Cuban Blitzkrieg from the Time of Nikita Khrushchev
Night, July, 1962, in the waters of the Atlantic, cutting the waves, Soviet dry-cargo ships are moving along only one well-known course that they transport? Why are they here, so far from their native shores? Probably, they are carrying agricultural goods for fraternal developing countries, tractors and other agricultural equipment.
But then what are these hundreds of people hiding in the holds and going to the upper deck only at night and only in small groups of 5-7 people, under the control of an older person, take a breath of fresh air and everything on 10-15 minutes, judging by strict discipline and young people are more likely to look like military than civilian agrarian specialists, but why then in civilian suits?
In the captain's cabin under the control of KGB officers, the captains reveal the third, the last owl. the secret package and with astonishment look at each other with their navigators, in the last envelope their further course was indicated - CUBA !!!
Thus, the operation "Anadyr" entered its decisive phase, the Soviet pistol charged with nuclear cartridges, put to the temple of America began to cock.
At the beginning of 60, after the revolution in Cuba, the then Soviet leadership sought as quickly as possible to find the most effective way to defend its main and only ally in the western hemisphere - revolutionary Cuba.
Understood the Soviet leaders and the importance of Cuba itself as a future promising military base in the fight against US global hegemony, because the coast of Liberty Island was located just some 90 miles from the coast of Florida, with a successful combination of circumstances, a potential enemy could be seized like a bull by the horns, while also having an unimportant psychological effect on the population of the United States, dispelling the myth of their own invulnerability and showing the whole world the unlimited possibilities of the Soviet Union as world power, before which there are not any obstacles in achieving goals not only in space but also on earth.
In those years, we still did not have parity with the United States on nuclear weapons, moreover, there was a considerable imbalance not in our favor, so the US nuclear forces at that time counted only 1652 units in their armaments. missiles equipped with nuclear warheads, the USSR had only 235 units in its nuclear arsenals. nuclear delivery vehicles weapons, the entire US nuclear arsenal counted just 3267 units. nuclear warheads, the USSR had a total of 1962 units in 481 year. nuclear weapons, as we see, the difference was significant. In addition to this, the Americans installed part of their nuclear missiles in positions in Turkey, thus the entire European territory of the USSR, including the metropolitan region, was under threat.
However, the then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev came up with a rather original way to compensate for all this imbalance using bold and in his adventurous strategic operation, that is, he decided to transfer and deploy in Cuba, 15 thousand kilometers from the territory of the USSR, strategic and operational tactical missiles with nuclear warheads, the decision was made taking into account the previous calculations that from the territory of Freedom Island Soviet nuclear missiles were able to cover most of the North America, especially its eastern coast, the most densely populated states, hit not only the whole south, but also the capital, Washington, the financial center of the whole world, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and many other cities and objects. , the fate and life of almost 80 of millions of Americans could be at stake, and this was already a very serious trump card in political bargaining, and clearly not in favor of the Americans.
But how quietly to transfer the 50-thousandth grouping of land and other troops, including ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, to such a huge distance, to another continent, to the western hemisphere?
Transportation by air disappeared immediately, as I would have to get on refueling at foreign airports. Yes, and these airports, which are on the route of the flight to Cuba, suddenly began for the USSR to close one by one, the Americans, trying to thwart deliveries to Freedom Island Soviet aid, carried out active “explanatory work” with the governments of these countries and rather unsuccessfully.
Thus, General Anatoly Gribkov, seconded by the General Staff to Cuba, recalled:
Thus, for the transfer of Soviet troops to Cuba, there was only one option left; this is a march across the ocean, having made this decision, immediately began its implementation.
But how to ensure the secrecy of such a massive troop transfer? How to hide from the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies the loading on ships of bulky cargo, tens, or even hundreds of special equipment, rocket launchers, missiles themselves, artillery systems, tanks, automobiles, armored personnel carriers, aircraft and other numerous weapons and rear equipment.
The General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces in close cooperation with the KGB of the USSR began to take measures to ensure the secrecy of the operation "Anadyr", this is what it was called.
According to the memoirs of Rear Admiral A. Tikhonov, the name of the operation "Anadyr" suggested the idea of the North. To confirm this "legend" teams on the ships were given skis, stoves, sheepskin coats. Officers, nurses, and engineering staff were told that they were heading to a cold climate area. Those who needed more precise instructions, for example, rocket engineers, were allowed to report that they were traveling with intercontinental ballistic missiles to the proving ground on Novaya Zemlya Island, which is located near the Arctic Circle. One by one, wagons with sets of skis, sheepskin fur coats, felt boots and fur hats went along our railways to confirm the version of the Arctic as the goal of the operation.
