transport vehicles 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 eighteen 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 VIASA-Ebro trucks MB-CJ6b jeeps (Spanish-produced version of the Willys CJ-3B jeep), 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 W500/W600 Power Wagon 4×4 medium-duty trucks, US M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo trucks and US M39 5-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