page_title: National Guard (Nicaragua)
section_title: Combat and transport vehicles
hierarchical_section_title: National Guard (Nicaragua) / Weapons and equipment / Combat and transport vehicles
caption_attribution_description: Español: Insurrección de la ciudad de Estelí en 1979 en donde tropas de la Guardia Nacional de Somoza se enfrentaron contra los rebeldes sandinistas
context_page_description: The National Guard was a militia and a gendarmerie created during the occupation of Nicaragua by the United States from 1909 to 1933. It became notorious for human rights abuses and corruption under the regime of the Somoza family.
context_section_description: The Guardia also fielded a small armoured corps, organized since 1978 into a single mechanized company while platoon-sized units where attached to General Somoza Combat Battalion, the Presidential Guard, the engineer battalion, and the EEBI Infantry School.  The inventory consisted mostly of World War II-vintage American vehicles acquired in the 1950s – ten ex-Philippine Army M4A3 E8 (76) and M4A3E8 (105) Sherman tanks, three to four M3A1 Stuart light tanks, and forty-five T17E1 M6 Staghound armoured cars of Israeli origin (some had their turrets removed and replaced by a 30. or 50. cal Browning HMG mount instead). In addition, two obsolete L3/33 tankettes acquired from Italy in the mid-1930s were reportedly held in reserve, but only one (nicknamed "La Mascota" by the Nicaraguans) was still kept in running conditions by 1979.
  Apart from a mere ten M2 half-track cars, the Guardia suffered from a chronic shortage of light armored personnel carriers (APCs) for its infantry units, forcing them to rely on their extensive fleet of soft-skinned transport and liaison vehicles. These ranged from World War II-vintage Willys MB ¼-ton 4×4 jeeps and Dodge WC51 ¾-ton 4×4 utility trucks to more modern Willys M38A1 MD ¼-ton 4×4 jeeps and Willys CJ-5 4×4 jeeps, Spanish Ebro trucks CJ6b 4×4 jeeps and Santana 88 Ligero Militar jeeps, Santana Series III (Spanish-produced variant of the Land Rover Series III model) and Toyota Land Cruiser (J40) light pickups, VIASA-Ebro trucks "Campeador" one-ton pickups (Spanish-produced variant of the Jeepster Commando), M151A1 ¼-ton 4×4 utility trucks (nicknamed "Pumas" by the Nicaraguans), Dodge M37B ¾-ton 4×4 1953 utility trucks (nicknamed "Chatas" by the Nicaraguans; in 1978, one M37B was converted by the GN engineers into an armored car prototype dubbed "La Trigra", but the whole project was discontinued due to the lack of funds), and Israeli AIL M325 Command Cars ("Nun-Nun") and Mercedes-Benz Unimog 406 light trucks. Heavy transport vehicles were also employed, ranging from older World War II GMC CCKW 2½-ton 6×6 and Chevrolet G506 1½-ton 4×4 trucks to newer US Dodge W600 Power Wagon 4×4 medium-duty trucks and US M35 series 2½-ton 6x6 cargo trucks, and Spanish Pegaso 3046 4×4 and 3050 6×6 heavy-duty trucks, which the GN received in both civilian and military versions. 
  Besides being used as troop carriers these vehicles also doubled as 'gun-trucks' or 'technicals', being fitted with heavy machine-guns, recoilless rifles and AA autocannons.  Moreover, their lack of protection rendered them highly vulnerable to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or small-arms fire, and many were lost together with their crews in 1979 due to intense street fighting and ambushes in rural areas.
  Commandeered tracked Caterpillar or wheeled civilian Bulldozers of American and Spanish origin were also employed by the Guardia during the battles for Masaya and Managua to clear paths on rebel-held urban neighbourhoods by demolishing buildings turned into bunkers by the guerrillas.
caption: A M4 Sherman tank of the Nicaraguan National Guard during clashes with Sandinista rebels in Estelí, 1979.
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