Upon the arrival of railway trains to the areas of unloading ports, soldiers and officers were stationed in nearby military camps, beyond which it was strictly forbidden. The crews of vessels intended for transportation, special equipment loaded into the holds and twin decks. But cars, tractors and bulldozers - defiantly on the upper deck, to create the appearance of the transportation of agricultural equipment. Special equipment (warheads, missile boats, undocked bombers), which could not be strengthened in the hold, was carried out on the upper deck, but was securely sheathed with boards, and in order to exclude photographing from the air with thin steel sheets.
As a result of the measures taken, the Western special services for a long time did not manage to establish the purpose of this regrouping of the Soviet troops and, most importantly, the exact composition of the cargoes in the holds of the ships. Yes, the Americans and their allies recorded an intensive sea cargo traffic from the USSR to Cuba, but no more. So, despite the fact that the missiles were delivered to Cuba on September 9, they were discovered by US intelligence only on October 14. Moreover, the number of missiles and the number of nuclear weapons stored in Cuba remained unknown to the United States. The delivery of tactical nuclear munitions by US intelligence has not been established.
Thus, from July to October 1962 of the year, to protect revolutionary Cuba, up to 50 thousand Soviet military personnel and civilian personnel were delivered to its territory. As a result, a special Group of Soviet troops in Cuba GSVK was created, which on 27 October 1962 in its composition consisted of:
- Nuclear forces in the 2-x strategic missile battalions of the 51 missile division, ready to deliver an immediate nuclear strike on the US territory, the division’s ammunition was the X-NUMX P-42 missiles, of which 12 were combat and the 36 training, the range of these missiles amounted to almost 6 km, each such missile could deliver a nuclear warhead with a TNT equivalent of 4500 mt to the target. The composition of the nuclear forces, which managed to locate in Cuba, also included two units of cruise missiles with several dozen nuclear charges to them.
- The ground forces had a 4 motorized rifle regiment with all the standard weapons, reinforced by 2 tank battalions, which had the task of covering the command post, communications centers and missile positions and be ready to assist the Cuban troops in the destruction of airborne and sabotage counterrevolutionary groups in case their landing on the territory of Cuba. Each regiment was assigned its own combat zone with a width of up to 200 km along the front, the depth of this zone included the whole island from the north to the south coast and ranged from 30 to 150 km, so the Soviet troops were preparing not only for striking the territory of the United States, but and defend themselves in the case of the landing of their troops directly on the island of Freedom.
- Aviation The group, which managed to be transferred to Cuba, included 40 MiG-21 fighters and 6 MiG-15UTI training aircraft, as well as 42 Il-28 bombers, all of these air forces, if necessary, should also take part in the destruction of naval forces and airborne assault forces of the American troops, as well as strike at the Guantanamo Naval Base.
The entire ground grouping of the Soviet troops was covered from the ground by the battalions of the newest at that time C-75 anti-aircraft missile systems capable of destroying aerial targets flying at an altitude up to 22 000 m, as well as a multitude of barreled anti-aircraft artillery.
To eliminate all this strategic success of the USSR and to withdraw the Soviet nuclear pistol from its temple, the Americans had to remove all of their missile bases from the territory of Turkey and part of them from Europe.
After lengthy and dramatic negotiations in 15.00 28 in October 1962, the 51-I missile division received an order to dismantle the launch sites and redeploy the division to the Soviet Union. In the period from 5 to 7 in November, all 42 missiles were taken out of Cuba’s borders. In response, the 105 of the American Jupiter missiles, as agreed, were removed from Italy and Turkey in May 1963.
At that time, only such an extraordinary person as the head of the USSR — at that time Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, an interesting and ambiguous figure, the intelligentsia of the so-called Sixties, could send over such a “blitzkrieg” at that time and send over 50 to thousands of soldiers with nuclear weapons. She treated him with sympathy, despite the fact that he constantly criticized her and called her all bad words, since she believed that he hammered an aspen stake into the coffin of Stalinism.
During the reign of Khrushchev, the creator of the so-called democratic thaw, everything was not only an attempt to de-Stalinize society, but also to suppress the revolution in Hungary, workers' speeches in Novocherkassk and Temirtau, the development of virgin lands, a rapid cosmic spurt, a fairly decent reduction of the Armed Forces and the rate the defense of the country mainly on the rocket-space shield, we all know, remember and we will remember the name of Gagarin, and not only we, well, remember Khrushchev only on occasion, or with humor as he tapped on the stands with his shoe during his speech at the UN and promised to show the West gruel, and fulfilled his promise to the same, in the Soviet Union created the most powerful hydrogen bomb stomegatonnuyu.
