Late on the night of April 16, 1961, in the scenic Caribbean port of Cabezas in Nicaragua, thousands of heavily armed "soldiers" wearing American steel helmets and field uniforms boarded several freighters docked by the dock amid whispered orders from officers.
Most of these people were nervous, but the morale was good, and many of them were eager to try. They were cuban exiles trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to overthrow the revolutionary government headed by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, who would carry out a landing operation in Cuba, according to the CIA, the Cuban people had long long desired their "liberation", and as soon as they came ashore, they would have to respond.
Fidel Castro (front row, third from right) and Che Guevara (front row, fourth from right)
These men were organized by the CIA as the 2506Th Brigade, with 5 infantry battalions and 1 paratrooper battalion, who would set sail from Guatemala and Nicaragua and directly attack the Giron Beach in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The CIA had great hopes for the operation, knowing that just five or six years ago, Castro and Che Guevara and others had led 83 people armed with only light weapons to land in Cuba, and they swept the country in less than three years and overthrew the Batista regime. And this landing was more than 1,400 so-called "elite soldiers" selected by CIA consultants and strictly trained! Not to mention that they also have planes, tanks, and even the United States behind them to provide all kinds of covert and covert support.
The three locations on the Cuban map, from left to right, are the capital Havana, the Bay of Pigs, and Guantanamo (a U.S. military base).
At about 2:00 a.m. on April 17, 1961, the main forces of the 2506th Brigade made landfalls at Gillon Beach (code-named "Blue Beach") and Long Beach (code-named "Red Beach") on the south coast of Cuba. In order to transport people, vehicles and supplies, the CIA used 4 personnel landing craft, 3 general purpose landing craft and 1 tank landing craft, and finally loaded more than 1,400 people, 5 M41 light tanks, 10 2.5-ton trucks and trailers carrying ammunition and supplies, 1 bulldozer, 6 armed jeeps, an amphibious trailer and a tank truck loaded with 7000 gallons of fuel.
M41 light tank
Guillon Beach in the Bay of Pigs, Cuba
At the beachhead, the 2506th Brigade met only sporadic resistance from local militia, but the militia promptly reported the invasion to Havana, which allowed the Cuban government to quickly send troops to the Bay of Pigs to meet the invaders at the first moment. The biggest trouble the 2506th Brigade encountered when it landed was that the crew of the landing craft regarded the coral reefs on the shore as aquatic weeds, resulting in damage to the bottom of many landing craft, forcing the troops to launch at a distance of seventy or eighty meters from the shore, carrying heavy weapons, ammunition and carry-on materials to the shore, which greatly delayed the landing time.
The temporarily recruited crew of the Caotai team turned into a CIA landing craft that ran aground on the reef
At 6:30 a.m., it was dawn. The 2056 Brigade has established beachhead positions several kilometers deep. At the same time, in order to cut off the connection between Cuba's front coastal defense positions and the rear, CIA pilots flew C-46 transport aircraft to airdrop 110 paratroopers of the 2056 Brigade on the Bwinaventuras Mountain north of the Zapata Marsh in an attempt to pinch the coastal defense forces back and forth. The main force of the 2506th Brigade launched an attack on a sugar factory near Yaguaramas and the beach.
Cuban exiles undergoing parachute training in the United States
Since the Cuban coastal defense forces and the local militia were insufficient, under the attack of the enemy's superior forces and firepower, they could only alternate cover, retreat step by step, withdraw to the area south of Yaguaramas, and use the favorable terrain to organize defenses to prevent the enemy from breaking into the interior.
At this time, the first Cuban ground troops also arrived at the beachhead of the Bay of Pigs, although the number was small, but it greatly boosted the morale and morale of the defenders, the battle began to become fierce, the two sides launched several melee battles, and the sneak attack planned by the CIA became a bitter battle.
