outskirts of Staraia ( the main supply dump of X and II Corps).

 In this war without a front line German units found themselves cut off and surrounded, one force commanded by Captain Prohl of Divisional Anti-tank Battalion 290 was one such unit. Capt. Prohl and a mixed bag of some 540 men from various units found themselves trapped in the village of Vsvad on the shores of Lake Il`men. The German area commander General Busch requested that the Blue Division try and make contact and help if it could.

 So on January 9th Captain Ordas with 206 men (including  a German Sergeant Willi Klein as an interpreter) plus 70 single horses sleighs and their Russian drivers loaded with ammunition and medical supplies set off south across the frozen lake. The temperature dropped to -30 degrees, they found they were unable to move directly across the lake because even at these low temperatures there were still patches of open water! Travelling was made even more difficult where the ice had frozen in waves, sometimes meters high! A number of men began to drop out due to serious frostbite and a surprise encounter with Soviet ski troops caused more casualties. After over 24 hours on the ice the exhausted Spaniards finally came upon a German patrol, by this time they had 102 frostbite cases!

The epic journey of the Spanish ski patrol

For the next few days the company patrolled the coastal area and made firm contact with other German units in the vicinity. The company was temporarily placed under the command of the German 81st Division (Gen. Erich Schopper) which was almost totally cut off and pinned along the shores of Lake Il`men, Capt. Ordas established his command post at Pagost Uzhin.        

Tabletop Scenario

This is based on an actual action fought by elements of the ski company and suitable for any skirmish set of tabletop rules.

Terrain and notes

We fought the action in 20mm (our favoured size/scale) on a 3ft x 3ft tabletop.

The terrain consists of rolling snow covered hills with some small patches of trees. The village consisted of 6-10 wooden buildings with some small sheds, wood piles and fencing; we placed the village in the centre of the table to allow for manoeuvre and flanking attacks by the mobile ski troops.

 The game

On January 17, Teniente (Lieutenant) Otero de Arce and 36 men from the ski company set out on a combat reconnaissance patrol to the south-east. The Spaniards were reinforced by 40 Latvians from the German 81st Infantry Division. Moving through snow which at times was higher than waist deepand with temperatures as low as -40 degrees the patrol moved through a couple of abandoned hamlets before coming to Shiloy Tshernez. Here smoke drifting from chimneys alerted the patrol to the Soviet presence. Teniente De Arce ordered an immediate assault using the ski troops to out flank and surround the village and converge from all sides.

Axis Forces

Teniente de Arce

36 Spanish Soldados (2 LMGs) ski equipped

40 Latvian Soldats (2 LMGs) ski equipped

All men are armed with rifles and SMGs, some P40 rifle AT grenades and magnetic AT grenades too.

Russian defenders

Only 1-3 sentries and 2 men manning the Maxim should be alert at the start, the rest take 1D6 to awake and get their boots on.

Officer

20 men (rifles & grenades)

1 x Maxim MMG & 4 crew

 After 10 + 1D3 rounds allow the Russians reinforcements from the south:

2 x T26 tanks

20 men (rifles & grenades, 1 x DP LMG) ski equipped

 The action

Historically the Spanish and their allies took the village with little trouble, however they then pushed their luck and continued on with the patrol to the next village where they ran into more Soviets this time prepared! A strong group of soviet ski troops backed by some light tanks drove the patrol back beyond Shiloy Tshernez with considerable losses.

 On the night of January 20th the garrison of Vsvad broke out of its encirclement onto the frozen lake and was found by a Spanish ski patrol and led to safety. By January 25th Captain Ordas reported he only had 12 effectives left under his command!

 The story of the Spanish ski company and its epic attempt to relieve Vsvad became headline news in Spain and was greeted with high praise by their German allies. General Schopper awarded thirty two Iron Crosses (both 1st and 2nd class) to its members; Captain Ordas was awarded the Spanish Medalla Militar Individual (to go with the one he had won during the Spanish Civil War); Franco honoured the Ski Company with a unit citation - Medalla Militar Colectiva.

 Uniforms and Equipment

The ski company was equipped with the two-piece white snow suit which had a double thick hood; thick soled ski boots, leather gauntlets and anti-glare goggles. Over the suit they wore standard German leather Y-straps and ammunition pouches. Several illustrations I`ve seen show Spaniards wearing Spanish Army uniform belts (these would be brown and not black), these belts also had silver buckles (again not black). The Spaniards also wore Spanish insignia and rank badges instead of German.

The ski company was armed as any other German infantry unit - 98K Mauser, MP40 and MG34; but they quickly learned to appreciate the value of captured Russian automatics and would actively trade and buy these from German units as well as scavenging off the battlefield. The excellent PPSH41 SMG and Degtyarev DP LMG were both highly popular. The Spaniards of course had the standard German stick grenades. round anti-personnel grenades and rifle grenades too.

Figures

We have played a few differnt games using various scenarios available on the internet involving the Blue Division. For this game we used a mix of Revell "Battle of the Bulge" figures in winter gear; Revell "Siberian" ski troops, Airfix "German Mountain Troops" and the odd metal figure. Our Latvians were regular German Infabtry in great coats (so we could tell the units apart across the tabletop).   

Sources

Agony of a Neutral by Raymond L. Proctor (Idaho Research Foundation, Inc 1974)

Spanish Soldiers in Russia by Pedro V. Roig  (Ediciones Universal 1976)

Hitler`s Spanish Legion by Gerald R. Kleinfled &  Lewis A. Tambs (ISBN 0-8093-0865-7)

Germany`s Spanish Volunteers 1941-45 by John Scurr (Osprey Men-at-Arms 103, ISBN 0-85045-359-3)

Blue Division Soldier 1941-45 by C. Caballero Jurado ((Osprey Warrior 142, ISBN 978-1-84603-412-1)

Espanoles Contra Stalin (La División Azul en el Frente Del Voljov Oct 1941 - Agusto 1942) by Carlos Caballero Jurado (ISBN 978-84-677-2718-0) Spanish text