I remember when this took place! Didn’t know tanks were involved.
In my most recent visit, I was astounded to see a statue in a prominent intersection of Santo Domingo of a "hero" who launched a quixotic attack on the US Marines from a base in........CUBA!
OUTSTANDING, informative article by Sebastien Roblin. Thanks very much for posting. (I did not know any of that DR history)
My favorite vacation spot BUMP!
I was around at the time but don’t remember much except seeing a bit on the news.
The writer does sound anti American and pro Communist.
There is a quick line in HeartBreak Ridge where Sergeant Major Choozoo mentions Highway was in action in Dominican 1965.
Now I know what the hell he meant.
“Violent Skirmishes”
Never heard of a nonviolent skirmish...
The DR intervention was probably one of the last times (if not THE last) where M1 Garands were carried into action by the Regular Army. There are a couple of published pictures of Army snipers with scoped M1D rifles during this action.
As I recall, the US Army airborne troops had the M56 SPAT (self-propelled anti-tank) gun with a 90mm gun (no armor) and the Marines had the M50/M50A1 ONTOS anti-tank weapon with six 106mm recoilless rifles. Those Dominican tanks from Sweden were Spam in a can when the rant into a 90mm or 106mm anti-tank round. The Dominicans committed their tanks to battle in piecemeal fashion and did not use them effectively. The airborne soldiers and Marines turned them into flaming junk piles.
And Swedish armored cars as well. Some of the DomRep light tanks have been misidentified as WWII German Pzkw IIs. Nope. There were also French AMX-13 light tanks involved as well; I believe the M48 tank kill of another tank was an AMX kill.
