Bay+of+Pigs+Invasion

By: Brett Huxtable

Many say that the Bay of Pigs Invasion was an embarrassment for Americans as a military superpower. It was an invasion attempt by CIA trained Cuban exiles to overthrow the government.The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. They failed to help takeover the Cuban government which was helping the Russians plan an attack that could destroy a major city in the US, called the Cuban Missile Crisis.

//-This shows where the Bay of Pigs is// - Overview - The Invasion - Aftermath - Fidel Castro ||
 * **Contents**

**Overview** The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government controlled by Fidel Castro. The plan was inherited by President Kennedy from Eisenhower. Though the US were very deeply involved in this matter they did not provide any troops or air support.. The USA helped some 1400 Cuban exiles by letting the CIA train them and providing their base in Guatemala for them as a marshaling ground. The CIA began to recruit anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the Miami area, training was carried out on Useppa Island and at various other facilities in South Florida, such as Homestead AFB. Specialist guerrilla training took place at Fort Gulick, Panama and at Fort Clayton, Panama. The main invasion landing took place at a beach named Playa Girón, located at the mouth of the bay.

//- This picture shows where the Russians were building MIssile sites and// //where the Bay of Pigs is.//

**The Invasion** The invasion took place on April 17 1961, and lasted 2 days. The main invasion landing took place at a beach named Playa Girón, located at the mouth of the bay. None of the boats made it to shore during the night due to engine failures and boats damaged by unseen coral reefs. Also none of the Cuban exiles made it to shore due to the Cuban militia informing the military of the invasion. One of the ships also dropped of its soldiers 8km away from its original landing site and they still lost 70% of its men. This attack proved to be very unorganized and ill planned.

//-This was the planned invasion attempt//

The casualties in this invasion weren't very high, only 118 exiles were killed and 176 Cuban forces were killed. Most of the exiles were captured because of them losing their gear on their way to shore, about 1,200 were captured. The Cuban army suffered many wounded men at 4,000 which is quite the large number of personnel.
 * Aftermath ** [[image:http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00016/bopigs_16663s.jpg width="437" height="288" align="right"]]

**Fidel Castro** Fidel Castro was a lawyer before his takeover in Cuba. He became interested in politics when he became unhappy with President Fulgencio Batista. Castro organized a guerrilla force in the mountains to help him overthrow Batista. On January 1,1959 Castro overthrew Batista’s regime, and made himself Prime Minister of Cuba. His government was made up of both Marxists and Liberals which made the country a threat to the US for being communist.

//-This is a group of Cuban Exiles that were captured in the invasion//

//- This is Fidel Castro//