US invasion of Grenada
| date | October 25 to October 29, 1983 |
|---|---|
| place | Grenada |
| output | US Forces Victory |
| consequences | Overthrow the government |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| Grenada: 1200 Cuba: 784 |
USA: 7000 Caribbean states: 300 |
| losses | |
|
Fallen: |
19 killed |
| 24 civilians killed | |
The US invasion of Grenada , American US within the military as Operation Urgent Fury called, was a military intervention of the United States in the Caribbean state Grenada . It started on October 25, 1983 and ended 4 days later.
background
Grenada's government under Eric Gairy was overthrown by the New Jewel Movement (NJM) in 1979 in an almost non-violent revolution . The NJM under Prime Minister Maurice Bishop expropriated some businesses, but initially focused primarily on social reforms such as the introduction of a free health system , the building of new schools and the like. The World Bank gave a very benevolent assessment in 1980, in which it praised Grenada's sound financial policy, and two years later praised the government's successful approach, which was focused on the critical development areas. The United States remained aloof from the new administration.
In the summer of 1979, Grenada's authorities discovered eavesdropping devices at their mission to the United Nations . US government officials spread rumors in US travel agencies to harm Grenada's tourism industry, one of the country's most important sources of income. The United States made the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international credit institutions withhold loans to Grenada. In the summer of 1981 the CIA developed plans to disrupt Grenada's economy with the aim of undermining Prime Minister Bishop's political control. However, the plans were dropped due to objections from the U.S. Senate . The US government tried through the media to portray Grenada as a close ally of the Soviet Union and Cuba, even though Bishop wanted to remain non-aligned despite the support of the two countries. Reports of the construction of a Soviet submarine base in southern Grenada were published until 1983 when a Washington Post correspondent visited the site and reported that the construction of a submarine base was completely impossible due to the shallow water.
In February 1983, a US Defense Department spokesman launched reports on Soviet arms shipments, including attack helicopters , hydrofoil torpedo boats, and MiG fighter jets, that had been delivered to Grenada. No evidence has been presented to support these claims, and none of these weapons have ever been found. The Grenadian army only had BTR-60 armored troop transports and BRDM-2 amphibious vehicles of Soviet origin, as well as a few anti-aircraft guns .
The dubious news that the Point Salines airport on Grenada , which is currently under construction , was to be expanded into a military base for Cuba and the Soviet Union, attracted a lot of attention . Ronald Reagan argued in a televised address in March 1983 that the size of the airport was incompatible with the (non-existent) air force and could therefore only be intended for the Cuban and Soviet military. However, this also applied to several neighboring countries, some of whose airports were larger than Grenada's. Grenada rejected the US allegations and substantiated the planned civilian use with a list of missing facilities, usually available for military bases. More than 20 countries had invested money in the construction of the airport, including Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and European countries. The airport was converted into a military airfield after the invasion by the United States , but was not used as such.
When Prime Minister Bishop wanted to allay the concerns in the United States, he was ousted by units of the Military Revolutionary Council (MRC) on October 12, 1983 after his return from internal party competitors to Bernard Coard, and on October 19, 1983 he was deposed and executed. This new leadership of the NJM with Hudson Austin now announced the establishment of a military dictatorship . The Governor General of Grenada, Paul Scoon , who was the head of state of Grenada as representative of Queen Elizabeth II , then asked the USA for an intervention. On October 21, 1983, the six member states of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), as well as Barbados and Jamaica, also asked for US intervention. At this point they had already decided to intervene militarily. The reasons given for this were the unstable situation in Grenada and the endangerment of US citizens in the country. The request from the member states of the OECS was thus probably made at the direct invitation of the US government. Later it was revealed that the Prime Minister of Dominica , Eugenia Charles , who led the OECS, covert CIA money for a " secret operation had received". On October 25, 1983, the invasion of the United States finally began, in which the OECS states participated.
Course of the invasion
The success of the invasion was never in question, as the US Army as a whole possessed a massive superiority in military material.
On October 25, 1983, US troops and troops from other participating states from the region landed on Grenada. Since Grenada was part of the Commonwealth of Nations , the procedure met with fierce opposition from the British government . Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was appalled at the invasion of a Commonwealth country. Ronald Reagan initially replied that an invasion was not imminent. Later (1990) he stated that he lied to her about this:
Grenada was part of the British Commonwealth, and the United States had no business interfering in its affairs.