The stubborn resistance of the Militia of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, whose resistance successfully overwhelmed the exiles in the beachheads and could not advance, bought time for the main force to arrive
Despite the temporary numerical superiority of the 2506Th Brigade, the Cuban army and militia resisted stubbornly and continued to launch counter-assaults, making its advance unusually slow, and time passed minute by minute, and the Cuban army and militia were rushing from all directions to the Bay of Pigs. Fortunately, at about 14:00 p.m., the protagonists of the landing, five M41 light tanks, finally appeared, and they staggered off the landing craft under the fire of the Cuban Air Force, and then immediately entered the battle.
At 14:30, the M41 tank cover infantry launched a fierce attack on the Cuban 339th Infantry Battalion and the militia accompanying the operation, and due to the lack of anti-tank weapons, the Cuban armed forces suffered considerable casualties and were pushed back step by step. In order to contain the attack of the 2506th Brigade inland, the Cuban army and militia on the flank of the "Red Beach" launched several counterattacks, and although the 2506th Brigade repelled these attacks after fierce fighting, it was unable to expand the beachhead positions and was forced to turn to the defensive at dusk of the same day. The possibility of the CIA-planned and organized attack, both in terms of suddenness and success, is gone, and all that can be expected now is a so-called "miracle."
The CIA has made previous assessments, although many believe the invasion is too risky and likely not to succeed. But they also wishfully believe that the White House is likely to be unable to stand the "humiliating" ending and order the US military to intervene, as long as the US military intervenes, the invasion is not stable. But the CIA overestimated the determination of U.S. President Kennedy, who had only been in office for three months, and in the face of the hot potato that the previous term had thrown at him, Kennedy thought left and right, and never made up his mind to intervene militarily.
At 20:00 on the evening of April 17, 4 infantry battalions and 2 tank companies of the main force of the Cuban Revolutionary Army finally arrived at the Bay of Pigs, forming a three-sided encirclement of the 2506 Brigade. Castro personally commanded the battle on the front line, first ordering artillery to carry out heavy shelling of the positions of the 2506 Brigade, and the Soviet-made ZIS-3 76.2 mm cannon, the A-19 122 mm howitzer and the ML-20 152 mm plus howitzer took turns to fire on the 2506 Brigade trapped in Playa Raga.
ZIS3 type 76.2 mm cannon
Cuban troops shelled the 2506 Brigade using Soviet-made A-19 122 mm plus howitzers
ML20 type 152 mm howitzer
At this time, the CIA intercepted the radio communications of the Cuban army and learned that a Cuban armored force of about 40 tanks and self-propelled guns was about to launch an attack on the Bay of Pigs. The 2506 Brigade, already feeling desperately strapped for, rushed the M41 tanks' much-needed ammunition and fuel from the beach to the front line, while deploying the Bazooka bazooka squad to the front line closest to the road, intending to fight the beasts.
At 23:55, the Cuban artillery stopped firing after firing more than 2,000 shells, and since the positions of the two sides were staggered and many of the positions of the 2506 Brigade were on the beach, the sand absorbed most of the shock wave and shrapnel of the shell explosion, so the damage caused by the shelling was not too large.
In the early morning of April 18, the tank battle between the two sides finally began. According to the surviving Cuban exiles, a team of four T-34-85 tanks approached the beach in columns. While approaching an intersection, 3 M41 tanks hidden in the woods attacked the T-34, and after destroying the first 2 T-34s, the 3rd T-34 attempted to move forward around 2 paralyzed front vehicles, but 1 M-41 76 mm shell accurately hit it, forcing it to retreat. The M41 then fired continuously at the T-34 at close range, breaking its tracks, forcing the occupants to abandon the car and retreat, and the crew of the 4th tank panicked at the successive defeats of the car in front of them, surrendered to the 2506 Brigade, and the tank was completely captured. By 0:20 a.m., the narrow road leading to the beach had been blocked by several burning T-34 tanks. Seeing that the other side was hidden in the woods and the other side was completely exposed to the narrow road, unable to deploy the battle formation and exert the superiority of troops, the Cuban armored forces wisely chose to retreat temporarily and wait for the dawn to attack.
