As I have mentioned in some of my previous posts (see here, here, and here), I recently learned that my late father, Francisco Guerra, was a veteran of the legendary Brigada de Asalto 2506, an idealistic group of mostly young men who fought to liberate their beloved Cuba in April 1961. Among other things, I discovered that my dad joined the Brigade in early 1961 at the age of 18, was assigned serial number #4133 upon his enlistment, and was attached to the Sixth Battalion. Now, after reading several books about this heroic band of brothers and their ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion (spoiler alert: they were betrayed by men at the highest levels of the U.S. government), I can share a few more facts — not only general information about the overall composition of the Brigade; but also some details specific to my father’s unit, the Sixth Battalion:
- Demographic composition of Brigade 2506: The Brigade represented a broad cross-section of Cuban society: “… [Fidel] Castro would speak disparagingly of the Brigade as mercenaries, war criminals, and sons of the jaded rich who were coming to regain their vast holdings at the expense of the workers. In reality, Brigade 2506 was a cross-section of Cuba. The men ranged in age from sixteen to sixty-one, with the average age of 29. There were peasants and fishermen as well as doctors, lawyers, and bankers. A large percentage of the men were married and had children: and there were a number of father-and-son pairs aboard the ships.” (Johnson et al. 1964, p. 98; see also Triay 2001, pp. 13-14.)
- Military composition of Brigade 2506: The actual Cuban invasion force was composed of eight battalions in all, along with a tank company, a paratrooper unit, a frogmen unit, and an air unit: “The concept of this brigade was one of a cadre or skeleton force. *** It was composed of six infantry battalions, a heavy weapons battalion, an armored truck battalion, and a tank company.” (Lynch 2000, p. 24.)
- Commander of the Sixth Battalion: The Sixth Battalion was under the command of Francisco Montiel Rivera, who had been a captain in the Rebel Army before becoming disillusioned with Fidel’s dictatorship: “To head the 6th Battalion, the CIA, in August 1960, recruited and brought from Mexico City Francisco Montiel, a former Rebel Army captain with Raul Castro’s column in the Sierra Cristal mountains ….” (Lynch 2000, p. 25; see also Johnson et al. 1964, p. 149.)
- Formation of the Sixth Battalion: The Sixth Battalion was the last to be formed and thus received limited training: “Montiel’s battalion was the last to be formed. Because of the limited time available before the invasion, the battalion received the least training. They were forced to complete their weapons training while en route to the invasion. They used oil drums, either tossed overboard or towed on a long cable behind [their] ship, for target practice. Despite its late start and short training period, the 6th Battalion did well in combat, thanks principally to Montiel’s combat experience ….” (Lynch 2000, p. 25; see also Johnson et al. 1964, p. 99: “… most of the men [of Brigade 2506] had no previous military training or experience. Indeed, some had never held a weapon until that weekend aboard ship [on the invasion flotilla] because the Fifth and Sixth Infantry Battalions were not recruited until the end of March [1961], and some arrived at [the Brigade’s training camp, Base Trax in Guatemala] just as the Brigade left for the Trampoline base [in Nicaragua].” See also Triay 2001, p. 39: “The Sixth Battalion, the last to be formed, would land at [Playa] Girón and would be held in reserve.”)
- Combat mission of Sixth Battalion: The Sixth Battalion was supposed to land at Playa Girón — code name: “Blue Beach” — and would be held in reserve until needed: “Three landing points were selected. *** The center landing, at Playa Girón, designated as Blue Beach, would be composed of the main body of the brigade. This force included the 4th and 6th Battalions, the heavy weapons battalion, the armored truck battalion, the tank company, and the brigade headquarters.” (Lynch 2000, p. 41; see also ibid., p. 42: “Brigade headquarters at Playa Girón would hold the 6th Battalion and one M-41 tank in reserve …. While in this reserve position, the 6th Battalion was to be kept busy as stevedores on the beach, unloading the cargo ships and setting up the brigade supply depot ….”
So, how did the Sixth Battalion actually perform during the fateful invasion? I will pick up where I left off in my next post …
prior probability 