“Grenada was part of the British Commonwealth and the United States did not have to interfere in its affairs. "
As Reagan had assured her shortly beforehand that such an invasion would not take place, Thatcher's trust in Reagan was initially disrupted. After the invasion, Thatcher wrote to Reagan that the invasion would be viewed as interference in the internal affairs of a small independent nation, no matter how unpopular the regime was. In the context of East-West relations, she asked Reagan to reconsider:
This action will be seen as intervention by a western country in the internal affairs of a small independent nation, however unattractive its regime. I ask you to consider this in the context of our wider East-West relations and of the fact that we will be having in the next few days to present to our Parliament and people the siting of cruise missiles in this country. I cannot conceal that I am deeply disturbed by your latest communication.
“This action will be seen as meddling by a western country in the internal affairs of a small, independent nation, no matter how unpopular its regime may be. I would ask you to bear this in mind in the context of general East-West relations and the fact that in the next few days we will be presenting in our parliaments the siting for cruise missiles in this country. I cannot hide that I am deeply troubled by your latest communication. "
In Grenada, the population was upset by the overthrow and execution of Maurice Bishop. The government of former Defense Secretary Hudson Austin was not popular. There was fear over the violence sparked by the coup. The US-led troops were therefore seen by parts of the population as liberators.
The fighting lasted for a few days. 7,000 US soldiers, supported by 300 soldiers from the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force (CPF) from Antigua , Barbados , Dominica , Jamaica , Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent had landed. They met soldiers and advisers from different countries: In addition to 1,200 grenaders, there were 784 Cubans (636 of them were construction workers and 43 were official soldiers), 49 Soviet citizens, 24 North Koreans, 16 GDR citizens, 14 Bulgarians and 3 or 4 Libyans. 19 US soldiers died during the fighting and 109 were wounded. The number of victims on the Grenadian side is given as 45 fallen compatriots and 25 killed Cubans, the total number of wounded as more than 400.
In mid-December, the United States withdrew its troops after the original Paul Scoon, who was appointed Governor General of Grenada by Queen Elizabeth II, resumed his office and installed Nicholas Brathwaite as head of government until the next election. These new elections took place the following year.
Involved US troops and ships
The US units under the command of the Atlantic Command formed a Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 120, which consisted of four individual task forces and a task group:
- Task Force 121, with two brigades from the 82nd Airborne Division ,
- Joint Task Force 123, also known as the JSOC / Rangers Task Force. It included US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) teams (including the SEAL Team SIX and the Delta Force ) and a battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) from Fort Campbell , Kentucky , and two Army Ranger - battalions .
- Task Force 124 was an Amphibious Squadron Four with the USS Guam (LPH-9) , USS Barnstable County (LST-1197) , USS Manitowoc (LST-1180) , USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30) , USS Trenton (LPD-14) and the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit of the U.S. Marine Corps.
- Task Group 20.5, also known as the Independence Task Group: USS Independence (CV-62) , USS Richmond K. Turner (CG-20) , USS Coontz (DDG-40) , USS Caron (DD-970) , USS Moosebrugger (DD -980) , USS Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) , USS Suribachi (AE-21) , USS Silversides (SSN-679) .
- Ships involved in the operation: USS Aquila (PHM-4) , USS Aubrey Fitch (FFG-34) , USS Briscoe (DD-977) , USS Portsmouth (SSN-707) , USS Recovery (ARS-43) , USS Saipan ( LHA-2) , USS Sampson (DDG-10) , USS Samuel Eliot Morison (FFG-13) , USS Taurus (PHM-3) .
- Task Force 126, an aerial reconnaissance association with eight F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft from the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing and four Boeing E- 3A Sentry air reconnaissance aircraft from the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing. The association should primarily investigate possible Cuban air and ship movements. The association was part of the Joint Task Force 120 but was directly subordinate to the Atlantic Comand.
During the invasion off the coast of the Bermuda Islands, the Soviet nuclear submarine K-324 shadowed the US frigate USS McCloy . The cable of the frigate's towing sonar got caught in the screw of the submarine, which then had to surface and was towed to Cuba by a Soviet ship.
