Tanks have been utilized on the island of Cuba both within the military and within several conflicts, [1] with their usage and origin after World War II; the Cold War; and the modern era. This includes imported Soviet tanks in the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces today as well as American and British designs imported prior to the Cuban Revolution.
Cuba originally had tanks from Great Britain and the United States and armored vehicles but didn't manufacture any. From these beginnings the modern Cuban Armoured forces grew and procured modern armoured fighting vehicles from Russia and Soviet Bloc that served during the Cold War, and various operations. One of the main Cuban operations using armor was in Angola in Africa.
Cuba in 1942 received military aid through the Lend-Lease program, and received eight Marmon-Herrington tanks from the U.S. [2] which became known in the Cuban army as the ‘3 Man Dutch’ [3] as they had been the model of tank sent to the Dutch East Indies campaign against the Japanese invasion in World War II. [4] [5]
Cuba also got M3 Stuart tanks from the United States, as 24 of these light tanks arrived at Cuba under Lend Lease in 1942-1943 after the declaration of war to Germany. Later in 1957, 7 M4 Sherman tanks were received from the United States. They participated in the fights against the 26th of July Guerrilla Movement of Fidel Castro, fighting in Oriente (offensive of May 1958, Battle of Guise) and in the Battle of Santa Clara, in support of the Regiment "Leoncio Vidal" against Che Guevara. Some of these tanks were captured by the rebels, and the Shermans were displayed by the rebels riding the tanks when they triumphantly entered Havana, with Fidel on one of them. [6] Here, on January 1, 1959, was taken the famous photo of Che next to a Sherman which also saw action in the Battle of Santa Clara, as Batista sent 10 tanks, 12 armored cars along with an armored train and air support. [7] [8] [9]
Just before the revolution, Great Britain had sent 15 A34 Comet tanks [10] which were delivered to Cuba under Batista on 17 December 1958, and there are reports that some were used in the Battle of Santa Clara at the end of December 1959 by Batista's troops. Castro got these after he took over Cuba, and requested additional stocks of 77mm ammunition for the Comets as well as spare parts. [11]
When Fidel Castro seized power in January 1959, five of the eight Marmon-Herrington tanks were still operational. The new communist army, FAR (Revolutionary Armed Forces), retained them and shortly thereafter these five tanks were modified the original 37mm cannon replaced by a Bofors QF 20mm gun. The development of a strong armored force that could react quickly to any threat, whether internal or otherwise was a concern even at that stage.
In October 1960, the Cuban government needed tanks for which they could get ammunition not subject to US sanctions and turned to the Soviet Union for military aid from them and was supplied with T-34/85 tanks which allowed them to build up their armored forces. So by the time of Bay of Pigs in April 1961, there were in Cuba 125 T-34-85 and also 41 IS-2M tanks [12] that Cuba received. Some of the Sherman tanks also saw combat action against the anti-communist Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs (Playa Girón) along with the militia, [6] but the majority of the tanks and armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) the Cuban Army used at the battle were Soviet, such as the T-34/85 and the SU-100.
The IS-2M tanks were in two regiments sent to the battle and were used as a reserve firing artillery support, while there were at least a force of 20 of the T-34-85 tanks fighting in the Bay of Pigs conflict and aided in the Cuban victory over the Brigade 2506 M41 Walker Bulldog tanks, [1] although five T-34-85 tanks were destroyed and others severely damaged. [13] Castro asked for more T-34-85 tanks after this to defend the island, and in September 1961 the request was up to 412 tanks, which began arriving just before the Missile Crisis.
Soon after their own revolution, many Cubans identified with the fledgling groups fighting for their independence. In Algeria, when France gave their independence, Castro decided to support them in their struggle with Morocco in the Sand War. [14] Castro was determined to prevent American domination and formed the Grupo Especial de Instrucción to use whose forces included twenty-two T-34-85 tanks, eighteen 120-mm mortars, a battery of 57-mm recoilless rifles, anti-aircraft artillery with eighteen guns, and eighteen 122mm field guns with the crews to operate them. They were described as an advisory contingent to train the Algerian army, but Castro allowed deployment in combat actions. Castro tried keep Cuba's intervention covert, but word of their presence soon leaked out.
In 1961 the Cuban Military began to provide support for the left wing MPLA movement in a civil war. The Angolan War of Independence was a struggle for control of Angola between guerilla movements and Portuguese colonial authority. [15] Castro had become familiar with the MPLA soon after it began, and after he came to power, Cuba had trained some of its guerrilla fighters, and Che Guevara had also made contact with its leaders.
