To Hell With Spain:
A Preview, Part Two
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
October 2013

Infantry Attacks: To Hell With Spain may be the finest of all the downloads: readily recognizable topic, very good scenarios, nice-looking pieces. While we could have done it as a boxed game, I’m not sure how well it would have sold – and at the time it came out, we had plenty of boxed games jammed in the production lineup and making no progress.

Here’s a look at the second five scenarios from the best of the downloads, To Hell With Spain. You’re not likely to see its like again, so download it for yourself and enjoy.

Scenario Six
Yauco
26 July 1898
With the Regular Army committed to the Cuban campaign and the occupation of the Philippines, most additional American forces would have to be drawn from the volunteer state militias that had been mustering since the outbreak of war. These formed the bulk of the forces with which General Nelson Appleton Miles landed at Guanica, Puerto Rico. Miles’ landing site was a surprise to everyone, including the Americans. The approved war plan had Miles landing all his forces at Cape San Juan on the northeastern tip of the island and then making a relatively short march westward to take the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan. But Miles rejected that in favor of landing at several points on the south coast of Puerto Rico, after which his troops would fan out across the island to crush all opposition. Miles didn’t bother to get the change approved by the Secretary of War nor President McKinley; he simply went ahead and did it unilaterally. Many were outraged by Miles’ actions, which violated the maxim that one never splits one’s forces in the face of the enemy unless circumstances require it. Alfred Thayer Mahan declared Miles’ actions “. . . a military stupidity so great, that I can account for these acts only by a kind of obsession or vanity, to do a singular and unexpected thing.”

After a short skirmish on July 25th to drive the small Spanish garrison out of Guanica, the lead units of the Puerto Rico invasion secured their beachhead while local Spanish officials telegraphed news of the invasion to the Governor of Puerto Rico, Manuel Macias y Casado. Macias ordered forces southward to block any American breakout from the beachhead, while Miles sent Brigadier General G. A. Garretson on a night march northeastward to seize the railroad station at Yauco. In the wee hours of the morning of the 26th, Garretson’s forces met with a Spanish force under Coronel Tenente Francisco Puig, blocking the road at Hacienda Desideria.

This scenario uses boards from Eastern Front and 1940: The Fall of France.

Conclusion
Spanish resistance was unexpectedly strong and caused some confusion, but in the end the volunteers drove the Spanish off with only a few casualties on either side. Colonel Puig’s troops retreated to the north coast of the island after abandoning most of their heavy equipment at Yauco, a fact which shamed Colonel Puig so much that he committed suicide rather than face the possibility of public disgrace. The 6th Massachusetts Volunteers marched through Yauco and on to Ponce, where they helped secure the surrender of that city. However, shortly thereafter General Miles launched an investigation that ended with the resignations of several officers of 6th Massachusetts plus the replacement of the regimental commander with a Regular Army colonel. Reports of the proceedings cited the officers who resigned with failure to maintain troop discipline and being absent from their troops in battle. However, other reports blame some of the resignations on the fact that General Garretson did not like dealing with the African-American officers and troops of Company L.

Notes
It’s a dawn attack, with American militia fighting their way northward against a mixed force of Spanish regulars and militia. Unlike the previous scenarios, this time the American is going to have to use his reasonably good leadership to out-maneuver the Spanish.

Scenario Seven
Guayama
5 August 1898
General Miles’ invasion plan proceeded with more U.S. Army brigades landing at different cities on the south coast of Puerto Rico. Brigadier General Peter G. Hains landed at Arroyo on August 1st with a brigade consisting of three volunteer infantry regiments plus substantial cavalry and artillery. Included in the latter was a battery of Sims-Dudley dynamite guns. These moved out with two of the volunteer regiments to capture the town of Guayama on the morning of August 5th. Blocking the way were just under a thousand Spanish troops entrenched on the hills near the road.

This scenario uses a board from Road to Berlin.

Conclusion
Superior numbers decided the day, and the Americans pushed the Spaniards off the hill in short order. The latter fled westward to the town of Guayama, but when the Americans sent troops out to probe the town’s defenses they discovered that the Spanish had abandoned it and fled northward. The Americans occupied Guayama and then sent further probes northward the next day, at which point they discovered a strong Spanish force entrenched on the Guamani Heights five miles north of town. It was decided that the Spanish position was too strong to attack, so the advance halted for the time being.

Notes
There’s only one board in play, but the numbers involved are somewhat greater than the previous Puerto Rican scenario. Once again it’s the Americans on the attack, but Spanish quality is starting to slip, with a greater proportion of less-than-enthusiastic militia. Even so, the Spanish have the heights and it’s up to the Americans to push them off – never an easy task in Infantry Attacks.

