Castro Regime Order of Battle

All,

    In furtherance of preparing for the glorious invasion which will begin the crusade for liberation, I'm getting my administrative house in order.  Here is what I'm looking at in terms of the Castro Regime's order of battle for the upcoming campaign.

Castro's Army

Havana (Western Command)
-Revolutionary Army Command (Cuban equivalent of Pentagon/Joint Chiefs of Staff)

Castro has all 'strategic' assets centralized, under his direct control in Havana:

-51st Artillery Regiment (2 battalions of 105mm towed howitzers, one battalion of self-propelled 152mm howitzers)

-45th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (one battalion of towed anti-aircraft guns, consisting of dual 14.5mm HMGs, dual 23mm autocannons -ZU-23s-, and 37mm Bofors), and one battalion of self-propelled  guns, consisting of ZSU-57 and ZSU-23-4 vehicles).

-73rd Air Defense Regiment (one battery of six SA-2 Guideline launchers, one battery of six SA-9 Gaskin mobile launchers, and one battery of six SA-6 Gainful mobile launchers).

-82nd Rocket and Missile Regiment (one battalion of BM-21 Grad MLRS, one battery of 2 "Frog-7" ballistic missile vehicles, and one battery of six SS-1 "Scud" ballistic missile vehicles).

-1st Airborne Battalion, "Castro's Bodyguard," consisting of two companies of regular, but highly motivated infantry.

-2nd Armored Battalion, consisting of the 78th Tank Company (T-72) and the 70th Motorized Rifle Company (BMP-2).

Pinar del Rio (Western Command)

-3rd Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 27th and 28th Infantry Companies, and the 24th Provincial Militia Company.

Cienfuegos (Central Command)
-4th Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 81st and 84th Infantry Companies.

-5th Territorial Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 86th and 89th Provincial Militia Companies.

-6th Armored Battalion, consisting of the 12th Tank Company (T-34) and the 242nd Infantry Company.

Matanzas (Central Command)

7th Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 41st and 43rd Infantry Companies, and the 48th Provincial Militia Company.

Santiago de Cuba (Eastern Command)

-8th Tank Battalion, consisting of the 3rd Tank Company (T-55), the 6th Tank Company (T-34), and the 9th Tank Company (SU-76).

-9th Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 31st, 32nd, and 38th Infantry Companies.

-10th Territorial Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 84th and 90th Provincial Militia Companies.

-11th Territorial Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 95th and 97th Provincial Militia Companies.

Holguin (Eastern Command)

-Mechanized Task Force 'A' (from elements of the 12th Mechanized Battalion), consisting of the 50th Mechanized Company (BTR-60).

-13th Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 54th and 56th Infantry Companies, and the 58th Provincial Militia Company.

Camaguey (Eastern Command)
-Mechanized Task Force 'B' (from elements of the 12th Mechanized Battalion), consisting of the 60th Mechanized Company (BTR-60).

-14th Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 60th and 63rd Infantry Companies.

-15th Territorial Infantry Battalion, consisting of the 65th and 69th Provincial Militia Companies.

Airborne Company Table of Organization

HQ-CO (Capt)

       1 x 2-man ATGM  (AT-5 Spandrel)

3 Rifle Platoons, each consisting of:
Plt Ldr (Lt)

RPG

1st Squad (LMG, 3 rifles)

2nd Squad (4 rifles)

Infantry Company Table of Organization

HQ-CO (Capt), XO (Lt)

       1 x 2-man 12.7mm HMG

       1 x 2-man 82mm Mortar

3 Rifle Platoons, each consisting of:

Plt Ldr (Lt)

1st Squad (4 x rifle)

2nd Squad (4 x rifle)

3rd Squad (2-man LMG team, 2-man RPG team)

Provincial Militia Company Table of Organization

HQ-CO (Capt), XO (Lt)

       1 x 2-man 12.7mm HMG

       1 x 2-man 82mm Mortar

3 Rifle Platoons, each consisting of:

Plt Ldr (Lt)

1st Squad (4 x rifle, 1 RPG)

2nd Squad (5 x rifle)

Tank Company Table of Organization

HQ-CO (Capt), XO (Lt), both with 'jeep'-type vehicle and driver

3 Platoons, each consisting of:

Plt Ldr (Lt)

1st Squad (5 rifle)

2nd Squad (5 rifle)

Tank

Mechanized Company Table of Organization

HQ-CO (Capt), XO (Lt), both with 'jeep'-type vehicle and driver

3 Platoons, each consisting of:

Plt Ldr (Lt)
1st Squad (3 rifle, 2-man LMG team)

2nd Squad (3 rifle, 2-man RPG team)

Armored Personnel Carrier

Castro's Air Force

Havana (Western Command)
1st Interceptor Squadron (12 x MiG-21)

Pinar del Rio (Western Command)

2nd Interceptor Squadron (12 x MiG-21)

Artemisa (Western Command)

3rd Ground Attack Squadron (12 x MiG-27)

4th Bombardment Squadron (8 x TU-95)

5th Rotary Attack Squadron (12 x Mi-24)

6th Transport Squadron (10 x Mi-8)

Guines (Western Command)

7th Ground Attack Squadron (12 x Su-25)

8th Rotary Attack Squadron (12 x Mi-24)

Santa Clara (Central Command)

9th Interceptor Squadron (12 x MiG-21)
10th Ground Attack Squadron (12 x MiG-27)

11th Rotary Attack Squadron (12 x Mi-24)

12th Bombardment Squadron (12 x Il-28)

Holguin (Eastern Command)

13th Interceptor Squadron (12 x MiG-21)

Camaguey (Eastern Command)

14th Interceptor Squadron (12 x MiG-21)

Bayamo (Eastern Command)
15th Ground Attack Squadron (12 x Su-25)

16th Rotary Attack Squadron (12 x Mi-24)
17th Transport Squadron (10 x Mi-8)

Castro's Navy

Matanzas (Central Command)

1st Flotilla (3 fast attack/coastal patrol craft)

Puerto Padre (Eastern Command)

2nd Flotilla (3 fast attack/coastal patrol craft)

Santiago de Cuba (Eastern Command)

3rd Flotilla (3 fast attack/coastal patrol craft)

4th Flotilla (2 armed corvettes)

Obviously these are much reduced from real life (for a frame of reference, I used real-life Division numbers for the company numbers).  Perhaps it's a bit hokey, but I'm going to play out a campaign using skirmish rules, so I really needed to pare the forces waaaaaaaaay down.  Not only did I reduce the total number of ground units by about 80%, I also screwed around with the Tables of Organization so that I could put a "Company" on the table and fight it out with what is really about a platoon's worth of troops.  Again, this is simply a tool to help me on the tabletop.

Regarding the Air Force and Navy, I'll be honest and tell you I just made all that stuff up.  I wasn't really going to mess with it, but I figured there are assets available in real life, so I at least needed to address them.  I can tell you that my skirmish games are going to occur without off-table air and artillery support, so the CLA invasion plan is going to be heavy on eliminating these assets in the first few hours so that my tabletop games are straight up shootouts uninfluenced by the Castro regime's overwhelming numbers of air and arty.

Having said that, I've got some Vietnam aircraft upstairs, and the reason I made all those MiG-21 Interceptor Squadrons is that I believe my CLA is going to have a couple squadrons of F-4s (for air superiority and interdiction, no CAS) and I might get some air-gaming in as well.  We'll see what happens...

V/R,
Jack