Or do we recall him with hostility and irritation, because he gave Crimea to Ukraine, or maybe many of us simply underestimate him as a policy in which America began to regard our country as an equal power in military power?
These were interesting times, times when we could throw thousands of fighters with missiles and tanks to the other end of the world and eventually make the first power of the world tremble, but could not organize and establish the simplest thing, to ensure their people, who created all this power and the power of the Soviet state, milk and other elementary attributes of life.
But then what are these hundreds of people hiding in the holds and going to the upper deck only at night and only in small groups of 5-7 people, under the control of an older person, take a breath of fresh air and everything on 10-15 minutes, judging by strict discipline and young people are more likely to look like military than civilian agrarian specialists, but why then in civilian suits?
In the captain's cabin under the control of KGB officers, the captains reveal the third, the last owl. the secret package and with astonishment look at each other with their navigators, in the last envelope their further course was indicated - CUBA !!!
Thus, the operation "Anadyr" entered its decisive phase, the Soviet pistol charged with nuclear cartridges, put to the temple of America began to cock.
At the beginning of 60, after the revolution in Cuba, the then Soviet leadership sought as quickly as possible to find the most effective way to defend its main and only ally in the western hemisphere - revolutionary Cuba.
Understood the Soviet leaders and the importance of Cuba itself as a future promising military base in the fight against US global hegemony, because the coast of Liberty Island was located just some 90 miles from the coast of Florida, with a successful combination of circumstances, a potential enemy could be seized like a bull by the horns, while also having an unimportant psychological effect on the population of the United States, dispelling the myth of their own invulnerability and showing the whole world the unlimited possibilities of the Soviet Union as world power, before which there are not any obstacles in achieving goals not only in space but also on earth.
In those years, we still did not have parity with the United States on nuclear weapons, moreover, there was a considerable imbalance not in our favor, so the US nuclear forces at that time counted only 1652 units in their armaments. missiles equipped with nuclear warheads, the USSR had only 235 units in its nuclear arsenals. nuclear delivery vehicles weapons, the entire US nuclear arsenal counted just 3267 units. nuclear warheads, the USSR had a total of 1962 units in 481 year. nuclear weapons, as we see, the difference was significant. In addition to this, the Americans installed part of their nuclear missiles in positions in Turkey, thus the entire European territory of the USSR, including the metropolitan region, was under threat.
However, the then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev came up with a rather original way to compensate for all this imbalance using bold and in his adventurous strategic operation, that is, he decided to transfer and deploy in Cuba, 15 thousand kilometers from the territory of the USSR, strategic and operational tactical missiles with nuclear warheads, the decision was made taking into account the previous calculations that from the territory of Freedom Island Soviet nuclear missiles were able to cover most of the North America, especially its eastern coast, the most densely populated states, hit not only the whole south, but also the capital, Washington, the financial center of the whole world, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and many other cities and objects. , the fate and life of almost 80 of millions of Americans could be at stake, and this was already a very serious trump card in political bargaining, and clearly not in favor of the Americans.
But how quietly to transfer the 50-thousandth grouping of land and other troops, including ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, to such a huge distance, to another continent, to the western hemisphere?
Transportation by air disappeared immediately, as I would have to get on refueling at foreign airports. Yes, and these airports, which are on the route of the flight to Cuba, suddenly began for the USSR to close one by one, the Americans, trying to thwart deliveries to Freedom Island Soviet aid, carried out active “explanatory work” with the governments of these countries and rather unsuccessfully.
Thus, General Anatoly Gribkov, seconded by the General Staff to Cuba, recalled:
“The American diplomats in Guinea and Senegal managed to convince the local authorities to close their airfields to receive Soviet aircraft. Any, even the passenger. The Dakar closed ... And then the Conakry of Guinea, although, by the way, it was built by our own specialists. ”
Thus, for the transfer of Soviet troops to Cuba, there was only one option left; this is a march across the ocean, having made this decision, immediately began its implementation.
But how to ensure the secrecy of such a massive troop transfer? How to hide from the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies the loading on ships of bulky cargo, tens, or even hundreds of special equipment, rocket launchers, missiles themselves, artillery systems, tanks, automobiles, armored personnel carriers, aircraft and other numerous weapons and rear equipment.
The General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces in close cooperation with the KGB of the USSR began to take measures to ensure the secrecy of the operation "Anadyr", this is what it was called.
According to the memoirs of Rear Admiral A. Tikhonov, the name of the operation "Anadyr" suggested the idea of the North. To confirm this "legend" teams on the ships were given skis, stoves, sheepskin coats. Officers, nurses, and engineering staff were told that they were heading to a cold climate area. Those who needed more precise instructions, for example, rocket engineers, were allowed to report that they were traveling with intercontinental ballistic missiles to the proving ground on Novaya Zemlya Island, which is located near the Arctic Circle. One by one, wagons with sets of skis, sheepskin fur coats, felt boots and fur hats went along our railways to confirm the version of the Arctic as the goal of the operation.
