Battle for the Crag (photo added 01/12/25)

Battle for the Crag

Penon de Velez de la Gomera, March – April 1922 

An earlier version of this article appeared in the magazine of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargames (SOTCW) The Journal

Penon (crag) de Velez de la Gomera is a small offshore island located 119 km (72.7 miles) southeast of Ceuta. It is a steep rock island with a length of 400 meters northwest-southeast and a width of up to 100 meters, and a height of 80 meters above the sea, it covers about 19,000 square meters in total. There is another smaller island linked to its larger neighbor by a wooded bridge. The islands are situated only 85 meters from the Moroccan shore and can be easily reached by foot at low tides.

Initially captured by Spain in 1508 when an expedition under the command of Pedro Navarro was sent to destroy the pirates who populated it, and who were constantly attacking and looting the coast of Southern Spain. The expedition was successful and Spain captured the Penon, but they lost it again in 1522 after a successful Berber attack, in which the whole Spanish garrison was slaughtered. In 1564, after some failed attempts, the Spaniards re-conquered it and they have retained control of it ever since, despite having been besieged on several occasions.

The main island is covered in the remains of ruins from centuries of fortifications, built one on top of another. There is little or no plant life and no source of fresh water, though the Spanish built good cisterns. The island was for many years used as a penal colony with prisoners forced to work for mining and farming interests on the Moroccan mainland.

The Riffi attack – March 22, 1922

The Penon was garrisoned by a company of men from the Regiment de Infantries de Africa No68 commanded by a captain. The garrison also had two small cannon and one machine gun. Apart from the garrison there were also a number of prisoners and civilians on the Penon including wives and families of officers.

After dark on March 22, the Riffi using small boats silently approached the small island. They managed to scale the rock without being spotted and then without warning swarmed over the parapet and attacked the soldiers stationed there. The garrison was alerted by gunfire and rushed to man the main defences, just in time, it was low tide and the Riffi were attacking the main island from the shore. Other Riffi tried to cross the connecting bridge between the two islands or fired at the defenders from their vantage point.

The Riffi main attack was beaten off, but the captain was killed and many of the garrison also casualties. Things were so grim that the civilian families were evacuated off the Penon by naval submarine during the nights of 24/25 March.

El Bustamente (colourised and enhamced)

The situation got steadily worse with the defenders under constant rifle and occasional cannon fire until early April 7th when volunteers from La Legion chosen by lottery from the best shots among the various companies where transported aboard the steamship Bustamante by sea from Melilla. The relief party; Lieutenants – Jose Martinez Esparza and Alfreez Diaz de Rabago with one sergeant, six corporals and forty-four legionnaires immediately moved into the forward positions on the rock. The next morning they launched an assault on the smaller island driving the Berbers off at bayonet point. With the arrival of the legionnaires upon the Penon, the enemy’s ardor diminished and although they continued to harass the defenders they never again attacked in force.

Period photo with Lt. Esparza centre front.

The Game

For the purposes of our game, we decided to ignored the civilians and start at the point where the Riffi were already occupying the smaller island and are making their final all out attack. The Spanish garrison was alerted and had called for reinforcements which were on the way by ship.

 It was decided that the ship with the Legion reinforcements would arrive by sea at 1D6 turns + 5 (much to the boys horror a 6 was rolled).

My representaion of The Crag

Spanish defenders

HQ

Captain, lieutenant, NCO, radio operator, 3 runners 

Reduced Rifle company

2 – 9 man platoons (rifles, 1 grenade each)

Support weapons

65mm mountain gun + crew (12 rds)

Hotchkiss MMG + crew

Riffi attackers

Main body (attacking from the beach and island)

4 -5 groups of warriors – 10 men each (rifles & knives)

 2 fishing boats

Each with 7 warriors (rifles & knives)

Reinforcements

El Bustamante armed trawler/gunboat

Armed with a 4pdr & 2 Hotchkiss MGs

 Half company La Legion

Officer, NCO, standard

2 – 8 man platoons (rifles, 2 – grenades)

LMG team

The Bustamante arrives just in time!

The game was a very close run thing, the Spanish defenders fire was unlucky, whilst the Riffi (me) kept rolling 6s. The Spanish slowly withdrew along the island, but were out of officers and virtually wiped out just as El Bustemente arrived! The ships crew used their MGs and 4pdr to good effect as the legionnaires scrambled ashore. Once ashore the battle-cry "Viva la Muerte!" was shouted and the two platoons with colours flying launched a bayonet charge into the remaining Riffi.

We played the game using 20mm figures from my collection. The Infanteria No.68 were mostly British Zulu War figures from Newline Designs with some Bandera and Irregular SCW. My Legion figures are a mix of Bandera, Irregular, Barcino and BUM SCW figures. My Riffi are Blitz Goumiers and Bandera/Irregular SCW Regulares with various plastic Arabs. El Bustamente is the Britannia Miniatures - Armed German Trawler, the crew are a mix of WW2 Kreigsmarine and Russian Naval Marines from Kelly’s Heroes; the Riffi fishing boats were Britannia British Naval Dorys.

Sources

The Betrothed of Death by Jose E. Alvarez

The Spanish Enclaves in Morocco by Robert Rezette

An AAR plus photos of our game can be found here:

https://baberonwargames.blogspot.com/2012/07/penon-de-velez-de-la-gomera.html 

Castello de Tibi

Castello de Tibi

Looking at the castle from Tibi

Looking across at Tibi from the castle

The Castle of Tibi (Province of Alicante), also known as Atalaya Castle; is situated on an isolated hill called Loma de las Manjas, roughly 1km from the town. 