Scenario Eight
Silva Heights
10 August 1898
General Miles gave Brigadier General Theodore Schwan the job of driving the Spanish from the western end of Puerto Rico. Schwan’s initial orders were to march his Regular Independent Brigade northwest from Yauco and take the town of Mayagüez, which was the district headquarters of Spanish Coronel Julio Soto Villanueva. The Spanish Colonel ordered the entire Mayagüez garrison southward to meet and defeat Schwan at the town of Hormigueros, which lay on the slope of the Silva Heights that ran parallel to the road leading to Mayaguez.

This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and 1940: The Fall of France.

Conclusion
The brigade’s attached cavalry unit was first on the scene, and it drove off the guerilleros holding the Torrens Bridge and pursued them into the town of Hormigueros.  American infantry, artillery and Gatling guns arrived shortly thereafter and took control of the Silva Bridge. Once across the river the Americans pressed steadily forward, with their cavalry remounting and turning the Spanish flank. The Spaniards were forced to retreat from the area, and General Schwan rested his troops on the Silva Heights that evening.

Notes
The Spaniards are pretty evenly matched with the Americans for once, with almost as many troops and their usual defensive advantages. A good Spanish player should be able to put up a much better defense than his historical counterpart.

Scenario Nine
Asomante
13 August 1898
Ponce surrendered to the Americans on July 28th, as troops that had marched overland from Yauco were prepared to attack it by land while additional forces were sitting offshore ready to attack by sea. This gave the Americans their first major port on Puerto Rico through which they could funnel troops and supplies, and that led to large-scale troop movements into the interior. One of these was the advance of General Wilson’s 1st Brigade up the Military Road, with the objective of taking several towns in the mountainous interior and then linking-up with General Brooke’s 2nd Brigade at Cayey. The advance met some initial opposition at Coamo, but resistance fell apart quickly as the outflanked and vastly outnumbered Spanish force retreated up the road ahead of the Americans. But the American advance halted about five miles beyond Coamo when cavalry scouts encountered a well-entrenched and strongly-held Spanish position at Aibonito Pass. The Americans bombarded and probed the Spanish lines for several days and sent forces on a flanking maneuver to the north of the Spanish position. The Americans planned a two-pronged attack for August 13th, but it never took place because General Wilson received word that morning of the armistice ending all hostilities with Spain. This scenario depicts the attack that would have taken place at Aibonito Pass that day if the armistice had not yet been signed.

This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Elsenborn Ridge.

Conclusion
The armistice left Puerto Rico divided, with the Americans in control of the southern half of the island and Spain in control of the north. There were still 8,000 Spanish troops on the island, and had the armistice not been signed the Americans would have had much tough mountain fighting ahead of them on their way to San Juan, followed by a potentially long siege of the capital city. The treaty therefore spared both sides considerable bloodshed.

Notes
Once again, American numbers face Spanish morale and better firepower per unit. Neither side has much artillery (one battery each) but the Spanish have the better of this as well. But the American numbers are impressive, and the Spaniard will be hard-put to keep the American player away from all four of his objectives.

Scenario Ten
Heights of Guamani
13 August 1898
The other major battle that almost happened would have taken place about six miles north of Guayama. After taking that town, General Hains sent companies of the 4th Ohio northward to reconnoiter the road ahead, and they discovered a strong Spanish position on the Guamani Heights. A skirmish ensued on August 8th to the north of the Guamani River Bridge, with the result that the Spanish simply withdrew further north along the road and into the mountains. General Hains decided that a frontal assault by his entire force wouldn’t produce better results, so he sent 4th Ohio on a flank march to the west while bringing up his artillery and his other two regiments. The plan was for his main force to attack the Spanish position from the front, after which 4th Ohio would make a flanking attack once the Spanish were pinned by the frontal assault. During the American preparations, Spanish engineer Julio Cervera Baviera directed the construction of a large network of hidden trenches on the heights, which would have made taking the position a serious challenge for the American volunteers. General Hains was moments from giving the order to open fire when word arrived of the armistice. This scenario depicts the battle that would have taken place at the Heights of Guamani had the armistice not been signed that day.

This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge.

Conclusion
The scene at the moment when the battle was about to begin was captured by newspaper correspondent Richard Harding Davis, who wrote: "They [some of the men of Battery B] were behind a gun pointed at the enemy...entrenched to the left of Guayama. The shell was in the chamber, the gunner aimed the piece and had run backward, but before it spoke, Lieutenant MacLaughlin, of the Signal Corps, galloped upon the scene shrieking, 'Cease firing, peace has been declared!' Whereat the men swore."

Notes
It’s a battle that never happened, but if it had, American casualties would have stacked up in front of the heights – the Spanish are once again outnumbered, but they are very well-fortified despite a lack of artillery support.

And that’s it for To Hell With Spain. It’s a piece of American history not found in any other wargames of which we’re aware.

Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and award-winning journalist, he has published over 100 books, games and articles on historical subjects. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children and his dog, Leopold.