Republic Production Notes

[Q-Ball]

Some observations playing as Republic for the Team:

Squad Shortages

1. The CNT Squads are short until early November 1936. That may be acceptable, but letting you know there's definitely a shortage of Anarchists the first 3 months
2. The PCE Squads are WAY short; as of November 1936, not near enough to fill-out requirements. Several units are sitting in towns awaiting squads. Production is only 75 per month, I think more Communists are needed. (I know it becomes irrelevant when they are replaced in early '37 with generic People's Militia
3. The Republic has ample supplies of LMGs, HMGs, and Mortars. Is this realistic? The real-life Republic was desparately short in all of these categories, and couldn't fill out TOEs. (As a side note, the Republic has WAY more Hotchkiss LMGs than the Nationalists, which doesn't make sense to me). Haven't had any trouble filling out Artillery TOE's.
4. Plenty of Motorcycle squads, not enough Bicycle Recon squads....seems like it should be reversed
5. Most other Militia Squads are plentiful, particularly the MOAC; everyone's an anti-fascist I guess

My gut tells me the Republic should have plenty of militia squads, and be short of heavier weapons and equipment...so I wonder if the production needs to be tweaked a bit

[Seskhan]

Yes, it seems the number of MAOC is exaggerated. If I didn't get wrong about what the load cost represent, each MAOC squad has 8 men and each CNT squad has 13 men. Including the northern part, MAOC has 220 squads in pool and 3645 squads in production line, which will represent 29160 men. In the case of CNT, it has 255 squads in pool and 3358 squads in production line, which represent 46969 men. For MAOC, I read the article from Juan Andrés Blanco Rodríguez, which says the exact number of MAOC is still unknow but it is very small at least at the beginning of war, which ranged from 2000 to 4000 men and most of them gathered in Marid. I didn't check how many MAOC squad was already deployed in map, but I think it is far away from 2000 men based on my few experiences of campaign game. For CNT, some sources says it has 50000s men during the civil war, which means that the number in game is roughly correct. I didn't find the exact number of PCE, UGT and POUM militias but I find a pro anarchist website says that UGT has 30000s men, PCE has 10000s men and POUM has 5000s men. Again, I didn't check how many squad was already deployed at the beginning of game, and I think PCE militias are under estimated in game. Anyway, I'm happy to have others point out my mistakes; I'm not a specialist in the history of the Spanish Civil War.

[Piteas]

MAOC: Among all the militias that operated in the Republican zone during the first months of the Spanish Civil War, the MAOC were perhaps the most effective. But their number is difficult to specify and ranges from Juan Modesto, the organizer of the MAOC, saying between 1,000 and 1,500 during the first weeks of the war (surely the number in Madrid) and several historians saying many thousands more (Madrid+the country). So that the number will always be hypothetical.

PCE: It was a relatively minor political force in july 36 (only 17 deputies out of 473), but it became the main driving force behind the armed resistance and a key player within the republican side thanks to support from the USSR. However, at the beginning of the war and until October–November 36 (when Soviet influence increased), their mobilization was limited. Really, It never had a large number of members, but their discipline and military leadership ended up directing the republican side.

POUM: It was always a small group of trotskyists that the Soviets magnified into a threat. They are also famous because they were George Orwell's militia and they are frequently cited in his works.

Anarchists: It was the largest group within the republican camp at the beginning of the war and it had the most respected leaders. But... they were anarchists, you know.

[Hrafnagud]

Broadly speaking:

CNT (anarchists): the largest of the Republican militia, 50,000. High morale but very low military effectiveness.
UGT (socialist trade-unionist): 30,000
MAOC/PCE (Stalinist communist): 10,000 (initially MAOC, then growing into PCE) - probably the most militarily effective, the Fifth Regiment growing out of MAOC was loyal, highly disciplined and elite in the context of SCW
POUM (anti-Stalinist Marxist): 5,000

[Q-Ball]

Broadly speaking:

CNT (anarchists): the largest of the Republican militia, 50,000. High morale but very low military effectiveness.
UGT (socialist trade-unionist): 30,000
MAOC/PCE (Stalinist communist): 10,000 (initially MAOC, then growing into PCE) - probably the most militarily effective, the Fifth Regiment growing out of MAOC was loyal, highly disciplined and elite in the context of SCW
POUM (anti-Stalinist Marxist): 5,000

In game-terms, the Fifth Regiment is nothing special; just another militia column, albeit a bit larger than most.....wonder if it needs higher experience at first

[Hrafnagud]

That will need to be remedied, then.

The Quinto Regimiento de Milicias Populares was considered an elite corps, made up of volunteers (initially, mostly from the MAOC, but later from other sources). It was described as a model military unit, loyal to the Republic and elite.

Basically, the MAOC formed five battalions in the early days of the coup, and one of these battalions became the Fifth Regiment, and was designed to be a model for other military units to be based upon and whose example to follow.

One prime example of a departure from the other, chaotic Republican militias: in the Fifth Regiment soldiers were not allowed to discuss and debate the orders they were given by their officers. This alone made them a lot more militarily effective than other militia units.

However, some might argue that the Fifth Regiment was more of a propaganda unit - it certainly received a lot of coverage, with lots of murals and posters in Madrid. But they certainly did fight in a lot of battles and the unit was considered as being crucial during the Defence of Madrid.

[Hrafnagud]

The CNT militias, by contrast, very much allowed discussion and debate of orders from the superiors by the rank and file. So, while they were very motivated, the CNT militias ended up being hamstrung by indecision and were therefore very inflexible combat units.