Tibi is roughly 25mins drive north of Alicante just off the A7 Castella/Alcoy highway. 

The castle is easily accessable by car or foot from Tibi along the Girona (sometimes spelt Jirona) road 

First view of the castle when you approach from the road access path 

The moat overlooked by the east tower

Inside view of the moat

Catsle plan

The castle was built in the 11^th or 12th Centuries, during the Islamic period, possibly on the site of an earlier construction? It belonged to the Almohad King Zayt-Abu-Zayt until 1240. After the conquest of this territory by James I of Aragon, Tibi became part of the Crown of Aragon, and in 1244, according to the Treaty of Almizra, signed between Alfonso X and James I, the border between the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Castile was drawn, starting from Biar and passing through Tibi and Busot to the sea. Thus, this castle, along with those of Biar and Busot, formed the line. In any case, its history as a Christian fortification was short, barely 100 years, being abandoned probably after the war of the two Peters, in the middle of the 14th century, possibly as a result of damage received during the sieges?

  

Views of the east tower from below

The village of Tibi, was given by James I to Don Pedro Sancho de Lienda, a Navarrese knight, finding in it 150 houses of old Christians, that is, Mozarabs who maintained the Christian faith during the 700 years of Islamic domination. The warden of the castle was the knight don Alfonso de solar brother of Don Pedro Sancho`s wife.

The lordship of the town of Tibi and its castle had successive lords until, in the mid-15th century, it passed into the hands of the Marquis of Villena, Don Juan Pacheco, feudal lord of the entire territory from Jumilla to Villena and from Belmonte (Cuenca) to Tibi. Later, at the beginning of the 18th century, the lordship passed into the hands of the Marquis of Dos Aguas, until its expansion in 1717. Its participation in the War of the Spanish Succession earned it the title of Town.

The castle has an irregular layout, is situated on the steepest part of the hill, adapting to the topography. It has a 5 meter high by 3-meter-wide artificial corridor that has been carved out of the rock to create an imposing entrance way, which would be covered from the battlements and east tower. This cut (often referred to as a moat) acts to separate the castle itself from the rest of the hill.

Although the ruin currently has few elements above ground level, several sections of perimeter wall can be seen, as well as the remains of two towers, plus traces of various outbuildings surrounding the highest part of the hill, and a partially destroyed cistern.

The tower located to the east, square in plan, is built of irregular masonry and rammed earth, historians propose the structure must have had two stories, but the condition of the ruin makes this supposition.

Looking back across the site from the west tower

At the western end of the hilltop, stands another, larger tower built into the rock at the steepest point of the promontory. This is also square but sloped to adapt to the terrain, built of rammed earth, almost the entire first floor remains, reaching a height of about 3.60 meters, with the upper part truncated. On its south side, a large window reinforced with ashlar blocks and a stone arch can be seen. It is assumed as with the eastern tower, this one had at least two stories at the castles height.

West tower

South facing window of the west tower

East tower

West tower from below

The archaeological work carried out in 1985 was the result of an agreement between the Tibi Town Council and the INEM (National Institute of Archaeology and Meteorology). This work focused on the upper enclosure and the castle tower, where a complex of compartmentalized rooms adapted to the terrain was discovered, along with two cisterns, one in the upper eastern sector and the other on the northern slope of the fortification. In addition, a cave located beneath the tower on the southern side of the fortress was excavated. Most of the material unearthed dates from the late medieval Christian period, specifically the 14th and 15th centuries, although Almohad material was also found, reflecting the Islamic archaeological layer of this fortification.

Whilst digging around on the internet I found these overhead drone shots of the site:

good view of the west tower

 

The whole site looking south towards Alicante

Artists impression of the castle at its height

A tourist souvenir model of the castle

Renault R-35

Renault R-35

Shellhole Scenics white metal model (I left off the tail skid) with an AB Figures commander

Painted in a neutral khaki colour so it can serve where ever I want - Syria/Lebanon, Morocco (Operation Torch) or mainland France.

Italian armour

Italian Armour

I continue to plod along, a couple of Raventhorpe "Ready to Roll" Italian M14/41 tanks with old Reiver Castings commanders

Nothing fancy, a bit of cleaning and filling, followed by a ochre undercoat and Iraqi sand top coat and light wash - job done 😁 As always Tony`s service was excellent - highly recommended.

British vehicles

British vehicles

Just pottering about, so decided to build a few plastic kits from my rather small stash.

First up an Airfix Jeep & trailer from gift pack set A68217 sold by Lidl in the UK last Christmas (2024), I didn`t need, so didn`t build the 75mm pack howitzer. I gave the Jeep a driver from the bits box (from the Airfix Bofors gun set) and painted both up for my Mediterranean/Middle East Brits.

Canadian Pattern Quad Tractor

A venerable Esci model 8024 that has been in the stash since before we moved my collection out here to Spain (so at least 12 yrs). Not that I need another British tow, but I was in a building mood 😁 Not a bad model, I didn`t bother with any of the internal detail, again painted up for North Africa.

M3A1 Scout Car

Another venerable Esci kit 8038 which has been in the stash for years (bought at the same time as the Quad above). I wanted a command vehicle for my British/Indian/Aussie battalions and thought this make a nice addition. A really nice kit, I added a bit of stowage, then messed about with the crew - the driver is another Airfix Bofors gunner (with an SHQ head), the seated guy in the back as a RTO is from EWM with a Britannia tanker head with headphones and the standing guy is EWM with a Raventhorpe head - sometimes I can`t help myself 😂