Battle of Harlingen details

[Olefin]

For those who have the Texas module a few details I thought would be interesting about the Battle of Harlingen where the students of the Marine Military Academy held off the Mexicans for several days until they were all wiped out

The Marine Military Academy established one of the first Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps in the nation and all the cadets are members of the MCJROTC unit.

The students uniforms parallel those of the US Marines - thus the Mexican forces may have initially thought they were taking on a USMC unit. The Academy has the students sorted into seven rifle companies, each of which is led by a retired DI. Each rifle company had roughly 80 cadets each - in 1998 (in our world) they had 530 cadets.

The Iwo Jima monument, which is located on the Academy grounds, is the original mold for the one at Arlington. In addition the remains of Corporal Harlon Block, who was one of the Marines in the flag-raising photo, are interred on the Academy grounds.

the military staff at the Academy is a mix of various retired USMC NCO's - meaning they would have led by combat experienced NCO's and officers, either with Korea or Vietnam War experience (possibly even WWII)

Commander in 1998 would have been Major General Harold G. Glasgow, who had 36 years of active duty in the Marine Corps including combat duty in Korea and he had previously commanded Parris Island and the 3rd Marine Division.

Also in town is the Harlingen Armed Forces Reserve Center used by the Army, Navy and Marine Corps - when they wrote the module the center was just being built - that would have added some reservists and staff to the defenders of the town

Gives some added flavor to the battle (they literally had one of the great symbols of US military heroism standing right among them) and explains how a bunch of cadets could have fought so hard - basically the Mexicans ran into the equivalent of about two USMC rifle companies who were fighting to not only defend their school but the honor of the USMC.

[Olefin]

Looking thru several sites the cadets most likely would have been armed with M-14 rifles and Colt pistols along with whatever they could liberate from local gunstores.

Most likely, considering who their teachers were, they would have also had improvised explosive devices and mines using dynamite and explosives cooked up in the chemistry lab, which definitely would have slowed the Mexican's down and cost them armored vehicles in the process (and could explain why they blasted them out with artillery - i.e. they lost too many armored cars and APC's to mines and IED's and good old fashioned Molotov's trying to storm their positions or fix the main roads and decided they had spent enough time screwing around against a bunch of kids)

also given how exposed the Academy itself (its at the airport and is wide open to an armored assault) and how far it is from the roads they were trying to deny to the Mexicans, they probably didnt make their stand at the actual Academy. Instead they probably used buried explosives to crater the main roads and force the Mexicans to go thru the town so they couldnt bypass the town's defenders and thus give them cover and a chance against the armored vehicles and heavier weapons the Mexicans had

[Olefin]

This is my take on what forces would have been opposing the Mexicans at Harlingen

Marine Military Academy

The Academy had a total of 530 students enrolled when the TDM occurred. As civilian authority broke down in Texas many students were pulled out by their parents. For those who remained, a large part of those who stayed has been made into orphans by the TDM and the Academy was their only remaining family.

In addition to their regular duties and going to school they were also used to help maintain order in Harlingen. The composition of the students, with many Hispanics among them, helped keep Harlingen calm while many areas broke down into fighting between Anglos, Mexican-Americans and Mexican refugees.

The remaining students at the Academy were reduced even further after graduation, with the seniors being shipped out to assist in security at several still functioning Naval Air Stations in Texas, including NAS Kingsville. By the eve of the Mexican invasion only some 200 students and ten instructors remained at the Academy, organized into Alpha, Delta and Echo companies.
Each student had been issued an M14, with student officers and NCO’s also carrying Colt pistols. The Academy had also acquired thirty scoped hunting rifles which had been issued to form sniper squads within each company.

As the first marauder forces began to appear in the area, some with homemade armored cars, a quantity of explosives was also readied for the students to use (either from TNT obtained from local construction companies or manufactured in the school’s chemistry lab), supplemented with flash bang grenades obtained from the local SWAT armory.

To increase their ability to defend the town, the students also had access to four homemade 60mm mortars, each equipped with 40 shells each, all made at local machine shops under the guidance of three instructors. In addition, to be able to make the town less accessible to motorized invaders, a team of students, guided by instructors and local civilian construction workers, had also emplaced demolition charges on bridges and overpasses on the 77 and 83 to deny use of them to any hostile enemy force.

• Alpha, Delta, Echo Company – 60 men each (two retired DI’s per company)
• Heavy Weapons Platoon – four 60mm mortars, 16 men (two retired DI’s)
• Headquarters Platoon – 14 men (2 retired DI’s, CO)

236th National Guard Military Police Company (136th National Guard Military Police Battalion)

By the Mexican Invasion the 236th had been already involved in multiple actions in the San Antonio area, trying to assist the local police in keeping order, taking casualties as the months went on after the TDM. With the disturbances at the Rio Grande crossing points they had been sent south to assist in guarding the border at Brownsville.

When the Mexican forces crossed the border in force the MP’s were overrun with only the remnants of two platoons making it to Harlingen, where they dug in to make a stand.

• 24 men, 5 HMMVW (2 armed with M2HB machine guns), 2 LAW missiles

370th Transportation Company, USARC

The 370th had been called up after the TDM to transport men, equipment and food supplies throughout southern Texas, fighting several engagements against marauders and local civilians desperate to steal from them. To be able to provide their convoys better protection they had converted eight of their remaining forty M977 HEMTT to gun trucks in February 1998, armed with a mix of crew served weapons. By the Mexican invasion the company was down to 64 men, twenty four M977 HEMTT and six gun trucks.

When the Mexican forces stormed across the bridge into Brownsville they were there delivering supplies to refugees in the area. Two gun trucks and three M977’s fought their way out, retreating to Harlingen where they joined the forces preparing to make a stand in the town.

• 14 men, two gun trucks – “Green Thunder (M60 x 2, M2HB), “Dead Meat”(M60, M2HB, Mk19), three M977

[Draq]

Thanx, more helpful info

[Targan]

That'd be an excellent PC or NPC background - one of the traumatised survivors from the cadet student body. That would've been a brutal last stand. If a handful of the cadets did make it out alive and could overcome the inevitable PTSD, they'd be some scary young uns.

[.45cultist]

There are T2013 possibilities as well, blending the data with that timeline. Back to the books.....