The Bay of Pigs Invasion took place from April 17 to 19, 1961 in Cuba. The goal of the United States was to invade Cuba and overthrow the government led by Fidel Castro, as well as keeping the entire operation secret. The United States Central Intelligence Agency was responsible for planning this military operation, with authorization from both the Dwight D. Eisenhower and then John F. Kennedy administrations. The invasion was carried out by Brigade 2506, made up of Cuban exiles, rather than US military personnel. This invasion proved to be a major military success for Cuba, while for the United States it was a complete failure, with very few minor successes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on the topic "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an Original EssayAccording to various sources, the United States failed in terms of coordinating its air force, an aspect essential for the invasion to be a success. The Air Force sent, from 14 to 15 April 1961, eight B-26 bombers, before the actual invasion, by land from Nicaragua, a South American country in which the USA trained its brigade, with the objective of destroying Cuban military planes of its air force to “soften Cuba's defenses”. This military strategy was not completely successful because the US Air Force was unable to destroy all the Cuban planes. This left the US invasion force facing a tough opposing Cuban force and these bombers abandoned their cause and fled to Florida in the US. In view K, a plane has crashed and the plane is labeled FAR 935, but it is actually a US plane. This destroyed plane was shot down directly by Cuban forces, despite the United States' attempt to completely destroy the Cuban Air Force planes. The next day, April 16, 1961, President Kennedy canceled the second series of aerial bombardments due to confusion over its necessity in the invasion. The plan had a chance of succeeding until these air strikes were canceled as it exposed Castro's landing, allowing his air force to attack unopposed. This triggered several other events that ultimately led to the collapse of the bridgehead. Curtis LeMay was the head of the US Air Force and informed the invasion leaders that air cover would be essential. However, on Kennedy's orders, Dean Rusk, the secretary of state, had canceled this air cover, ignoring the recommendations of an experienced leader. As LeMay states, “without air support, the landing forces were doomed.” On April 19, 1961, the land invasion force was beginning to fail, and Kennedy made the decision to send in six unmarked U.S. jets for a one-hour time limit. to provide additional support to the B-26 aircraft initially dispatched. This proved to be a failure because the CIA and Pentagon did not plan effectively for the time difference between Nicaragua and Cuba. This caused the B-26 planes not to receive the necessary support and nine B-26 bombers were shot down . As a result, the United States had no reinforcements, with limited supplies. In addition to the air force, the United States planned to take control of a Cuban airstrip in the immediate vicinity of Playa Giron, a village and beach east of the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). The aircraft used included fifteen B-26 bombers which were ordered to land, carrying out attacks on military installations across the island. The airstrip was captured, however lost supplies from the sunken boats meant thatthis airstrip could not be used. Granted, three C-46 planes had been landed on this runway, but only one of them landed. This was the only aircraft to operate on this runway for the entire period of the operation, demonstrating the lack of reinforcement planning by the United States. The final position chosen also proved to be a failed military strategy for the United States. The landing site was the one chosen by the USA was the Bay of Pigs, also known as Bahia de Los Cochinos, at the southern tip of Cuba. This part of the island had a low population density and was not within easy reach of any Cuban military installations. This decision is said to have been a poor one as the area was "swampy and difficult to cross", resulting in difficulty landing US troops. This area also proved problematic because it was a well-known location in Castro as it was one of his favorite areas to go fishing. This meant that Castro was well aware of his surroundings during the invasion, which was to his advantage. Castro often visited the area on vacation and had invested in Cuban farmers in the areas surrounding the bay, leading him to develop relationships with the people who lived there. He was able to earn their trust, support and loyalty. Additionally, the United States planned to escape its troops through the Escambray Mountains, which was said to be “50 miles through hostile territory.” The United States planned to have ordinary Cuban civilians, who were against Castro, to instigate an uprising. However, this did not go according to plan because the bay was surrounded by the largest swamp in Cuba, the Zapata Swamp. This prevented Cuban civilians who wanted to join the US attempt at revolution from doing so. Furthermore, the CIA had changed its initially planned position only a month before the invasion. Initially the US planned to invade Trinidad, but then Kennedy asked to replace the chosen site with the Bay of Pigs to hide American involvement because this area was less populated. This last minute change included their military success because they only had a short period of time, one month, to plan the invasion after the request to change the position. Fidel Castro proved to be an exceptional leader for Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. . Although he was president of Cuba and had various other responsibilities, he personally took charge of commanding his troops during this invasion, leading his country to victory. This is not the