Philippine Army BCT

[Cygnus]

This was a kick-ass army back then... They were less than todays number but they were able to eradicate the HukBalahap Problem of the Philippines.

The HukBaLaHap stands for "Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon" [People's Army Against the Japanese], they were one of the biggest guerilla units in the Philippines during World War 2. After the war, they turned their guns on the Government and fought to install a Communist Government.

Back then the Military was deployed in Korea and was busy dealing with HUkBaLaHap. Still they were able to destroy this group and what was left became bandits.

Some said that if we still had this formation the problem in Mindanao would probably be over.

= / = / =

Philippine Army BCT


Filipino Battalion Combat Team was the basic independent operational unit of the Philippine army. With so many islands to garrision sometimes only a single company made up a detachement. The BCT can be considered motorized. A Filipino divisision consisted of three BCTs. While an organized nationalist military force can be traced back to Spanish colonial days a more modern date is December 21, 1935 when the commonwealth army was formed During the time mentionend Filipinos served in the Congo 1963, Korea 50-55 , and Vietnam 66-70. The BCT was phased out in the 1970s



BCT(51 officers-812 men)

*Tank Company

* Recon Company

*105mm Artillery Battery

1x BHQ

1x HQ Company

3x Infantry Companies

1x Combat Support Company(9-147)

4x 4.2 inches Mortars

10x 81mm Mortars

3x 106mm RR

35x 3.5inch RL

3x HMG

22x MMG

60x LMG

****

Rifle Company

HQ: 2 Officers, 17 Enlisted men

HW Platoon: 1 Officer, 35 Elisted Men

3x 81mm

2x 75mm RR

2x 3.5inch

3 Rifles Platoons

HQ: 1 Officer 2 Enlisted Men

Heavy Weapons Squad: 9 Men

2x MMG

1x 3.5 inch RL

Rifle Squads: 9 Enlisted Men

2x BARS

2x M1s with GLs

5x M1 rifles

* Denotes a command that can be attached.


Notes: Filipino Rifle squads are the only South East Asian unit to have multiple

LMGs and thus have a significantly greater firepower. From 1946 to through the

Korean War the Filipino MBT is the Sherman. By the late 1960s they were upgraded to

the M41 a MBT stil in use there.


*********

[hughdotoh]

*sighs*
Those were the days
*goes emo*

Of course, back then the Huks were concentrated around Central Luzon, and hence were easy to fix and destroy. And folks then were more familiar with democracy and had less to care about communism. Those were the days.

These days, the communists are spread out all over the country and they have active front organizations to cover for them. And firepower at the Army's battalion level isn't as heavy as it was then.