Bay of Pigs fiasco as Us-backed forces fail in invasion of Cuba
At dawn on April 17, 1961, the force of 1,400 men landed, wading through the shallow, corralled waters on to the quiet inlet of the Gulf of Cazones on the southern shores of Cuba.
The troops were intent on overthrowing the Caribbean country’s communist regime, led by Fidel Castro.
By the afternoon of April 19 the group of Us-backed Cuban ex-nationals had been defeated and bundled into trucks to await their fate. The Bay of Pigs Invasion had failed.
The plan was set in motion following the downfall of Cuba’s previous leader, President Fulgencio Batista. A socialist government had been installed, much to the fury of America, at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
Cuba, not far from the coast of Florida, was in a strategically vital position and the thought of nuclear missiles being on the country’s doorstep worried President John F Kennedy.
The US Central Intelligence Agency had already begun to fund a group of antiCastro Cubans who had fled the country. With just over 1,000 men, the 2506 Brigade faced a struggle to liberate the country but, with the backing of a superpower, they believed – as did their CIA handlers – the invasion would spell the end of communism in Cuba.
With support from the US Air Force, the group would establish a foothold in Cuba. The plan was given the go-ahead but newly-elected President Kennedy was wary of provoking the Soviet Union into a wider conflict.
As the invasion force landed they met stiff resistance from Cuba’s military.
With a small force they expected air support from the US but Kennedy believed it would incite the Soviets and make America look bad on the world stage.
He changed the landing zone of the invasion from the port city of Trinidad to the Bay of Pigs; the former, he believed, demonstrated too much power and revealed the US were backing the move.
Although armed and funded by America, the Cuban exiles were on their own once they landed.
The location couldn’t have been worse, however. The swampy, isolated region meant Brigade 2506, mostly made up of inexperienced youths, struggled to capture their first objective, the nearby airport. Immediately suspicions were aroused that this was an American operation and Kennedy pulled the plug on further support.
Castro, fully expecting an invasion, had militias patrolling the coastline and they quickly raised the alarm, and the country’s army was quickly mobilised.
With their support boats shredded, no aircraft and a spent ammunition supply, the invaders surrendered. With more than 100 dead, some 1,100 unfortunate men of the 2506 Brigade were captured and sent to prisons in Havana where they would remain until being freed by US negotiators.
Those included lawyer James B Donovan, who had previously been involved in prisoner exchanges in the Cold War – helping free pilot Gary Powers while American student Frederic Pryor was swapped for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. Famously he would later be portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 2016 movie Bridge of Spies.
As part of the deal, the ex-cuban nationals could console themselves with the knowledge that in exchange for their lives, Cuba received clothing, food and medicine to distribute among its population.