Winston Smith | 25 Apr 2018 6:32 a.m. PST |
From what I have read, no. The Cuban government troops knew they were coming, and greatly outnumbered them. I have also read that JFK thought it was a crackpot idea, but he didn't want yo be thought squishy on Communism so he allowed it to go through. He was only in office a few months and the operation was a holdover from the Eisenhower administration. I wonder what Ike really thought about it? |
randy51 | 25 Apr 2018 8:35 a.m. PST |
I think your analysis hits it right on the head. Curious how US administrations would pour billions of dollars and 58,000 lives in a war 10,000 miles away to stop communism but allow it to fester and metastasize right off it's own shore. |
Ed Mohrmann | 25 Apr 2018 9:14 a.m. PST |
Holdover from Eisenhower's administration ? Really ? The same guy who oversaw Torch, Husky, Overlord, Dragoon and other efforts of similar scale and impact thought a group of poorly trained, armed and equipped expats could conduct a successful invasion of a nation-state ? I don't think so… |
Winston Smith | 25 Apr 2018 10:25 a.m. PST |
The planning was started by the CIA during Eisenhower's administration. I think he kicked the cab down the road. |
x42brown | 25 Apr 2018 10:56 a.m. PST |
I wonder how well briefed Eisenhower or JFK were or any outside The CIA. It was doomed from the start. x42 |
15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 25 Apr 2018 11:02 a.m. PST |
Never trust others to do a job you should have done yourself. The mistake is in having the ill-trained expats do the heavy lifting when we could have sent in the marines or army ourselves. And did we learn from this mistake? Apparently not. The Reagan Administration did the same thing later by arming and training Contra rebels to fight the Marxist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. Though of course in this instance there was probably no other choice because the ghost of Vietnam still haunts our foreign policy establishment and there was no appetite for direct intervention |
StoneMtnMinis | 25 Apr 2018 11:26 a.m. PST |
Actually, the Contras were instrumental in forcing the communist sandinistas out of power and freeing the Nicaraguan people. |
14Bore | 25 Apr 2018 11:32 a.m. PST |
Been a long time since read over accounts but certainly if their was air cover which if I remember correctly was promised but never happened. |
Winston Smith | 25 Apr 2018 10:26 p.m. PST |
The Nicaraguan people are so grateful to the Contrad for liberating them that they keep voting the Sandinistas back into power. |
Legion 4 | 26 Apr 2018 7:04 a.m. PST |
I think the one of the major problems with the BoPs. Was IIRC the CIA believed there would be a "popular" uprising among the Cuban masses Against Fidel & Company. A "5th Column" if you will. But as we saw the US thought the same would happen somewhat like that in both Gulf Wars, AFAIK. So in all 3 cases … the Intel or the estimate derived from it was wrong. Regardless lack of enough airpower on station/as CAS was only one of the "failures". The 2506 didn't have the numbers to do what had to be done. E.g. for Armor Support they had 5 US M41 Light Tanks. Verses Russian made/Cuban crewed T-34/85s, SU-100s, JS-2s etc. And both Russia and Italian made FA, etc. Yes it was not exactly what some would call optimum Tank country. However the few M41s did inflict some heavy losses on the Cuban infantry and T34s, etc. The 2506 did make @ two small parachute drops as well. Not really achieving their objectives. But did inflict some loses to the poorly trained Cuban militia. But all the Cuban had to get in range of the 2506, with massive amounts of Cuban Infantry and of course armor and FA support. To shut down the beachhead. And cut off the 2506's retreat to the boats. That were also taking fire from Castro's assets. The loss/lack of air support for the 2506 was also a big nail in their coffin. Supplies aboard ship were sunk and/or never made it to the beach. In large amounts to be sufficient for the 2506 to effectively carry on the fight against Castro's forces. IMO the BoPs was destined to fail as it did … sadly … One of the problems with trying to fight a war on a shoestring … that shoestring will often break under the "pressure" … link |
Tango01 | 21 Jun 2021 10:01 p.m. PST |
60 Years Later: The Enduring Legacy of the Bay of Pigs Fiasco link
Armand
|
Legion 4 | 22 Jun 2021 4:34 p.m. PST |
Some of the members of that invasion are still alive. Albeit much older … |
USAFpilot | 23 Jun 2021 3:46 p.m. PST |
At a critical point in the invasion JFK refused to provide the promised and much needed air support. The invasion force didn't stand a chance without air support. This was a failure in leadership at the very top. |
Wolfhag | 24 Jun 2021 5:37 a.m. PST |
I grew up in West Miami on the edge of the Everglades at the time. We'd go shooting at a rock pit about 8 miles West. On a number of occasions, we ran into Alpha 66 (Cuban para-military group from the Bay of Pigs) getting their weapons ready to go on raids to Cuba and tossing grenades into the water. They were pretty cool and open about what they were doing and one guy let us fire his AK. The old Richmond Naval Air Station blimp base is where they trained, it's now a zoo. Alpha 66: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_66 Regarding the popular uprising, it's pretty hard to do that when the government has taken all of your weapons. link Wolfhag |
Legion 4 | 24 Jun 2021 9:01 a.m. PST |
Yes, Kennedy pulling the CAS was just one big negative. And again as I said before the thought of a popular uprising was more like wishful thinking. |
Wolfhag | 12 Jul 2021 8:37 a.m. PST |
Maybe now is the time to try again. Protests YouTube link Wolfhag |
Legion 4 | 12 Jul 2021 3:03 p.m. PST |
Or just like a few years ago … go there to watch a baseball game … |