The Battle of the Bay of Pigs,"Thank you for the invasion!"

On April 14, the United States began carrying out a secret military operation using Cuban exiles with the aim of eliminating Fidel Castro's regime, which had undermined its interests on the island.

Following an armed revolution that overthrew the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista in early 1959, complete American hegemony over the island was eliminated and Washington was deprived of ownership of 75 percent of Cuban territory. 

The political and commercial elites who previously controlled the country immigrated to the United States, and many Cubans settled in Miami, USA, and were there 180 kilometers from the coast of “Liberty Island,” which resembles a small Cuba.

Practical preparations for the invasion of Cuba began in 1960 with the formation of the United States, by decree of President Dwight Eisenhower, a special military brigade, code 2506, which was affiliated with the CIA.

This brigade, which was formed from Cuban exiles, was tested in complete secrecy in Miami and Guatemala, and was supposed to be landed in the “Bay of Pigs” located in southern Cuba to overthrow the anti-American revolutionary regime led by Fidel Castro.

Attack on the rebellious island:

The United States called the invasion of Cuba from the Gulf of Khanawer "Zapata." In this operation, an amphibious landing was planned, which would be preceded by the destruction of the Cuban Air Force and the bombing of three of the largest military airfields on the island.

According to the plan, 8 American B-26 bombers raided the airfields of Campo Colombia, San Antonio los Banos, and Santiago de Cuba. In the wake of those air strikes, most of the Cuban air force was declared destroyed.

The joy of the Americans and their collaborators did not last long. It turns out that the Cubans knew of the impending secret invasion, had prepared by replacing their warplanes with dummy ones, and so only lost two of their 24 warplanes.

At dawn on April 17, the first vanguards of the invasion forces began landing. A parachute was dropped on the road linking the Gulf coast to the rest of the island, and the battle began. Cuban border guards supported by volunteers confronted the invading forces. These defenders, numbering no more than 100, succeeded in delaying the enemy's advance, despite his tenfold superiority.

The attack went in three directions at once. Three battalions of Cuban dissidents headed to the Playa Chiron area, one to Playa Larga, and a battalion of paratroopers moved to San Blas, while special units were allocated to seize the airport in the Playa Chiron area in order to prepare it later to receive American aircraft. .

The Cubans, who rose to defend their country from the first moments of the invasion, were able to seize the initiative by April 18. Four enemy American ships were sunk, five aircraft were shot down, and the defenders were able to push the invasion forces back to the coast of the Bay of Pigs. By the evening of April 18, 1961, the operation to overthrow Castro's revolutionary regime had collapsed, and the CIA's plans had failed.

The Americans wanted to take revenge on the violent Cuban resistance, and on April 19, five B-26 bombers bombed Cuban troop positions. The attempt did not succeed. Cuban planes confronted American bombers and shot down two American raiding planes. On the afternoon of the same day, two American destroyers attempted to approach the coast of the Bay of Pigs to evacuate the remnants of the invasion, but Cuban tank artillery prevented them from approaching.

Cuban forces were able to suppress remaining hostile fire on April 19. The Cubans recruited by the CIA for the operation took off their military clothing and tried to escape. The invading forces killed 82 people, and 1,197 others surrendered. The Cuban army suffered 156 deaths and about 800 wounded.

At 17:30 on April 19, 1961, the fighting ended. The resistance of "Brigade 2506" completely stopped, while Cuban forces continued sweeping operations to arrest the fleeing mercenaries.

Cuba remained “disobedient” to the United States, and maintained its revolutionary regime and freedom despite poverty and stifling economic crises as a result of the American blockade that has continued for decades. That stifling blockade returned Cuba in one of the periods after the dissolution of the Soviet Union to the “Age of Bulls,” as a result of the country’s inability to meet the needs of oil and energy derivatives.

It is noteworthy that the 2506 Mercenary Brigade received this name due to the killing of a Cuban mercenary named Rodriguez Santana during training exercises in preparation for the invasion. This number is his military serial number.

Another irony is that the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, met in the summer of 1961 in Uruguay with Richard Goodwin, an advisor to US President John F. Kennedy, and expressed his thanks to the United States for the attack. Castro stated that the American invasion contributed to uniting the nation and giving the Cubans a major victory.