So when Portugal left, Cuba sent advisors to help the MPLA and they quickly found themselves in the conflict when they lost men in the Battle of Quifangondo on 10 November 1975, the day before the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) declared Angola's independence from Portugal. Cuba supplied the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) rebels with weapons and soldiers along with tanks to fight as the Cuban military would fight alongside the MPLA in major battles. [16] [17] [18]
The arrival of the T-55 tanks in 1963 allowed Castro to send many of the older T-34-85 tanks to the conflict in Angola in 1975. All of the T-34s in Angola were armed with a ZiS-S-53 85mm main gun and two 7.62mm DT machine guns, with estimates as high as 200 T-34s used during the conflict.[ citation needed ] The T-34-85 tanks participated in Angola including the Battle of Cassinga where a Cuban mechanized battalion with T-34 tanks, and BTR-152 armoured personnel carriers were nearly destroyed, losing a half-dozen T-34s with another three heavily damaged. Cuba also received T-54s along with the T-55s, which formed the backbone of more than a thousand tanks that Russia would provide. [19]
Russian T-62s arrived in Cuba in 1976, [20] and by November 1987, shipments of T-54/55s were sent to Angola to replace the tanks lost. The assistance to the MPLA escalated till Cuban military aid helped the MPLA emerge victorious. Cuban T-62s along with T-55s and T-54Bs, were deployed to Angola during Havana's lengthy intervention in that country.
The more ubiquitous T-55 was favoured for combat duty, and during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale only a single battalion of Cuban T-62s took part in the fighting. The Cuban tanks clashed with defending South African armoured units at Cuamato and again at Calueque without sustaining serious losses.
Fidel Castro ousted Batista on 31 December 1959, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state. Castro set up the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR) to oversee the Communist Party of Cuba and the government, as well as the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias – FAR). [21] In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Castro's government began a program of nationalization and political consolidation that transformed Cuba's economy and society. He also reformed many aspects of Cuba's military and political organizations along communist lines, such as the 26 July Movement becoming the Communist Party in October 1965, and making a people's militia called the National Revolutionary Militia (MNR) as well as building the military which had the armored forces. It was the MMR which first engaged the counter-revolutionary force at the Bay of Pigs, with the tanks being sent once the regular army was sent by Castro. [22]
As he consolidated his government, Castro built up the number of tanks for the army. Cuban armored forces were organized at first to defend the revolutionary socialist state, and later enable intervention in foreign military conflicts. Military schools were founded for infantry, tank, artillery and communications training as well as reorganizing and expanding the regular Army at the expense of the common people in the MNR militia. The best of the militia members were transferred to the regular Army and armored forces, and in 1963 the militia was changed to a new military reserve organization, the Popular Defense Forces. Then after the defeat of counter-revolutionary forces in the mountains in 1965, the Popular Defense Forces were made into the Civil Defense headed by Raúl Castro. Then in 1980 the Territorial Troops Militia was created, [23] composed exclusively of civilian volunteers, which backed up the army while the Civil Defense focused on natural disasters relief.
The regular army with its armored forces has been involved in training others or foreign intervention with considerable Soviet military assistance. It reached its peak in 1975, with three armored divisions with over 1000 tanks, and 15 infantry divisions. [19] In offensive action in these interventions, tanks, reconnaissance armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers and artillery pieces of the first echelon unit normally attack using Soviet military doctrine, which if defending the tanks are dug in with the armored units and soldiers, while the heavy artillery forms up behind to support them.
| Name | Country of origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marmon-Herrington Combat Tank |  United States | 8 | [24] |
| Name | Country of origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| M3 | United States | 5 | [24] |
| Name | Country of origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| M4 | United States | 15 | [24] |
| Name | Country of origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A34 |  United Kingdom | 5 | [24] |
| Name | Country of origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-34-85 |  Soviet Union | 150 | [24] |
| PT-76 | 50 | [24] |
| Name | Country of origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| IS-2Ms | Soviet Union | 41 | [24] |
| Name | Country of origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-54/55 | Soviet Union | 800 | T-55Ms active [24] |
| T-62 | 380 | T-62Ms active [24] |
The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The T-34 had a profound effect on the conflict on the Eastern Front, and had a long-lasting impact on tank design. The tank was praised by multiple German generals when encountered during Operation Barbarossa, although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war. Its main strength was its cost and production time, meaning that German panzer forces would often fight against Soviet tank forces several times their own size. The T-34 is also a critical part of the mechanized divisions that form the backbone of the Deep Battle Strategy.
The Angolan War of Independence, known as the Armed Struggle of National Liberation in Angola, was a war of independence fought between the Angolan nationalist forces of the MPLA, UNITA and FNLA, and Portugal. It began as an uprising by Angolans against the Portuguese imposition of forced cultivation of only cotton as a commodity crop. As the resistance spread against colonial authorities, multiple factions developed that struggled for control of Portugal's overseas province of Angola. There were three nationalist movements and also a separatist movement.