Assessment under international law
The intervention took place without a UN mandate . The USA relied on Paul Scoon , who, as the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, was Head of State of Grenada and who had asked the USA to intervene. However, the international legal legitimacy of the intervention was highly controversial. On October 28, 1983, the United Nations Security Council voted by a large majority for a resolution describing the US invasion as a grave violation of international law and expressing the grave regrets of the UN. The United States immediately vetoed this resolution. Ronald Reagan's response to the resolution was:
One hundred nations in the UN have not agreed with us on just about everything that's come before them where we're involved, and it didn't upset my breakfast at all.
"One hundred nations in the UN disagreed with pretty much everything that happened to them where we were involved, and it didn't interfere with my breakfast in any way."
Media reception
The invasion is featured in Clint Eastwood's film Heartbreak Ridge, about the United States Marine Corps . The writer Wolfgang Schreyer processed the events and their prehistory in his novel The Man on the Cliffs (1987).
literature
- Mark Adkin: The Battle of Grenada. Lexington Books, 1989.
- Hardi Schindler: The American intervention in Grenada , in: Frank R. Pfetsch: Conflicts since 1945 , Vol. 1 - America. Freiburg (Breisgau) and Würzburg 1991. pp. 75-79.
- Lee E. Russell: Grenada 1983 , London 1985 (Osprey Military Men-at-arms series No. 159, Reprint 1998).
- Chapter 10: Our Days of Weakness Are Over , in: Stephen Kinzer : Overthrow: America's century of regime change from Hawaii to Iraq , New York 2006, pp. 219–238 (German edition: Putsch !: Zur Geschichte des American Imperialismus , Frankfurt a. M. 2007).
- Edgar F. Raines Jr .: The Rucksack War. US Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983 , Washington, DC (Center of Military History United States Army) 2010. ISBN 978-0-16-084183-5
See also
Web links
- Grenada Invasion: "Ronald Reagan's Greatest Hour" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1983, pp. 146-153 ( online ).
- Operation Urgent Fury on GlobalSecurity.org (English)
- Script of a DLF contribution on the 25th anniversary of the invasion
Individual evidence
- ^ Thomas M. Leonard: Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Psychology Press, 2005, p. 180 (English).
- ↑ Grenada , entry in Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed November 30, 2014 (English).
- ^ William Blum: Grenada 1979-1984 . In: Killing Hope . Black Rose Books, Montreal / New York / London, ISBN 1-55164-097-X , pp. 273ff (English).
- ^ A b Hugh O'Shaughnessy: Grenada: Revolution, Invasion and Aftermath. London 1984, p. 156 (English).
- ↑ The New York Times, August 20, 1979, p. 4.
- ↑ Chris Searle: Grenada. The Struggle Against Destabilization . London 1983, p. 56 (English).
- ↑ a b The Washington Post of February 27, 1983, p. 1 (English).
- ↑ The New York Times, March 26, 1983 (English).
- ↑ The Guardian of October 31/22. November 1983 (English).
- ↑ The Guardian, November 11, 1983.
- ↑ Reagan 'saved Grenada' BBC Carribean June 7, 2004, accessed October 26, 2018.
- ^ A b c Phil Davison: Sir Paul Scoon: The Queen's Governor-General during the American invasion of Grenada The Independent, September 10, 2013, accessed October 26, 2018.
- ^ Cole, Ronald H. (1997), Operation Urgent Fury: The Planning and Execution of Joint Operations in Grenada, October 12 - November 2, 1983, Washington DC, p. 1; 57ff (English).
- ^ Bob Woodward : VEIL: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987 . New York 1987, p. 113 (English).
- ↑ Richard Aldous: Reagan and Thatcher. The Difficult Relationship . Arrow, London 2009, p. 147 f.
- ↑ Ronald Reagan: An American Life . Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 454.
- ^ Edgar F. Raines Jr .: The Rucksack War US Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983 (= Contingency Operations Series ). 1st edition. CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY, WASHINGTON, DC 2010, ISBN 978-0-16-084183-5 , pp. 109 ( army.mil [PDF; 9.8 MB ; accessed on July 9, 2016]).
- ↑ The New York Times: US VETOES UN RESOLUTION 'DEPLORING' GRENADA INVASION , October 29, 1983 (English)
- ↑ The New York Times, November 4, 1983, p. 6.