U.S. Military Bay of Pigs

U.S. Military Bay of Pigs

War has basic principles by which it is conducted and it is important to abide by these. There are nine core principles of war which are objective, offensive, mass, economy of force, maneuver, unity of command, security, surprise, and simplicity. There have been many wars fought by different nations including the United States of America. A similar operation was conducted in Cuba by the counter revolutionary Cuban exile forces. These exile forces were supported by the CIA and the operation was to be carried out from the Bay of Pigs. President Kennedy's approval was received but the operation turned out to be a complete failure. It is the thesis of this paper that an analysis of the principles of war will be conducted. Further the understanding of the principles of war will be applied to the "Bay of Pigs" to see what went wrong. Did the CIA, the Cuban exile forces or Castro's army apply these principles of war? Why did it turn out to be such a failure for the United States?

THE APPLICABLE PRINCIPLES OF WAR

The theory of war aims to assess and analyze how superiority and material advantages would be achieved. To devise a plan it is highly essential to analyze the weaknesses of the enemy forces. Decisions should be made and executed on strong reasons so that no one can claim the war to be baseless. The basic applicable principles of war need to be considered and any plan devised should be in light of these principles which are as follows:

Objective: It is essential that an operation conducted by the military must be targeted and defined clearly. The goals should be realistic and achievable and all efforts should be made in the direction of achieving the goal of the operation regardless any difficulty or diversions caused by the enemy forces or for some other reason. Moreover it should be kept in mind that an objective should be defined and chosen after an analysis of the resources, the enemy, and the area of operations. Any war has only one ultimate goal which is the annihilation of the enemy forces to such an extent that no further resistance comes from them. Any sub-mission or sub-operation should be planned and have such goals so that the ultimate goal can be achieved. Ignoring this principle can have immense diverse effects on the war and a side can receive destructive blows from the enemy which may even cause them to lose the war in totality. During the Battle of Britain, in World War II, Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe has an objective to cripple the British Air Force. They were very close to achieving this goal when the bombing of a city in Germany distracted Hitler's attention from the annihilation of the British Air Force, and he instead ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb London instead. This shift from the original objective proved to be beneficial for Britain and it bought them enough time to recuperate from the German attacks on its Air Force. Eventually this led to the victory of Britain in that war and the expulsion of the Luftwaffe. This example shows us the importance of the principle of "objective" and the negative effects it can have if it is omitted.

Offensive: Sometimes the best defense is strong offense and the importance of offensive action must not be under estimated at any cost. A military commander and his team must always be on guard and willing to go on the offense rather waiting for a defensive action. This can also at times give shape to the war just the way the military wants and can force the opposition to shift its course of action. Although good defense has its own beneficiary results, it should still be a temporary action till the time that one can see an opening for and offensive attack on the enemy forces. A competent military commander would always seek an opportunity to go on the offensive and thus push the war and the soldiers where they want them to be.

Mass: An elemental principle of war is to have superior power concentrated in a targeted attack which is of significant importance at a vital time. This concentration of the forces and their fire should be aimed to achieve such a target whose outcome would prove to be decisive in nature. Hence a correct evaluation for the importance of achieving that target should be made and then all efforts should be made to achieve it. The basic idea for this concentrated effort is to completely overpower the enemy forces, misbalancing them so as to fulfill the goal and ride the way to victory. The wolf pack submarine tactic put into action by the Germans in World War II, was in light of this principle where the orders were simply that the fleet should not be divided and a concentrated attack should be carried out.

Economy of Force: Forces should be used efficiently with delicacy and skill. Every single man charging at the enemies and forced not to retreat regardless of it being the right way to fight war or not cause adverse effects rather than desired ones. There should be sufficient fighting power at the point of decision even if retrograde action is to be taken. Forces should not be unnecessarily wasted and the best effort rather than a maximum effort should be made. A calculated deployment and allocation of forces should be made.

Maneuver: Maneuvering is generally a way to acquire local superiority which is essential to gain victory. Keeping in mind this principle, the forces are to be deployed in such a manner that their deployment puts the enemy forces at a disadvantageous position. It implies the complete evasion of otherwise pigeonholed patterns of operation.

Unity of Command: An army consists of an Air Force, Ground forces, and a Navy. Moreover, in an allied war, armies of other nations would also be present in the battlefield. A complete unity and coordination of all the armies including the different branches is basically labeled as Unity of Command. The commanders of these branches and divisions should receive their command from a supreme commander who should be reported to by all the different forces and their branches. Every unit has a different perspective and view of the situation at hand and coordination amongst them, where data is shared, would reveal to be of elemental importance. With such coordination and command being given by a single authority, a particular goal can be achieved which can be a key to victory. This method further ensures that no units or branches are carrying out any contradictory objectives which would be disastrous in nature.

Security: This principle teaches that sectors of importance should not be left unguarded and unprotected. Combat power should be preserved and the principle of security if obeyed decreases the chances for the element of surprise. Concentrating all the forces at one point would lead to be troublesome if the enemy forces attack elsewhere or if they gain control of a strategic sector. It will also be problematic if they are able to extract information of critical importance which can be used against the friendly forces. Hence security is a very important principle to act by when in a state of war.

Surprise: The element of surprise is what we often see being mentioned in movies where either party talks about the chances of being successful because they have the element of surprise with them. Indeed the element of surprise is of fundamental importance and can help shift the balance of the war. It is to be carried out in such a way that the enemy forces are unable to expeditiously resist the attack. The basic idea is to put use speed, secrecy, intelligence and counterintelligences along with deception in such a way that the enemy is completely bedazzled and the time it requires to understand and comprehend what just happened is far greater than the time to achieve the objective.

