The Salvadoran Civil War was a military conflict that pitted the guerrilla forces of the left-wing Marxist-oriented Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) against the armed and security forces loyal to the military-led conservative government of El Salvador, between 1979 and 1992. Main combatants comprised:
An eclectic variety of weapons was used by both sides in the Salvadoran Civil War. The Salvadoran FAES were equipped with Western-made weapons, mainly American and Israeli in origin, but also included Argentine, Portuguese, French, West German, Yugoslavian and Taiwanese military hardware. During the early phase of the war, the FMLN likewise were largely equipped with Western arms and munitions, though as the war went on, Eastern Bloc weaponry began to play a major role.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The M16 rifle is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine.
The M203 is a single-shot 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher designed to attach to a rifle. It uses the same rounds as the older stand-alone M79 break-action grenade launcher, which utilizes the high-low propulsion system to keep recoil forces low. While compatible with many weapons, the M203 was originally designed and produced by the United States military for the M16 rifle and its carbine variant, the M4. The launcher can also be mounted onto a C7, a Canadian version of the M16 rifle; this requires the prior removal of the bottom handguard.
The Vietnam War involved the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) or North Vietnamese Army (NVA), National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (NLF) or Viet Cong (VC), and the armed forces of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), United States Armed Forces, Republic of Korea Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Royal Thai Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force, and New Zealand Defence Force, with a variety of irregular troops.
The Colt Automatic Rifle-15 or CAR-15 is a family of M16 rifle–based firearms marketed by Colt in the 1960s and early 1970s. However, the term "CAR-15" is most commonly associated with the Colt Commando ; these select-fire carbines have ultrashort 10.5-inch (270 mm) and 11.5-inch (290 mm) barrels with over-sized flash suppressors.
Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta was a Salvadoran military officer, neo-fascist politician, and death squad leader. In 1981, he co-founded and became the first leader of the far-right Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and served as president of the Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 1983. He was a presidential candidate for 1984 presidential election, losing in the second round to José Napoleón Duarte, the former president of the Revolutionary Government Junta. After ARENA's loss in the 1985 legislative elections, D'Aubuisson stepped down in favor of Alfredo Cristiani and was designated as the party's honorary president for life. D'Aubuisson was named by the United Nations' Truth Commission for El Salvador as having ordered the assassination of Óscar Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador in 1980.
The Revolutionary Government Junta was the name of three consecutive joint civilian-military dictatorships that ruled El Salvador between 15 October 1979 and 2 May 1982.
The M3 half-track was an American armored personnel carrier half-track widely used by the Allies during World War II and in the Cold War. Derived from the M2 half-track car, the M3 was extensively produced, with about 15,000 standard M3s and more than 38,000 variant units manufactured.
M320 Grenade Launcher Module (GLM) is the U.S. military's designation for a new single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher system to replace the M203 for the U.S. Army, while other services initially kept using the older M203. The M320 uses the same High-Low Propulsion System as the M203.
The Salvadoran Civil War was a twelve-year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or "umbrella organization" of left-wing groups backed by the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro as well as the Soviet Union. A coup on 15 October 1979 followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters is widely seen as the start of civil war. The war did not formally end until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when, on 16 January 1992 the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City.
The M114 Command and Reconnaissance Carrier is a Vietnam War-era tracked armored fighting vehicle, used by the United States Army. It was manufactured by the Cadillac Division of General Motors in the early 1960s. The M114 was designed to be fast and stealthy for use in the reconnaissance role.
The Thyssen Henschel UR-416 is a German armoured personnel carrier, first introduced in 1969 and based on the body of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog light truck.
The Cambodian Civil War was a military conflict that pitted the guerrilla forces of the Maoist-oriented Communist Party of Kampuchea and the armed and security forces of the Nonaligned Kingdom of Cambodia from 1967 to 1970, then between the joint Monarchist, Maoist and Marxist-Leninist National United Front of Kampuchea alliance and the pro-western Khmer Republic from 1970 to 1975. Main combatants comprised:
The M18 recoilless rifle is a 57 mm shoulder-fired, anti-tank recoilless rifle that was used by the U.S. Army in World War II and the Korean War. Recoilless rifles are capable of firing artillery-type shells at reduced velocities comparable to those of standard cannon, but with greater accuracy than anti-tank weapons that used unguided rockets, and almost entirely without recoil. The M18 was a breech-loaded, single-shot, man-portable, crew-served weapon. It could be used in both anti-tank and anti-personnel roles. The weapon could be both shoulder fired or fired from a prone position. The T3 front grip doubled as an adjustable monopod and the two-piece padded T3 shoulder cradle could swing down and to the rear as a bipod for the gunner. The most stable firing position was from the tripod developed for the water-cooled Browning M1917 machine gun.
The Cashuat is an armored personnel carrier produced in El Salvador, and based on the Dodge M37B1 ¾ ton (4×4) truck.
The Salvadoran military dictatorship was the period of time in Salvadoran history where the Salvadoran Armed Forces governed the country for almost 48 years from 2 December 1931 until 15 October 1979. The authoritarian military dictatorship limited political rights throughout the country and maintained its governance through rigged elections.
The Laotian Civil War was a military conflict that pitted the guerrilla forces of the Marxist-oriented Pathet Lao against the armed and security forces of the Kingdom of Laos, led by the conservative Royal Lao Government, between 1960 and 1975. Main combatants comprised:
The Zastava M55, also designated 20/3-mm-M55, is a Yugoslavian/Serbian 20mm triple-barreled automatic anti-aircraft gun developed in 1955 and produced by Crvena Zastava in Kragujevac, Serbia, for Yugoslav People's Army use and also for the export market. In addition to the basic towed model M55 A2, the variants M55 A3 B1, M55 A4 B1, and the BOV-3 SPAAG were also developed.
The 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état was a military coup d'état that occurred in El Salvador on 15 October 1979. The coup, led by young military officers, bloodlessly overthrew military President Carlos Humberto Romero and sent him into exile. The National Conciliation Party's firm grasp on power was cut, and in its place, the military established the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador (JRG). The junta was composed of two military officers and three civilians.
The final offensive of 1981, also known as the general offensive of 1981, was the unsuccessful first military offensive conducted by the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) during the Salvadoran Civil War. The objective of the offensive was to initiate a popular revolution to overthrow the Revolutionary Government Junta (JRG), which had been ruling the country since the 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état. The FMLN hoped that the government would be overthrown by 20 January 1981; the date Ronald Reagan was to be inaugurated as president of the United States.