From David Eshel; "The Lebanon war 1982"; A PLO battalion had no more than 200 men, including logistics staff. Each battalion had 2 or 3 companies each with 50-80 men and a large support company. Battalion HQ Co plus 3 figures and 1 SA7 - 1 Jeep/ light truck 2 or 3 companies each with 5 figures inc 1 RPG 7 * 1 support company with 1 82 mm or 120mm mortar with 2 crew 1 Sagger atgw or 1 82mm RR or 1 107mm RR with 2 crew** 1 12.7mm HMG with 2 crew ** 1 14.5mm AA or 1 23mm AA or 1 37mm AA gun with 2 crew** * 1 figure in each battalion may have a 50mm mortar or an M16/203 ** maybe mounted in an vehicle PLO brigades were made up of 5 battalion sized units, with additional specialised support units added when needed. A PLO battalion will be localised, it will focus on an area - usually a village, and the battalion HQ will make itself at home in the area. Usually imposing a kind of local sheriffdom, or Mafia style rule. A PLO battalion would typically have some 200 men in total, There would be 2 or 3 deployed companies each with 50 - 80 men, and a support company consisting of whatever they had acquired. The PLO had some 15,00 fighters in Lebanon at the time of the 1982 Israeli invasion. the basic building bloc for the PLO was the brigade. Some PLO brigades Kastel Brigade; Western territorial. Had its HQ at Sidon. Commanded by Haj Ismail. Covered the area from the Litani River to Nabatiya. Karameh Brigade; Located on the eastern slopes of Mount Hermon, often refered to as 'Fatah' land. Reserve brigade; dedicated to act as a support for the above two, active in recruiting in the refugee camps at Barad River and El badawi. HQ in Tripoli. Azandi Brigade; based in Beirut. PLO Support Units Armour The PLO had 60 T34/85's, some T54's, and Charioteers . APC's They had numbers of BTR152, BTR 60, BTR 40, BRDM 1, and BRDM 2. And also some UR 416's. Artillery They had large numbers of D44 85mm anti tank guns, M38 122 howitzers, M46 130mm guns. And also large numbers of 60mm, 82mm, 120mm and 160mm mortars. MRL's Again these were present in large numbers ; 107mm MRL's, BM11, 13 and 24 MRL,s. Anti Aircraft weapons Soviet supplied 14.5, twin 14.5mm, quad 14.5 mm, twin 23mm, 37mm, twin 37mm, S60 57mm. There were also plenty of SA7 and some reported SA9. Rapid Fire In terms of ' Rapid Fire '. I would suggest the following: Armoured units : no more than 3 independent companies of T34/85's @ company HQ - 1 /T34/85 1 company of 3 T34/85's. No more than 1 company of T54's - organisation as above. Recce units ; there may be no more than 1 Recce unit of 2 BRDM 1's or 2's. APC's Only one battalion in any one brigade may be equipped with APC's. That is 2 APC's per company. I would also allow the use of non armed civilian vehicles ( each vehicle would carry no more than 4 figures ) - this would be at the Israeli players agreement. Each brigade may have one of each of the following attached. Artillery battalion ; 3 artillery pieces each with medium truck and 4 crew 1 FOO team - 2 figures and jeep MRL battalion 2 MRL's each with a crew of 4 1 FOO team - 2 figures and jeep AA battery ; 3 AA pieces and tow ( may be truck mounted ) each with 3 crew Mortar battery 3 120mm or 160mm mortars each with 3 crew and light truck. 1 FOO team - 2 figures and jeep Back to Frontline Vol. 2 Iss. 3 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 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