WI: U.S. War with Haiti and midterm aftermath (1994)

It might be comparable to Grenada, in that the opposing force would be small; I believe the Haitian army was only 7,000 strong. Also, unlike Grenada, there would be no Cubans opposing the invaders; IIRC, they, as much or more than the Grenadians, fought back hard at first. Most of the fighting would take place around Port au Prince, might only last 1-2 days, a week max., to mop up. Little to no guerilla activity afterwards. The average Haitian would not have much animosity to the Americans. Lots of them live in Miami, NY, Montreal, etc.
 
The Haitian army looked a lot like the US army circa 1944 but much more corrupt and top heavy (I think like 100 Generals or something insane). the M1 was the standard rifle and the uniforms US surplus. Armor was mostly V-100s and M3 Stuarts none of which where operational. The Air force was all trainers and in similarly poor shape, the only Jet aircraft were some S.211s which had been retired in 1990. A Special Forces Unit called "Leopard" was established in the 70s but I don't know its status by the point. Anyway the point is Haiti was much weaker then Grenada and I'm not so sure about the possibility of insurgent warfare since it didn't really happen any of the other times the US took over.
 
Well what happens next? I mean that's the quetsion isn't it? Haiti is much bigger than say Grenada . We can't just hand out miniature American flags and leave. I mean we can do that but the shitshow could be worse than after the earthquake almost, maybe a civil war.
 
I'm a moron... I thought you wrote 1944. I was so confused.

But, the actual invasion wouldn't be very heavily opposed. At least the initial landings. I can't say for certain as to how long the resistance would occur though. I'm not that knowledgeable about the support that Aristide had within the nation. What it would do is really worsen South and Central American relations with the U.S Mexico, Cuba, and Brazil were heavily opposed to the resolution, and the citizens in Argentina were heavily discontent about the decision so Argentinian support was limited.
 
The artillery park consists of 6 M1917 75mm guns, some mortars, and a 6 gun battery of 40L 70 Bofors AA guns. Armor are a few Cadillac Gage armored cars, none running. Small arms are everything from the Spanish American War (NOT hyperbole) to the M16A1.
The civilian population, overwhelmingly, hated the guts of Gen. Cedras and his crew. We had about as much trouble keeping them from killing his boys when they were outed as we did with the army. The populace for the most part greeted us as almost as enthusiastically as the French did in 1944.
The tactical skill of the Haitian Armed forces is subpar. As an example, they engaged a USMC patrol (less than a platoon's worth of troops IIRC) with about three times their numbers at a Police station in Cap Haitien. The Marines suffered no casualties, the Haitians were "eliminated".
I'd expect some guerilla warfare, more on the level of banditry than organized resistance. It will be short lived, as the populace was completely unsupportive of Cedras.
 
Kind of hard to wage any kind of guerilla war when the whole population hates your guts, isn't it?

A bit of trivia: the 82nd Airborne's lead elements had just taken off from Fort Bragg and were heading for their drop zones. The plan called for all three brigades to drop around Port-au-Prince, in what would've been the largest airborne operation since Market-Garden. They were in the air about 45 min. when the recall came.

Two large USN carriers (America and Eisenhower) were packed full of Army troops and transport helos as super-large LPHs. America had the SOF contingent, while Eisenhower had a full brigade from 10th Mountain Division quartered in the hangar deck.
 
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