So here we are, 2025! I feel like we completely bypassed the last third of 2024 as I was swamped with printing armies and was barely able to get anywhere near new miniatures for the ranges.
We are starting differently this time though. This year we have LOADS of stuff ready to release and nearing completion so I thought that we would stick with our roots for our first release and let you all have a look at some Spanish Civil War artillery… although I have to admit that one of the releases was also used by the Dutch in their Far Eastern campaigns… which is nice!
Canon de Campana de 15cm Mod.1916
So, let me introduce you to one of Spains rare birds! The Canon de Campana de Krupp 15cm Modelo 1916
The enigmatic Krupp 15cm M.1916 is probably one of the most difficult artillery pieces to research due to such an abject lack of details that are available. Even decent images of this gun are as rare as rocking horse s***! What we can be sure of though is that at the start of the Spanish Civil War, the nation of Spain had 32 of these artillery pieces, grouped in a single heavy artillery regiment. Within this regiment was two artillery groups, one of which had three batteries of four barrels of this Krupp derived cannon, partnered with another artillery group of equal organisation but equipped with Schneider 155mm M.1913 howitzers.
Tested in 1913 by the Spanish military hierarchy they were declared establishment in 1916 and were signed off to equip coastal batteries, some going to Vizcaya and Guipuzkoa with the others travelling to Cadiz as a part of the Regimiento de Artilleria de Costa Cadiz, and to Ferrol, Cartagena and Mahon where the Mahon Group was also equipped with a mixed field group equipped with a battery of Krupp 15cm’s.
The Cadiz Regiment had two coastal groups and a heavy field group. The Heavy Field Group was armed with a battery of Schneider 155/13 howitzers and another of Krupp howitzers
When the war started, the batteries were divided across the country and with the split of the territory between elected government and rebel factions, four batteries of four guns each found themselves on each side.
So… there we have it. A rare bird indeed. Now, let me share with you one of my favourite artillery pieces of the Spanish Civil War. Old, rugged and still soldiering on long past the end of this war. The De Bang 1877 155mm
De Bang 1877 155mm
Designed and manufactured largely around 1877 by the time the Spanish Civil War started the De Bang 155mm was already horribly obsolete. In the wake of the Franco-Prussian war however this piece of kit was developed to be absolutely cutting edge, and so it was… for its time. Obsolete even by the start of World War I the French nonetheless employed it in great numbers in the first two years of the conflict as their main counter-battery artillery piece.
Eighty were provided to the Russian Empire over 1916 and 1917 when they fell into the hands of the Soviets. When the Red Army reorganised during the ‘20’s they were allocated to the Central Reserve.
Stalin, being the good little greedy despot that he was fell over himself to provide the desperate Spanish Republic with some gold embossed help!
At the end of June 1937, 32 155L de Bange guns manufactured under license in Perm were sent by the Soviets to the Republican forces aboard the ship Cabo de Santo Tomé, which unloaded its cargo at Cartagena. The Republicans formed 15 two-gun batteries with these and kept two guns in reserve for training. One 155 L de Bange gun nicknamed “El Abuelo” (“The grandfather”) entered public consciousness after being deployed and photographed in Plaza de España, Madrid. (Although in point of fact this was not the only gun called “El Abuelo” during this conflict.)
I don’t know what it is about these stentorian monoliths but those girdles wrapped around their wheels get me every time! I decided that I simply had to have a two gun battery of these beauties in my armies!
So there we have the second of our new trio of weapon systems used in the Spanish Civil War. Now I would like to introduce you to a weapon system that every man and his dog knows of… if not have had their own hands on one at some point in their lives. The Bofors 40mm!
Canon A.A. Bofors de 40mm (40/56)
There is still much conjecture as to whether or not the Swedish made Bofors 40mm anti aircraft cannon ever made it to Spain during the conflict but for the fact that at the National War Booty exhibition in the Grand Kursaal in San Sebastian one such weapon was on display alongside one of its smaller cousins, the Bofors 37mm anti tank gun reportedly captured on the Castellon front, north of Valencia.
However, it should also be made note of that when consulting the exhibit map published by the Grand Kursaal, whilst the Bofors 37mm anti tank gun is present, there is in fact no trace of of a 40mm Bofors and may in fact have been mistaken by this Spanish officer for the Soviet supplied 76.2mm M.1931 anti aircraft gun which takes centre stage.
The image above however is purported to a pair of these 40mm Bofors guns being operated by Nationalist troops in the Northern Zone of Spain sometime after the fall of the north.
Manuel Taguena in his memoirs (Testimonios de dos Guerros p.205) recites that 12 of these anti-tank guns and a further 16 of these anti-aircraft guns were brought to the Flix-Vinebre sector to support the Republican attack across the Ebro on 25th July 1938, although all were short on ammunition.
To the left you will ssee an image of a Bofors 40mm on the back of an Autocar Model T which is an American truck, probably supplied to the Nationalists although given the cut of the Nationalist uniforms this may have been taken after the war by which time the guns would have been released to the country anyway.
How many of these modern Swedish weapons the Republican buyers were able to obtain, and more importantly get delivered is still not clear but the evidence points to the involvement of a Swiss connection through Rosenfeldt, Rosenbaum and the Baltic States.
Fernando Valdes, Franco’s agent in Stockholm reported to the rebel self-appointed government that he suspected the Swedish Socialist leader George Branting of using charity money collected for the relief of children in Spain to buy arms instead.
In fact, these weapons had been purchased by the Second Republic before the outbreak of the insurrection in the autumn of 1936 and had been languishing for more than a year and a half before enduring repeated attempts to get them delivered.
Now it wouldnt be right if we released a slew of guns without mentioning the other of our primary ranges that has already been released and that of course is the Dutch East Indies military, the KNIL!
The Bofors 40mm M/1936 in service with the KNIL
The Bofors 40mm was known as the gun that fought for all sides… and so it was. In the rush to re-equip itself in the face of Japanese Imperialist expansionism and aggression the Dutch East Indies purchasing commissions were able to obtain 46 units by the time of the Japanese invasion.
Organised in small batteries of two guns apiece they were largely deployed around the Soerabaja Defence Zone to bolster the coastal defences although batteries were also found in the Tarakan and Samarinda II Local Commands, mainly hauled by Chevrolet light trucks in a pinch a Vickers Light Utility tractor could take over the duty if necessary.
Other vehicles could be used as tows, such as the Vickers Light Utility Tractor mentioned above and the single 40mm piece that was stationed with the Tarakan Local Command had a GMC 2.5t truck to pull it. By the time the first week in Java was done if something could be shoehorned into a role… then it was!
So there we have it. Some potted history, some nice photographs and of course some of the images on the Store for each of these artillery pieces.
You can find the Spanish Civil War artillery page in the store here: https://bayonetsandbrushes.co.uk/store/the-rif-spanish-civil-war-land/artillery-pieces-land/
You can find the Dutch KNIL artillery page in the store here: https://bayonetsandbrushes.co.uk/store/world-war-ii-on-land/the-royal-netherlands-army-knil/knil-artillery/
There are plenty more pieces to be released for the Spanish Civil War ranges that are completed and awaiting publication but this year we need to keep active on the Blogs as its really the only way we are getting our name out there, so we are parcelling out the releases over a limited time frame.
If anybody is interested we have at least three big ranges of World War 2 nations being released this year as well… and they will be big releases!
Fix your bayonets… and watch this space!
