The 3rd Battalion of foreign volunteers was the 'Dombrowski' Battalion, commanded by a Pole, Boleslav Ulanovski. The unit was chiefly composed of socialist and communist miners recently living in France and Belgium. On the evening of November 8th, the Dombrowski Battalion was sent to join Lister and the 5th Regiment at Villaverde. On the 16th a bloody battle began in the University City section of Madrid. Hours of artillery and aerial bombardment were followed by room-to-room hand-to-hand combat.
Attacker: Spanish Nationalist (1st Regt, 1st Tabor of Tetuan; 1st Regt, 5th Bandera de la Legion)
Defender: Spanish Republican (Dombrowski Bn, XIth International Bde)
A very tense game that went the distance. The Republicans have a real conundrum in trying to wait out the artillery and punishing the required movement in open ground, or ceding territory early and hope to make up for it in bloody CC and PBF shots. Rootin did a tremendous job at weathering the storm, taking attack after attack on the chin. Sadly, a squad or two that won't come back in 3 or more turns ends up hurting the defenders position more than one might appreciate. Periods of encirclement and cc, overstacking and murderous artillery punctuated a stiff fight. One I could see being played multiple times, or perhaps a tournament scenario.