Simplicity: Complicated and extensive orders are hard for the military forces to understand and this could lead to a complete catastrophe. Keeping it simple with clear, concise and easy to execute orders should be the aim so as to minimize any possible confusion. Unless obviously necessary, a battle must be kept as simple as possible. Interestingly, this principle holds true for the weapons system. Complicated weapons are harder to use and are not as efficient in the battleground as simple weapons prove to be.

THE BAY OF PIGS

It had been only three months that Kennedy had taken hold of the presidential office of the United States when he gave clearance for the invasion of Cuba. Previously the government of the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown by rebel forces under the command of Fidel Castro in 1959. The growing guerrilla forces of Fidel Castro had already caused alarm bells ringing in the United States which in turn curbed its delivery of weapons to Cuba in 1958. By the end of the year, United States wished to look for another person to replace Fulgencio Batista. It is also thought that Batista was suggested that the CIA should assassinate Fidel Castro but Batista rejected the offer (Hugh Thomas, p.30). The then Director of CIA, after Castro took over stated verified that Castro was not inclined towards Communism and that any American intervention before the takeover or at present would serve to be "counterproductive" (CIA Memoranda for the Director, p.3). Later on in February 1959, the Director of CIA informed the then President of the United States, Eisenhower that Castro was introducing Communist ideas and that his government had started to function with Communists infiltrating all sectors of the Cuban government. While America withheld its policy of not intervening, it was observed that Latin Americans "tend to believe that the United States overemphasized Communism as a threat to the Western Hemisphere and consequently, they tend to take insufficient precautions against internal Communist subversion....This played into the hands of the Communists, who since the Guatemala experience, were camouflaging their revolutionary aims and identifying Communism with...national aspirations" (Stephen Rabe, p.99). Castro, after the overthrow of Batista aimed to replace American companies from the Cuban soil which was naturally against the American interests. The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States wanted to remove Castro and install a pro-American regime. The anti-Castro resistance was contacted by the CIA in their attempt to fund the invasion of Cuba and remove Castro keeping in mind that there would be no evidence or any appearance of a U.S. intervention. Thus the CIA and the Pentagon set to work to plan out an invasion blueprint which would give them victory against Cuba for the removal of Castro and the installation of a pro-American Government which would work without colliding with any American interests.

When one consults the map, it is seen that the Bay of Pigs is a narrow yet long body of water which has several beaches. Its entrance is gained from the south as other directions have treacherous swamplands. A sufficient piece of land that can serve the purpose of being an airstrip is present between the swampland and the eastern shore. This piece of land is perfect to set up a command headquarters. It was an area of little population, mostly charcoal makers and some fishermen and thus was perfect for a secret and invisible landing. "Our plan for the Bay of Pigs landing provided for an attack on three Cuban military airfields by 16 B-26 bombers"(Jack Hawkins, p.36). The plan which was made by the CIA was that once the Cuban Air Force would be destroyed, paratroopers would be dropped off with support from aerial bombings and assistance in the form of heavy artillery and tanks would enter the land from the beach and join the paratroopers. This, they assessed, would seal off the area completely. Subsequently the Cuban Revolutionary Council was to be flown in to be announced as being the provisional Cuban Government. Further the sequence of events would be proportional to the amount of counterrevolutionary activity supported. They analyzed that Castro's regime will eventually be overthrown.

One might wonder that when everything was clearly planned out and the plan of action was simple and concise, why Americans had to still face shame and the cause of their plans crumbling. The problem rested in the fact that although the site which CIA chose was the best available, Castro had all the reasons to expect an attack from that site. Therefore the element of surprise was one thing which lacked in their plans. Moreover an additional important point which the CIA failed to look into was that the charcoal makers of the area were loyal to the Castro regime and had benefited greatly from him. Further what CIA missed out was that there were approximately 200 alphabetizers living in that area who were yet again faithful to Castro. Before the invaders could actually land to put their plan in action, they were detected due to a lighthouse and some very bright lights placed at the beach. They also encountered severe resistance from the same charcoal workers which the CIA thought to be harmless. Moreover an infantry battalion was also placed recently in that area which added on to the resistance. There was a huge gap and error in the intelligence of the area and it proved to be anything but perfect for initiating the operation (Trumbull Higgins, p.139). The CIA's original plan included the destruction of Castro's air force which was an objective already thought about by Castro. As a result he dispersed his working fighter planes and for a decoy, left permanently grounded planes. Outcome of this was that while Castro's air planes were safe and sound the invading insurgent forces "believed that Castro's air force had been immobilized" (Alan Nadel, p.164). With the news delivered to Castro regarding the paratroopers, Castro demonstrated and acted upon the principle of economy of force and security. As he was not sure whether the site which he was informed about was the only site chosen by the invaders, Castro ordered unarmored convoys to attack the site where the paratroopers were landing and withheld his higher grade reserves and some of his tanks.

The United States Navy had warned the CIA about the coral reefs in the marine area but the CIA paid no attention to it and "mistook the coral reefs in the Bay of Pigs for seaweed" (Walter Lafeber, p.537). They allocated them inefficient, old, and badly maintained aluminum crafts to land which the coral reefs made difficult to function appropriately and thus hindered the process. These crafts also exposed and revealed the American intervention thus ruining their original objective of trying to conceal any American interference. Equipment provided to the forces to fight were not sufficient and this proved to be a major downfall. To add to this, one of the parachute drops failed to land at the desired spot and thus a route was open for Castro to attack with a huge force. Castro used the principles of war for his benefit and applied them perfectly. He concentrated the power of his fighter jets to upset the supply drop off and the paratroopers landing. Although he left his infantry without any aerial support, he ordered the air force to attack the Navy fleet and Castro was successful in sinking a 5000 ton supply and communication ship. This was a hard punch for the invading forces and they suffered gravely.