T-34-85 tank of the Cuban army
A Cuban T-34 tank stuck in a bunker
A Cuban T-34 tank stuck in a bunker
According to the statistics of the Cuban army, although their T-34 tanks were stuck in bunkers because they were unfamiliar with the terrain, all but one permanent loss was successfully recovered and repaired. Therefore, the masters of the Cuban exiles have the geometry of the water and the geometry of the dry goods in the tao, and the benevolent people see the wise.
To be fair, as a tank in service during World War II, the T-34-85 has a generation gap between the observation equipment and the M41 light tank developed after the war, the 76 mm long-barrel tank gun of the M41 light tank is not weaker than the T-34-85 ZIS53 85 mm tank gun in terms of power, coupled with the poor quality of the tankers of the Cuban Revolutionary Army, it is normal for one-on-one tanks to fight the T-34, but the T-34 is a medium tank after all, thicker than the M41 skin. Again with a numerical advantage, the M41's failure in the Bay of Pigs has been decided.
At 5:30 a.m., it was nearly a little light, the Cuban armored forces resumed their attack, and under the cover of artillery and infantry, the T-34 tanks adopted a steady and steady tactic, step by step, step by step, gradually advancing, bypassing the four tanks that had been shot and paralyzed by the bunker, and drove from both sides of the road through the intersection. The M41 tried again to lure the advancing T-34 tanks and SU-100 self-propelled guns deeper into the aircraft alone to create fighters, but the Cuban army had learned its lesson, and on the complex terrain, tanks and infantry worked closely together not to create individual destroyed fighters for the M41.
On 19 April 1961, FARC infantry, supported by T-34-85 tanks, attacked the 2506 Brigade trapped in the Bay of Pigs
Castro addressed the troops, ordering them to launch a final general offensive against the 2506 Brigade, which was trapped at Giron Beach
Fidel Castro on the front line with a SU-100 self-propelled gun
Panorama of the same photo
The M41 saw that the enemy's tricks were not working, so they had to open fire first in an attempt to stabilize their positions, but the Cuban tanks and self-propelled guns overwhelmed the M41 with fierce firepower, and the two sides failed to achieve further results in the fierce confrontation, and the Cuban tanks and self-propelled guns had no intention of attacking at all, but only bombarded the beach with the advantage of artillery caliber and range.
At about 9 o'clock, the M41 tanks ran out of ammunition, and had to cover the remnants of infantry in cars and retreated, gradually retreating back to the beachhead position. As a result of the continuous air raids launched by the Cuban Air Force, merchant ships transporting ammunition, oil and various materials on the sea were constantly hit and ignited, and many of the materials that were unloaded on the beachhead on the first day were also destroyed by air raids.
Participating in Operation Bay of Pigs, the U.S. freighter Houston, which was hit by the Cuban Revolutionary Air Force, was seriously injured and stranded
The M41 tanks that retreated to the beach were left with no fuel and no ammunition, and by the afternoon of the same day, the five M41 tanks that had run out of ammunition were abandoned on the beach by the crew and turned into scrap iron, and the tank crew took up light weapons and went into battle.
M41 light tank of exile abandoned on the beach
But the fate of the 2506 Brigade has been decided, because the invasion plan is full of holes, the CIA vainly tried to kick away the military and even the White House to dominate the matter alone, in order to get the greatest credit, resulting in the 2506 Brigade in the predicament, what kind of rescue action to take to save the invasion has not been able to reach an agreement. In order to save the situation, the CIA made a desperate bet and recruited 8 Alabama Air National Guard personnel (4 pilots and 4 co-pilots) to fight as "volunteers", hoping to suppress the attack of Cuban ground forces.
So in the early hours of April 19, six A-26 Intruders (four of them piloted by National Guard pilots and two others flown by CIA "temporary workers") took off in front of them. They attacked the Cuban ground forces after dawn, but were met with heavy ground fire (the Cuban army deployed four 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns), and 2 "invaders" piloted by the CIA were hit, but after all, they had been fighting for several days, were more familiar with the battlefield environment and Cuban play, and returned to the base after hastily dropping bombs and rockets.
