What weapons in Cuba 1962?

[Hamburger]

hi
i need to know what guns and equipment were used in the cuban army around 1962. did they already have AKs? what vehicles, tanks, uniforms...
are there any books about this topic?
maybe some articles from military newspapers?
pics would be great, too.
please help!
:) :) :)
thanks,

[AK-fan*]

Here are some pics from a google search

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=cuban+missile+crisis&spell=1

[sfc ret]

nearly all the weapons the cubans used was American weapons .....like M1 carbine, garands, M3 grease guns, obsolete american tanks.......very little soviet equipment was in the hands of the cubans at the time. if you look at any of the pictures of that time, the uniforms they wore where the American utility uniforms with the stiff formed hat post-korean issue......weapons, tanks and uniforms where all from the US, that batista got.

[Hamburger]

thanks,
google helps me with vehicles, but i need more info on the infantry.
the information about the us weapons is also very interesting... so they used pre-revolution equipment...
i could use a detailed'history of the cuban army'.... i hoped to find something like that on the www, but no luck so far...

[Hamburger]

BTT

any pics?

:)

[Smegma]

Been to Cuba a couple of times. There's lots of museums dedicated to the Revolution.

Most Cuban weaponry was that taken from the Batista regime. Which, in turn, was supplied with weapons from the USA. So as a general rule, Cuban small arms c. 1962 were identical to US military small arms c. 1959. M-2 carbines were exceptionally common as far as I can tell. Fidel Castro carried a scope-mounted sporting rifle, probably a Remington or Winchester. Handguns were 1911's. Cienfuegos [the third of the Big 3 of the Cuban Revolution - Che Guevera and Fidel Castro were the other two] and his troops commonly used FAL's. What I don't understand is where they got them. I've also seen photos of Cuban revolutionaries carrying what look like those Czech submachineguns that Tapco sells in kits. Cienfuegos also carried a Thompson.

The Cuban Revolution was heavily photographed. Main photographer was Korda [who took the famous photo of Che that has become a familiar icon on posters and t-shirts]. Korda was a great photographer, and the Cuban Revolution, no matter what else you think about it, was photogenic in the extreme: Che, Fidel, and Cienfuegos looked like Central Casting's vision of what revolutionaries should look like. A search on the 'net will give you info on Korda, but I couldn't find a link for you that shows more photos than his famous one of Che. Maybe you'll do better.

[Hamburger]

thanks for the info... i have read some of it on various websites, but the thompson and fidels sporting rifles were new to me.

i also learned that the cubans carried czech m52 rifles, similar to sks, but with a different (proprietary) czech caliber.

probably the fal were licensed production rifles from factories in south america.

[Ezra Coli]

Originally posted by Hamburger

i also learned that the cubans carried czech m52 rifles, similar to sks, but with a different (proprietary) czech caliber.


Yes, the VZ-52 is what you are refering to, it is chambered for 7.62x45, the only gun that fires that round. They are fairly uncommon but around, usually they are beat up pretty well. Once Castro dies, we may be able to get our grubby little hands on more of them and more imporantly, cheap ammo.

Here are two of my four VZ-52s, the darker one is perhaps an ex-Cuban rifle as it has "El Campo" and a crucifix grafittied into the buttstock. Another guy has one that presumably came from the same imprt batch had "Santiago" graffitied into the stock.

http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data/500/4868VZpair.jpg

They shoot great, ammo is scarce now though, but you can sleeve the chamber for 762x39. Some folks have done so with dismal results, some report it works fine. I have one that works fine but I don't shoot them much.

[Chamberlin]

I have actually seen old footage of Castro holding a Vz-52 before.
Cuba also had their own AKM rifle copies, but I am not sure when they started making them. probably early 70's, as all the ones I have seen pictures of have the late style cast gas block.
Astra pistols were common too.... I remember Batista having a custom engraved one.
-C

[Hamburger]

thanks :)

those rifles are sweet...

i am involved in the creation of a computer game (actually a modification of an existing game) and since there are already hundreds of ww2, desert storm, vietnam games, we chose the cuban missile crisis as main topic.

i'll keep you updated :)

[Hamburger]

Originally posted by Chamberlin

Astra pistols were common too.... I remember Batista having a custom engraved one.
-C

any idea what caliber/model those astra pistols were?

didn't the cubans also use russian or czech pistols?

[Chamberlin]

The Astra Pistol that I saw was an Astra 400 or 600 or a post WWII 600 Condor. The later two Spanish pistols were chambered in 9mm Para, but the 1921 Astra 400 was unique in that it could chamber and fire 9mm largo, para, Steyr, Browning long, and .38 super! I would probably not bother to put it in your game however, unless you find more concrete proof of it's military use.
Here is what you need for your game:
.308 Belgian MAG and FAL
8mm mauser chambered Czech ZB37
Czech made DShK 12.7mm quads, Russian KPV 14.5mm quads
Soviet made DP, DT, DTM, Goryurnov SG43 (7.62X54R)
9mm or 7.62 tok Czech Vz 23 and 25 sub guns,
.32 ACP Vz-61 scorpian, 7.62 tok Czech Vz-52 pistol 7.62X45 Vz-52 rifle, and 7.62X39 Vz-52/57 belt/mag fed squad automatic (a very early Minimi if you will) and of course type II/III Russian AK-47.

Hope this helps
-C

[Hamburger]

great list :D

this is what we have on our "to do" list so far:

FAL, AK47, VZ52, m25 subgun, dshk 12,7mm quad, RPK (or PK).

not to forget the machete... :D

[H Baker]

Regarding where the FAL's came from: According to the 1983 book called "Deadly Business" by Patrick Brogan and and Albert Zarca, FN supplied Castro with the FAL. Later on, Libya provided Cuba with their surplus FAL's. Prior to the revolution, Sam Cummings, of Interarms fame, sold Batista Armalite AR-10's.

If you're interested in military surplus weapons in the post World War II era, this is a good read. The book is no longer in print, but I was able to obtain a copy via the internet.

[Rew]

think that more than a few Mauser 93's were used. The 93 was the rifle used by the Spanish during the Spanish-American war and I'll bet a lot were kept by the locals. I have also read that the Winchester 92 was popular with more than a few converted to SMG's, how, I don't know, but I have seen pic's somewhere. I'll also bet a bunch of Colt and S&W revolvers in .38 and .45 were around. A bunch of CZ 52s were captured on Granada supposed to have been supplied by Cuba. I know, useless triva.;)

[Hamburger]

thanks :)