Division Cuba Revisited

[Raellus]

I think that a lot of us consider the T2K Cuban operations on U.S. soil to be a Red Dawn-inspired flight of fancy- I fell into this category myself. I just stumbled on to a few articles on a late-Cold War battle fought between the SADF and Cuban forces in Angola called Cuito Cuanavale. This battle lasted several months (it's more of a campaign than a battle, really) in 1987-'88 and both sides claimed victory. Although who won and who lost in probably moot, what it is clear is how well the Cubans accounted themselves against a relatively modern, western-style, experienced and well-equipped military force, both tactically and logistically. What's probably most impressive is how efficiently the Cubans were able to supply their forces in Angola by both sea and air, crossing the broad Atlantic in order to do so.

Here's a brief summary article on the battle:

http://www.historytoday.com/gary-bai...uito-cuanavale

This has me reconsidering the plausibility of a Soviet-supported landing in the SE United States. The hardest part would be getting on to American soil relatively intact. They'd probably need both surprise and significant Soviet naval and air power in order to do so. After that, if Cuito Cuanavale is any indication, the Cubans might be able to give the Americans more than they bargained for.

I didn't look at the v1.0 chronology before writing this, but if the Cuban "invasion" of the American SE and the Mexican invasion SW happened concurrently, or close on the heels of one another, their combined and respective success/effectiveness would most likely have been increased as the Americans struggled to respond to both unexpected threats near simultaneously.

Even if the Cuban "invasion" ultimately proved to be a fiasco (like a modern, reverse Bay of Pigs, if you will), it would tie down American resources and the Soviet Bloc could still spin it as a moral victory ("Our glorious socialist brothers set foot on fascist, imperialist American soil" might run the Pravda headlines).

I plan on doing some more research on the Cubans in Angola in the late '80s and if I find anything else applicable to T2K, I'll make sure to share it. I'm interested in your thoughts on this subject.