Four-pack 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun deployed by the Cuban army
The Cuban army opened fire on A-26 bombers supporting the 2506 Brigade with four 12.7 anti-aircraft machine guns
The other four National Guard A-26s were not so lucky, they stayed too long over the battlefield, only to encounter the attacking Cuban Air Force T-33 trainer aircraft (you can think of this as a two-seat version of the F-80 fighter), the team led by Lieutenant Colonel Shannon maneuvered to escape the T-33 attack, but Shannon's wingman Major Reilly Thunberg's landline was violently attacked by the T-33, and the plane fell into the sea, killing Thunberg and co-pilot Wade Gray on the spot. Captain Thomas Ray's landline was also shot down by the T-33, and he and co-pilot Leo Becker managed to survive the parachute, but were soon rounded up by Cuban ground forces, who resisted arrest with guns and were soon sifted through a rain of Cuban bullets.
A-26 "Intruder" bomber at Miami airfield
T-33 trainer aircraft of the Cuban Air Force
The downed Captain Thomas Ray's plane, in order to hide the eyes and ears, all the A-26s involved in the war were painted with the logo of the Cuban Air Force (the Cuban Air Force also has A-26s).
Cuban soldiers standing on the wreckage of an A-26 shot down
The casualties of active U.S. military duty suppressed the CIA and the White House, and eventually Kennedy retracted, and he strictly ordered U.S. troops in the Caribbean to not intervene in the Battle of the Bay of Pigs, which finally sounded the death knell of the 2506 Brigade.
On 20 April, after 72 hours of fighting, the remnants of the 2506 Brigade had to surrender to cuban troops, 118 of them were killed, including 4 American pilots; 360 wounded, 1,202 captured (1,189 according), 2 of the 5 cargo ships were sunk, and 4 of the 8 A-26 bombers thrown in were shot down (1 by ground fire and 3 by Cuban Air Force fighters). Some die-hard elements also fled into the nearby forests and swamps in a vain attempt to infiltrate the interior in a vain attempt to collude with the rebels, but under the continuous pursuit of Cuban soldiers and civilians, most of them were arrested or killed in the next few days, and some of those who escaped into the swamps drowned or died in the mouth of crocodiles.
Cuba displays captured weapons
Captured 2506 Brigade personnel, they were eventually redeemed by the U.S. government for $60 million
Cuban soldiers celebrating victory
In the fighting, 176 regular troops were killed in Cuba, and the Cuban militia suffered greater losses, with about 500 casualties. However, in order to whitewash the fiasco of the 2506 Brigade, the CIA and the Cubans in exile actually raised their "enemy annihilation" figure to an outrageous level of 2,000-5,000 people, and the total number of Cuban troops (regular army + militia) invested in the Bay of Pigs at that time was only 25,000.
More than 1,100 captured hapless eggs eventually paid $60 million (paid in the form of medicines and food) to redeem them (which was also the only loss of reparations for the United States after World War II), and the John F. Kennedy administration, which had just been in office for 90 days, was humiliated internationally for a time and had to personally come forward to wipe the ass of the CIA: President Kennedy had to publicly admit in front of the American public that the Bay of Pigs incident was a mistake that could never happen again, and then claimed full responsibility for the incident. The fiasco left the Governments of the United States and Cuba inseparable from each other. A year and a half after the Bay of Pigs incident, the tiny Caribbean island nation witnessed a terrorist incident that almost dragged the world into a nuclear war — the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The weapon of victory on display at the Bay of Pigs Incident Museum is a quadruple 12.7 mm heavy machine gun
The victory weapon on display at the Bay of Pigs Incident Museum is the SU-100 self-propelled gun
The weapon of victory on display at the Bay of Pigs Incident Museum is the T-34-85 tank