Brigade 2506

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Brigade 2506 is the name of a military unit of Cubans in exile that was trained by the CIA for the Bay of Pigs invasion under the administration of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and on April 17, 1961, at the beginning of the presidency of John F. Kennedy , was used.

History and formation of the brigade

Communist Cuba was viewed by the United States as a great danger potential and a provocation. In fact, they had an outpost of the USSR within their own sphere of influence and feared political influence on neighboring Central American countries. The then CIA director Allen Welsh Dulles has been demanding since 1959 that the US must take measures to overthrow Cuban President Fidel Castro in order to enable a democratic successor government that is safe for the US. However, Eisenhower did not prioritize Cuba at the time, instead focusing on Europe and Asia. Dulles submitted an operational plan for the overthrow of the Castro government to the US Security Council with the file number NSC 5412/2, the executive body of which was internally called 'Committee 5412'.

The plan consisted of 4 key steps:

  1. Establishment of a Cuban government in exile
  2. Start of a "powerful propaganda offensive"
  3. Establishment of a covert reconnaissance and implementation organization that should be under the responsibility of the government in exile
  4. Formation of a paramilitary unit outside of Cuba, which was later to be used for guerrilla operations in Cuba

On March 10, 1960, this plan was finally approved by the Security Council, with the addition of March 14, 1960, according to which, in addition to Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl and the other revolutionary hero Ernesto Che Guevara should be "eliminated".

By this time the CIA had already recruited the first 28 Cubans in exile, who were to form the basis for the combat group provided for in Plan 5412. After the US President granted US $ 13 million for the action, which came from various budget sources and was never officially confirmed, the CIA began to form the guerrilla unit with the help of the US Army .

Responsible was the chief of covert operations of the CIA, Richard Mervin Bissell , who was assigned as military commander General Charles P. Cabell . For the Cubans in exile, however, the commander was the Cuban José Pérez San Romain (known as Pepe), because the brigadists were told that a millionaire in exile was financing the small force. San Romain's deputy was Ernesto Oliva, while José Basulto was responsible for the guerrilla sabotage troops. Each brigadist was given an identification number, Basulto was the number 2522. The count began with 2500 in order to simulate a much stronger unit to possible traitors.

Brigadist Carlos Rodríguez Santana was killed in a training accident on September 8, 1960. As a reminder, its identification number, 2506, became the new name of the brigade.

On November 4, 1960, the guerrilla training was discontinued after the plan had been changed to the extent that a conventional unit consisting of paratroopers and sea-landed ground forces wanted to land in Cuba. On November 27, 1960, the newly elected US President John F. Kennedy was briefed on the operation, who ordered it to proceed.

Outline and equipment

Ground troops

The exact number of brigadists deployed is not known; estimates are between 1,300 and 1,500 men who fought actively on land. 1,113 brigadists were captured by the Cuban armed forces, who were ransomed on December 22, 1961 for $ 53 million worth of goods. 104 men died.

The ground troops were divided into 3 battalions of infantry, an armored train with 5 M41 Walker Bulldogs, 10 × 2.5to trucks , 1 × bulldozer , 6 × jeep, 1 × water trailer and a tanker with 7,000 gallons of kerosene . All vehicles were lost. The paratrooper battalion was divided into 3 companies , which were deployed to 2 landing zones.

Air Force

The brigadists had 6 Curtiss C-46 and 6 Douglas C-54 transport aircraft at their disposal. The machines were supposed to drop off the paratroopers and supplies. Most important were 16 Douglas A-26 bombers, which were delivered to Guatemala as B-26B ground attack aircraft in 1960 and then loaned back to the CIA . These machines were painted in the colors of the Cuban Air Force and were intended to show that the Cuban Air Force was no longer on Castro's side. The deception failed because the Cubans with version A used the bombers with glass canopies, but with version B, the Brigade B26 had a disguised bow with 8 × MG .50 caliber (12.7 mm). The training of the brigade pilots was carried out by 2 Alabama Air National Guard pilots who were transferred to the CIA. These two pilots, Thomas Willard Ray and Leo Francis Baker, also flew attacks during the invasion and were shot down. They were executed as spies when captured by Cuban soldiers. Of the 6 US pilots deployed, 2 survived the operation.

Naval forces

The CIA leased 5 cargo ships from the Garcia Line , which was run by Cubans in exile. The Atlantico , Caribe , Houston (Captain Luis Morse), and the Rio Escondido (Captain Bustavo Tirado) were loaded with ammunition and supplies for 30 days, which should be enough for 15,000 men. It was believed that after the landing a stream of Cubans would join the brigade. The Lake Charles was loaded with supplies for another 15 days and should be unloaded on the fifth day after landing. Group 40 , the government in exile, was also on board . A sixth ship should follow the landing on the tenth day, this should be rented from a US shipping company.

All ships were loaded in New Orleans and then drove to Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua. From there they set out for the Bay of Pigs.

The US Navy handed over two dropships to the CIA, the Blagar (which also had combat swimmers on board) and the Barbara J (Captain Osvaldo Inguanzo), the latter as a floating command post. These LCI ( Landing Craft Infantry ) had a crew of about 30 men, all of whom were officially hired as civilian sailors, but were all former US Navy sailors.

There was also an LSD ( Landing Ship Dock ), the San Marco , which launched 4 LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) and several smaller fiberglass assault boats at sea and then turned back. The crew consisted of US sailors who were transferred to the CIA. The LSVP were led by the former Cuban officer Silvio Peres, who stayed on the San Marco and was later transferred to the US Navy.

The Houston and Rio Escondido were lost in Cuban air raids.

The US aircraft carrier USS Essex was cruising far at sea off Cuba and was supposed to provide air support if necessary. When the brigade was under Cuban air raids, the use of US planes was prohibited. An escort destroyer, the USS Eaton , drove close to the coast and gave artillery support, but was shot at by Cuban tanks and withdrew again.

The 2506 brigade after the invasion

After the failed invasion in 1961, the brigadists arrested in Cuba were sentenced to long prison terms in show trials broadcast on Cuban television. 14 of the 1,193 prisoners were separated from the rest of the brigade and brought before a military tribunal in Las Villas province. Five of this group were executed by shooting to death. A group of prisoners was interrogated personally by Fidel Castro in the Sports Palace in Havana, which the radio later documented in excerpts. They were exchanged for the equivalent of $ 53 million in medicine and food and flown to the United States in December 1962. They then formed a veterans association under the same name.

After the unsuccessful invasion, numerous members of the brigade took on assignments for secret services of various governments ( USA , Chile ). The air forces of the 2506 Brigade later fought on behalf of the CIA in the Congo from 1964 to 1965, including against Cuban military advisers.

The most famous members of the brigade included:

Web links

literature

  • Hans Magnus Enzensberger : The interrogation of Havana. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1970.
  • Pablo Perez-Cisneros, John B. Donovan and Jeff Koenreich: After the Bay of Pigs: Lives and Liberty on the Line. Alexandria Library, Miami 2007.
  • Peter Wyden : Bay of Pigs - The untold Story , Simon and Schuster, New York 1979, ISBN 0-671-24006-4 .
  • Alejandro de Quesada The Bay of Pigs - Cuba 1961 . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2009.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pablo Perez-Cisneros: Sobre el Castillo del Príncipe y los presos de la Brigada 2506, in: Penúltimos Días of April 16, 2011, accessed on April 27, 2014 (Spanish)
  2. ↑ Hans Magnus Enzensberger: The interrogation of Havana. Pp. 217-235, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1972