strategy followed by the United States and, as a result, they failed in this invasion. As soon as Castro learned of the attack, he took matters into his own hands, ordering his troops to respond. On April 17, 1961, Fidel Castro arrived at the scene where the fighting was taking place immediately after his troops had fought off the invaders so that it was impossible for them to take further action. Castro not only commanded his troops on the ground, but also gave instructions and coordinated his air force, allowing the remaining, undamaged planes to attack the invaders. The image in source E justifies this because it shows Castro sitting in a tank in the Playa Giron area on April 17, 1961 during the invasion. He is looking at his troops with a distinctly worried facial expression. Although Castro was the president of Cuba, he wears the same clothes as his soldiers. This suggests that he did not consider himself more important than those fighting his battle and this is an exceptional quality of his leadership style, which contributed to the Cuban success in the operation. Before the invasion, in mid-March, the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with key advisorsKennedy's military personnel, including Curtis LeMay, approved the plan. LeMay represented the United States Air Force and was not given the information needed to prepare the Air Force as he claims he was “completely in the dark.” According to LeMay, the plan aimed for perfection at every step. A military strategy cannot be based on perfection since unexpected problems must also be addressed. Furthermore, there was no main leader for the United States, but rather many leaders who controlled different aspects of the plan, resulting in a lack of communication between them. Then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara hired a group of statisticians to help the operation. This group of “Defense “intellectuals” had no military experience, which led to the United States paying a high price after the failed invasion. LeMay and the other joint chiefs all believed that Kennedy and those in positions under them had gone ahead and planned the invasion, ignoring the recommendations of experienced and qualified military officers. This also suggests a lack of communication. Additionally, 1200 members of the 2506 brigade landed at Playa Giron and Playa Larga in Cuba. This decision to send their troops as one large force proved unsuccessful. Castro had ordered the remaining, undamaged planes that the American fleet had been unable to destroy, to attack the invaders coming from the sea on several ships. This led to Cuban forces sinking the ships and “driving out the rest.” Although the United States managed to land all troops safely, “two 5,000-ton boats” were destroyed by Cuban bombers. Castro's forces were also able to destroy all three landing craft and one communications vessel. Namely, the ships Houston and Rio Escondido were completely destroyed. The United States failed to plan for this attack and as a result essential supplies and weapons were lost on these two sunken ships. The image in source J shows the ship Houston with a thick cloud of black smoke consuming the ship as it is sinking, resulting in the loss of needed supplies. By April 19, 1961, the United States surrendered to Cuban forces led by Castro. Although there were some prisoners who managed to escape from the Cuban beach, over 1,100 US forces were captured. An estimated 1,197 prisoners were said to have been transported to various prisons around Cuba and 89 were reported dead following the invasion. Once the prisoners were arrested, Castro decided that the execution of these men would only "teach their great victory", proving once again he was an exceptional leader. He decided instead to appeal to the United States to exchange members of Brigade 2506 for $52 million worth of food and medicine for Cuba. This indicates a failed military strategy because the United States was supposed to gain control and thus gain money, but ended up losing a large sum of money. This is confirmed when it is mentioned that the Cuban economy was based on an increase of 10% annually, while the US economy only saw an increase of 2% each year. This meant that the United States failed to clearly see that Cuba had more financial stability to support the invasion, a factor it did not consider. Furthermore, this is implicit in Fidel Castro's words that Cuba would "resist, regardless of the costs, in all ways." Kennedy became increasingly concerned about keeping the United States' involvement a secret from the world. To maintain plausible deniability, he gave the CIA a limited window of just four days to find a new location so that themission remained secret. Kennedy's primary goal, both before and during the invasion, was for the operation to remain secret, rather than worrying about military strategy and the coordination of his troops. Consistent with this is the fact that Cuba was well aware of the training of Brigade 2506 and the date it would be attacked. Castro was able to uncover U.S. involvement in the invasion through interrogations of prisoners, newspaper accounts, and reports. As Castro states in his 1961 speech, Cuba was aware before the invasion that it was being targeted. Furthermore, four members of the US military flew the B-26s, which was not approved by Kennedy, who stated that no US personnel could directly participate in the invasion, but only Cuban exiles. These four men were killed when their planes were shot down, providing further evidence of the US government's involvement in the invasion when both their planes and bodies were found. Furthermore, part of the US strategy was to paint the US planes to look identical to the Cuban planes so as to remain plausible in deniability so that it would be understood that the Cuban pilots had gone after their own leader, Castro. However, the US had made