THE CUBAN EXILES/US FORCES Brigade 2506 - the exiles [named after serial number of 1st recruit to die in training Rodrigues Santana, serial numbers started at 2500 to give the impression of a bigger force...] 1500 men in 6 btns [approx. 200 per btn] 1st Btn [Parachute] 2nd Btn [Inf] 3rd Btn [Armoured] 4th Btn [Heavy weapons] 5th Btn [Inf] 6th Btn [Inf] Field Hospital Support Equipment: 5xM41 Walker Bulldog 10X "Deuce & a half" trucks 3xJeeps 1x bulldozer 3x 75mm pack howitzers 15x81mm mortars 4x 4.2" mortars 15xBazookas 3x .50 cal HMGs. Infantry and Paras were armed with M1 carbines,BARs, Garands, "Grease guns" & grenades. Uniforms: Paras; 1 piece light green overall, brown jump boots, + sky blue helmet like a US football helmet without the visor. Infantry ; home-made "Duck hunter" camo pattern fatigues + various headgear [dark green baseball caps, US steel helmet, wide brimmed felt "Cowboy" hats {known as "Texas" hats}]. A small number of frogmen landed ahead of main landings. Dressed in 2-piece black rubber suits + blackened sneakers, different coloured neckscarves [red for 4th btn, blue for 1st]. Armed with BARs & "grease guns". Airforce: 16x B-26 light bombers [disguised as F.A.R B-26s but + opaque metal nose cones]. Usual armament; 2xnose MGs [2800 lbs of ammo], 2x 500lb demolition bombs, 10x 26lb fragmentation bombs, 8 rockets [4 per wing]. 6x Curtiss C-46 & 6x Douglas C-54 transport planes for para drops & supply drops. Navy: 4X dilapidated cargoships, "Houston", "Caribe", "Rio Esconido" & "Atlantico" 2x LCI [Landing Craft Infantry] "Blagar" & "Barbara J" ["Blagar" noted as firing MGs & 75mm M20 Recoiless rifles during invasion, ? "rocket ships" you mentioned] 1x CIA crewed LSD [Landing Ship Dock] "San Marcos", carrying 4 LCVPs, 3LCUs, 1 LCM + motor launches, catamarans & rubber rafts. Civilian crew on cargoships. Cargoships decks loaded + fuel & ammo, resulting in "Houston" & Rio Esconido" blowing up after air attacks. Some AA defence of some sort is mentioned, enough to shoot down a B-26. Some CIA personnel landed against orders as "observers". THE CUBAN F.A.R. FORCES A total of 20,000 men are reported as sealing off the bridgehead eventually. The following are mentioned in sources : Initially small groups ["jeep load" "truck load"] of local militia. "900 men in 60 vehicles", "4 Cuban Army/Militia btns + tanks & A/cars", "4 batteries of 122mm howitzers", "1800 men & 7 tanks". Casualties are reported as 1250 KIA [+400 died of wounds] & 2000 wounded. At the time of invasion, Cuba has enough men & equipment available to field 9 light divisions. Cuban Equipment: Tanks/Afv's: Remnants of Batista regime M3 Stuarts, M4 Shermans, M8 armoured cars + 15x Comets, 4xT54s, 36 x T34/85s, 36x Su100s, ?x JSII [60 in 1980s!], 60x BTR152s. Artillery: 80 x assorted 122mm & 85mm art pieces, 60x AT guns, 80x AAguns, more 105mm M56 pack hows, 75mm & 105mm RCLs . Infantry weapons: .30" & .50" HMGs, 3.5" M20 AT rocket launchers, DP & BAR LMGs. FN FAL, Lee-Enfields, Soviet R-2 rifles, Beretta SMGs and assorted automatic weapons. Others: GAZ trucks + civilian buses & cars used, as well as jeeps. 3000 Soviet & Czech advisors assisted + training. Organisation: Unknown! Presumably on Soviet pattern but with lower equipment holdings. Many of Inf "foot mobile". Uniforms: Unknown! Pics of Revolution show [?] OG fatigues + "Castro" hats, black berets & "cowboy"/bush hats. No doubt items of civilian clothing worn, especially by Militia. Air Force: [figs in brackets = those available for invasion, rest destroyed on ground or not airworthy having been cannibalised for spare parts] 18 [9]x B-26 light bombers [Plexiglas nose fittings] 12 [2]X Republic F [?P]-47D fighters 17 [8]x FB11 Hawker Sea Fury fighter-bombers 7 [4] x Lockheed T-33A armed trainers In 3 Fighter & 2 light bomber sqns. Part Two in a future edition - wargaming the battle Back to Frontline Vol. 1 Iss. 2 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com