What if the US Invasion of Grenada escalated into something bigger?

Gillan1220

Gillan1220

Thehappyvampire said:
Cuba possesses T-55s, T-62s, and PT-76 tanks. Because of these vehicles, would this mean the M1 Abrams tanks will have their first taste of real combat in the Caribbean War instead of the Gulf War? If so, would the Abrams be getting a less glorious introduction because the terrain of Cuba is notably less tank-friendly when comparing it to Kuwait and Iraq with very determined Cuban fighters?
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Yeah, the M1 Abrams probably gets a less anti-climatic combat debut. It was meant for the Fulda Gap, wherein it would have faced off against the T-72s and T-80s which were its equivalent in the Soviet Army. The Gulf War was its much more glorious debut along with the M2 Bradley where Iraqi T-72s - albeit weaker since there were Soviet monkey models - were no-match for the might of American and Western coalition military technology.

On the other hand, since the Cubans would have done guerilla tactics, some Abrams may be disabled/destroyed by IEDs or lucky shots from an RPG-7.
 

Thehappyvampire

Now, how will the Ronald Reagan administration handle this? I doubt they were prepared for such an escalation.

Fortunately, unlike the Vietnam War against North Vietnam and its guerilla allies, Cuba does not have any land border connections to any allied Communist nations to effectively feed its need for ammunition and weapons. Also, it is a Caribbean island nation close to the United States. This making the logistics a lot easier if the Americans manage to secure a beach head on the Cuban nation.

The US may be able to truly defeat the Castro government because of these advantages above, but how much damage could the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces do to the Americans?
 

RanulfC

Thehappyvampire said:
Now, how will the Ronald Reagan administration handle this? I doubt they were prepared for such an escalation.

Fortunately, unlike the Vietnam War against North Vietnam and its guerilla allies, Cuba does not have any land border connections to any allied Communist nations to effectively feed its need for ammunition and weapons. Also, it is a Caribbean island nation close to the United States. This making the logistics a lot easier if the Americans manage to secure a beach head on the Cuban nation.

The US may be able to truly defeat the Castro government because of these advantages above, but how much damage could the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces do to the Americans?
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Keep in mind that Reagan would NOT have gone after Cuba at any point. The risk was not worth it given Cuba was still considered to be under the Soviet nuclear umbrella at the time and no one would be willing to chance that the Soviets would not respond. Cuban troops outside Cuba are fair game but the diplomatic 'cover' was that Cuba was not to be touched which was pretty much the only reason Castro felt able to push troops out to Africa and the Caribbean. Grenada and US pushback in Angola convinced him otherwise.

Randy
 

SunilTanna

Chernabog90 said:
If enough casualties happen to the US force it could make them pull back their troop
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How

The population of Grenada was about 100,000.

If 10% of Grenada are fighting men,prepared to fight to the death, and somehow magically getting unlimited ammo and weapons despite a US navy blockade (how?), You have 10,000 men, and even then it's hard to see how they could inflict more than a few hundred casualties on the US.
 
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