The Angolan Civil War was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, the communist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was fought intermittently between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988, south and east of the town of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and Cuba against South Africa and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War. The battle was the largest engagement of the Angolan conflict and the biggest conventional battle on the African continent since World War II. UNITA and its South African allies defeated a major FAPLA offensive towards Mavinga, preserving the former's control of southern Angola. They proceeded to launch a failed counteroffensive on FAPLA defensive positions around the Tumpo River east of Cuito Cuanavale.
The Marmon–Herrington armoured car was a series of armoured vehicles that were produced in South Africa and adopted by the British Army during World War II. They were also issued to RAF armoured car companies, which seem never to have used them in action, making greater use of Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars and other types.
This article deals with the chronology and development of Chinese armoured forces from 1927 to 1945.
Operation Savannah was the South African code name for their military incursion into Angola in 1975–1976. It was part of the South African Border War and arose due to the Angolan War of Independence. The operation also materially influenced the subsequent Angolan Civil War. South African forces invaded deep into Angola with the objective of driving the MPLA, Soviet and Cuban forces out of southern Angola so as to strengthen the position of UNITA, the main opponent of the MPLA and an ally of South Africa.
The Marmon-Herrington Combat Tank Light Series were a series of American light tanks/tankettes that were produced for the export market at the start of the Second World War. The CTL-3 had a crew of two and was armed with two .30 cal (7.62 mm) M1919 machine guns and one .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun. They were originally designed to be amphibious light tanks. They were rejected by the U.S. Marine Corps in 1939, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor they were exported and used as an emergency light tank.
The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara by revolutionaries under the command of Che Guevara.
The military history of Cuba is an aspect of the history of Cuba that spans several hundred years and encompasses the armed actions of Spanish Cuba while it was part of the Spanish Empire and the succeeding Cuban republics.
The Cuban intervention in Angola began on 5 November 1975, when Cuba sent combat troops in support of the communist-aligned People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the pro-western National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The intervention came after the outbreak of the Angolan Civil War, which occurred after the former Portuguese colony was granted independence after the Angolan War of Independence. The civil war quickly became a proxy war between the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union and the Western Bloc led by the United States. South Africa and the United States backed UNITA and the FNLA, while communist nations backed the MPLA.
During Angola's civil war, Cuban forces fought alongside the Marxist–Leninist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) government; against the Western-backed National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) guerrillas who were aided by the South-African army. The present day outcome of the war resulted in the MPLA changing from a Marxist–Leninist party to a multi-party democratic system based on neoliberal principles. From an economic standpoint, Cuba has lost its preferred status among Angolans and South Africa has become the biggest single investor and trading partner with Angola.
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The Battle of Quifangondo was fought on 10 November 1975, near the strategic settlement of Quifangondo, Luanda Province, between the People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), armed wing of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the National Liberation Army of Angola (ELNA), armed wing of the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The engagement marked the first major deployment of rocket artillery in the Angolan Civil War, as well as the last serious attempt by ELNA forces to seize Luanda, the Angolan capital. It occurred on the last day of Portuguese colonial rule in the country, which formally received independence only hours later.
The Cypriot National Guard employs several armoured vehicles in its operations.
The Angolan Army is the land component of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).
Cuban foreign policy during the Cold War emphasized providing direct military assistance to friendly governments and resistance movements worldwide. This policy was justified directly by the Marxist concept of proletarian internationalism and was first articulated by Cuban leader Fidel Castro at the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America in 1966. However, as an informal policy it had been adopted as early as 1959, shortly after the Cuban Revolution. It formed the basis for a number of Cuban military initiatives in Africa and Latin America, often carried out in direct conjunction with the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact member states which provided advisory or logistical support. These operations were often planned by the Cuban general staff through an overseas headquarters known as an internationalist mission.
Cuba intervened into numerous conflicts during the Cold War. The country sent medical and military aid into foreign countries to aid Socialist governments and rebel groups. These interventionist policies were controversial and resulted in isolation from many countries. Due to the ongoing Cold War, Cuba attempted make allies across Latin America and Africa. Cuba believed it had more freedom to intervene in Africa as the U.S. was more concerned about Latin America. Still, the US was strongly opposed to Cuban involvement in Africa and continued Cuban intervention was a major source of tension. Cuban intervention was often confidential and all Cuban doctors and soldiers were forced to keep their location confidential.
The Cuban Revolutionary Army serve as the ground forces of Cuba. Formed in 1868 during the Ten Years' War, it was originally known as the Cuban Constitutional Army. Following the Cuban Revolution, the revolutionary military forces was reconstituted as the national army of Cuba by Fidel Castro in 1960. The army is a part of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces which was founded around that time.
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