an obvious mistake because the original FAR planes were B-26s and had a glazed nose with “gun turrets”. As seen in the image, a group of Cubans are inspecting the camouflaged plane, with the man on the left inspecting the plastic nose. He appears to have suspected that it was a US plane and not a Cuban FAR plane. There was plenty of evidence to show that the United States had been involved in the invasion, without any government recognition. It was brought to the world's attention that Kennedy had lied before, during and after the invasion. The United States had to deal with the consequences of the Soviet Union and the United Nations. President Kennedy was informed of the plan in January 1961. He had just begun his presidency on January 20, 1961. As a result, Kennedy was not only an inexperienced president, but he also lacked the time frame needed to plan an effective operation and success of this magnitude. The CIA had already begun training Cuban exiles in Guatemala without the consent of Eisenhower or Kennedy. This described lack of communication had extreme consequences, as demonstrated by the failed invasion. Furthermore, Cuba did not believe that Kennedy would continue with the mistakes made by the Eisenhower administration, but according to Castro he did. According to Fidel Castro, he made the same mistakes even more aggressively than Eisenhower. Furthermore, there was confusion between the Kennedy and Eisenhower administrations when Kennedy became president of the United States after Eisenhower. Kennedy's main goal when he became president was not to plan the Bay of Pigs invasion, but rather to focus on his campaign. This invasion had been planned during Eisenhower's last year as president, and was forwarded to the Kennedy administration for execution. Even President Eisenhower “did not see Cuba as a national priority.” This meant that he left the CIA to plan the invasion, but did not approve of the idea of ​​invading Cuba. Eisenhower also left an “intense analysis” to Kennedy when he came to power. This transitory ambiguity meant that neither Kennedy nor Eisenhower wanted to take responsibility for the mission. Another issue addressed was the number of troops sent to invade Cuba. The head of the Air Force, Curtis LeMay, asked how many troops would be sent to Cuba. The answer was 700 and this answer shocked him because "there was no way that a 'operationcould be successful with so few troops". This is also supported by the fact that officially only 1511 men were involved in the operation on behalf of the USA, which was said to be too few to be successful. On the other hand, the Cubans had the numbers , supplies and the “morale that comes from defending your home” are many benefits that come from defending your home when invaded, such as the fact that Cuba did not face logistical problems and was familiar with the terrain. , as Castro was. Cuba also had most of the population on its side, including those around the Bay of Pigs. Castro uses propaganda in his 1961 speech and states that if US aggression occurs, he will meet “the total resistance of our people". The US leaders had decided to send their troops as a single, large force to invade Cuba. Fidel Castro stated that, according to rumors spread by the US press, it would prove to be a risky decision because "they would have exposed it to a crushing defeat and would have strengthened Cuba's revolution. According to Castro, it would be to Cuba's advantage for the United States to send its troops as one large force, but he believed that they would not be so ignorant as to commit this mistake during invasion planning. Cuba was also successful because it was ready for both ways the United States could invade; whether they would join or separate their forces. A recurring theme has been the poor performance of various troops of American Brigade 2506. This leaves one wondering about the level of training these Cuban exiles received and selection process for the United States. Eisenhower was unaware of the CIA's decision to use military forces rather than guerrilla tactics. Both Eisenhower and Kennedy were unaware that the CIA had trained Cuban exiles in Guatemala. The success of this operation, as well as the maintenance of plausible deniability, would have been all but guaranteed if the United States had used its military rather than Cuban exiles. The recruitment of members of Brigade 2506 was done openly by the CIA, causing the Cubans to discover their intentions to invade. The CIA also failed to plan for the language barrier between these Cuban exiles and American leaders, making communication difficult. However, the counterargument is that the United States was successful in some aspects of its strategy, both during and after the invasion. From April 14 to 15, bombers had targeted Cuban airfields to destroy military installations. These bombers succeeded in their strategy of “destroying or damaging” the Cuban planes. Furthermore, official reports indicate that forces used during the invasion included “fifteen B-26 bombers, ten C-54 transports, five landing craft, boats, vehicles and personnel; seven chartered commercial cargo vessels; and a 165-foot Cuban coastal steamer.” This suggests that the United States planned effectively in terms of the quantity of weapons and transportation needed before the invasion, a successful part of its strategy. Cuban troops were also said to face “heavy mortar and anti-tank gun fire” once again. suggesting that the United States was adequately equipped with weapons. Additionally, one of the three C-46 planes dispatched managed to land on the Playa Giron airstrip and was able to successfully deliver 850 pounds (386 kg) of “rockets, ammunition, maps and communications equipment.” While this may seem like a trivial success, the same C-46 managed to recover an injured American pilot and return safely to the United States. The United States.