Bay of Pigs Invasion by

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-13 19:45:41 UTC

The Bay of Pigs invasion was an invasion of Cuba by the CIA to overthrow Castro.

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-13 19:47:55 UTC

The CIA wanted to overthrow Castro because he had severed links with the US that the leader before him because he developed links with the communist leaders in Russia

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-13 19:53:36 UTC

The invasion consisted of 1,400 cuban exiles and members of the CIA because they feared that the cuban government would turn into communism which at the time the US was fighting

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-14 19:47:18 UTC

Prisoners of the Cuban Military after the Bay of Pigs Invasion

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-16 19:44:31 UTC

April 15: The attack begins in the early hours of a Saturday morning. The CIA-backed brigade of Cuban exiles sends eight B-26 bombers from Nicaragua to Cuba to destroy Fidel Castro’s air force on the ground. Staged to look like an internal revolt by Castro’s own men, the air raid is only partly successful. At least six of Castro’s fighter planes survive. That afternoon, Adlai Stevenson, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, insists America had nothing to do with the air raids. He soon comes to learn that he has been misled by his own government.

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-16 19:45:00 UTC

April 16: At a funeral ceremony for Cubans killed in the air raids, Fidel Castro rails at the United States and announces, for the first time, that Cuba is a socialist state. That evening, John Kennedy, at his country house in Virginia for the weekend, cancels follow-up air raids on Cuban airfields. At least one CIA official immediately grasps the implications: “The Cuban Brigade was doomed.”

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-16 19:45:28 UTC

April 17: Shortly after midnight, approximately 1,400 Cuban exiles, known as Brigade 2506, begin to land on the coast of southern Cuba, in and around the Bay of Pigs. At dawn, they come under attack from the surviving planes of Castro’s air force. Two key supply ships are quickly sunk. Meanwhile, in the United States, life goes on. Billy Wilder’s The Apartment wins an Academy Award for Best Picture that evening in Los Angeles.

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-16 19:46:03 UTC

April 18: With their supply ships sunk or AWOL, and coming under heavy fire from Castro’s air force and artillery, the Brigade begins to run out of ammunition and options. Desperation sets in on the beach, in CIA headquarters, and in the White House, where John Kennedy asks himself, “How could I have been so stupid?” At the Bay of Pigs, brigade leaders beg for help from nearby American warships. President Kennedy refuses to grant permission for the navy to engage.

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-16 19:46:50 UTC

April 19: With ammunition gone and no help from the Americans the brigade collapses and takes refuge in swamps around the Bay of Pigs, where they are soon flushed out by Castro’s troops. In Cuba and around much of the world, Castro is celebrated as the David who beat Goliath. In Washington, a shaken John Kennedy and his stunned advisors take stock and try to figure out how to recover from what one American general calls “the worst American defeat since 1812.” Among steps taken by Kennedy to regain lost ground will be his appointment, the following day, of a presidential task force to devise “a program of action to prevent communist domination of South Viet-Nam.”

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-16 19:50:53 UTC

One of the planes used in the Bay of Pigs Invasion

CIA report on the attack of Cuba

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-19 19:40:57 UTC

In November 1961, C.I.A inspector general Lyman B Kirkpatrick, authored a report 'Survey of the Cuban Operation', that remained classified until 1996. Conclusions were:^[139]

The C.I.A exceeded its capabilities in developing the project from guerrilla support to overt armed action without any plausible deniability.
Failure to realistically assess risks and to adequately communicate information and decisions internally and with other government principals.
Insufficient involvement of leaders of the exiles.
Failure to sufficiently organize internal resistance in Cuba.
Failure to competently collect and analyze intelligence about Cuban forces.
Poor internal management of communications and staff.
Insufficient employment of high-quality staff.
Insufficient Spanish-speakers, training facilities and material resources.
Lack of stable policies and/or contingency plans.

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-19 19:43:29 UTC

1,500 ground forces (including 177 paratroops) - c. 1,300 landed. Also Cuban exile aircrews, American aircrews, CIA operatives
176 Cuban government forces killed
500 Cuban forces wounded, or 4,000 killed, missing or wounded (includes militias and armed civilians)
118 invaders killed (114 Cuban exiles plus 4 American aircrew)
1,202 Brigade members captured (1,179 tried; 14 tried previously for pre-invasion crimes; 9 died while being transported)

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-19 19:46:01 UTC

Map of Cuba

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-20 19:43:20 UTC

Kennedy's speech about the Bay of Pigs

Sources

tylermullenix0 — 2014-05-20 19:44:27 UTC

http://www.c-span.org/video/?192032-1/bay-pigs-invasion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion

http://www.jimrasenberger.com/2011/03/a-brief-timeline-of-the-bay-of-pigs/