In this week in military history, we explore the Bay of Pigs Fiasco, which was the April 17, 1961 invasion of the southern coast of Cuba by U.S. supported Cuban exiles.
In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba via an armed revolt that overthrew corrupt President Fulgencio Batista.
The US government distrusted Fidel Castro and disapproved of his increasingly close relationship with the Soviet Union.
The Central Intelligence Agency developed a plan during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland in the hope of sparking a wider rebellion.
Training of the Cuban force began and by November 1960 the Cuban recruits had been trained for an assault landing and guerilla warfare.
With the change of administrations, President John F. Kennedy was briefed on the invasion plan and authorized it in February 1961.
Unfortunately, information about this plan was so tightly held in the administration that it was not properly vetted by the military officials.
Using WWII bombers painted to look like Cuban Air Force planes, eight planes left Nicaragua to bomb Cuban airfields on April 15, 1961.
However, these aircraft missed many of their targets, leaving the Cuban Air Force intact.
Two days later, the exiles landed at beaches along the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba.
The Cuban exiles, who made up what was named "Brigade 2506," came under heavy fire and their assault was hampered by bad weather and the lack of U.S. air support.
Fidel Castro ordered 20,000 Cuban troops to the area, which soon overwhelmed the invaders.
Many exiles were captured, 100 were killed, and a few were able to escape back to the sea.
For twenty months the United States government negotiated for the release of the prisoners with Cuba and eventually ransomed them with agricultural equipment.
The first prisoners were released on December 23, 1962.
The failed invasion haunted the Kennedy Administration as tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union continued to be strained.
Many historians feel this failed invasion led Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to mistake President Kennedy's prudence in terminating the invasion for weakness and led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
Join us next time for another segment of This Week in Military
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