Upon the arrival of railway trains to the areas of unloading ports, soldiers and officers were stationed in nearby military camps, beyond which it was strictly forbidden. The crews of vessels intended for transportation, special equipment loaded into the holds and twin decks. But cars, tractors and bulldozers - defiantly on the upper deck, to create the appearance of the transportation of agricultural equipment. Special equipment (warheads, missile boats, undocked bombers), which could not be strengthened in the hold, was carried out on the upper deck, but was securely sheathed with boards, and in order to exclude photographing from the air with thin steel sheets.
As a result of the measures taken, the Western special services for a long time did not manage to establish the purpose of this regrouping of the Soviet troops and, most importantly, the exact composition of the cargoes in the holds of the ships. Yes, the Americans and their allies recorded an intensive sea cargo traffic from the USSR to Cuba, but no more. So, despite the fact that the missiles were delivered to Cuba on September 9, they were discovered by US intelligence only on October 14. Moreover, the number of missiles and the number of nuclear weapons stored in Cuba remained unknown to the United States. The delivery of tactical nuclear munitions by US intelligence has not been established.
Thus, from July to October 1962 of the year, to protect revolutionary Cuba, up to 50 thousand Soviet military personnel and civilian personnel were delivered to its territory. As a result, a special Group of Soviet troops in Cuba GSVK was created, which on 27 October 1962 in its composition consisted of:
- Nuclear forces in the 2-x strategic missile battalions of the 51 missile division, ready to deliver an immediate nuclear strike on the US territory, the division’s ammunition was the X-NUMX P-42 missiles, of which 12 were combat and the 36 training, the range of these missiles amounted to almost 6 km, each such missile could deliver a nuclear warhead with a TNT equivalent of 4500 mt to the target. The composition of the nuclear forces, which managed to locate in Cuba, also included two units of cruise missiles with several dozen nuclear charges to them.
- The ground forces had a 4 motorized rifle regiment with all the standard weapons, reinforced by 2 tank battalions, which had the task of covering the command post, communications centers and missile positions and be ready to assist the Cuban troops in the destruction of airborne and sabotage counterrevolutionary groups in case their landing on the territory of Cuba. Each regiment was assigned its own combat zone with a width of up to 200 km along the front, the depth of this zone included the whole island from the north to the south coast and ranged from 30 to 150 km, so the Soviet troops were preparing not only for striking the territory of the United States, but and defend themselves in the case of the landing of their troops directly on the island of Freedom.
- Aviation The group, which managed to be transferred to Cuba, included 40 MiG-21 fighters and 6 MiG-15UTI training aircraft, as well as 42 Il-28 bombers, all of these air forces, if necessary, should also take part in the destruction of naval forces and airborne assault forces of the American troops, as well as strike at the Guantanamo Naval Base.
The entire ground grouping of the Soviet troops was covered from the ground by the battalions of the newest at that time C-75 anti-aircraft missile systems capable of destroying aerial targets flying at an altitude up to 22 000 m, as well as a multitude of barreled anti-aircraft artillery.
To eliminate all this strategic success of the USSR and to withdraw the Soviet nuclear pistol from its temple, the Americans had to remove all of their missile bases from the territory of Turkey and part of them from Europe.
After lengthy and dramatic negotiations in 15.00 28 in October 1962, the 51-I missile division received an order to dismantle the launch sites and redeploy the division to the Soviet Union. In the period from 5 to 7 in November, all 42 missiles were taken out of Cuba’s borders. In response, the 105 of the American Jupiter missiles, as agreed, were removed from Italy and Turkey in May 1963.
At that time, only such an extraordinary person as the head of the USSR — at that time Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, an interesting and ambiguous figure, the intelligentsia of the so-called Sixties, could send over such a “blitzkrieg” at that time and send over 50 to thousands of soldiers with nuclear weapons. She treated him with sympathy, despite the fact that he constantly criticized her and called her all bad words, since she believed that he hammered an aspen stake into the coffin of Stalinism.
During the reign of Khrushchev, the creator of the so-called democratic thaw, everything was not only an attempt to de-Stalinize society, but also to suppress the revolution in Hungary, workers' speeches in Novocherkassk and Temirtau, the development of virgin lands, a rapid cosmic spurt, a fairly decent reduction of the Armed Forces and the rate the defense of the country mainly on the rocket-space shield, we all know, remember and we will remember the name of Gagarin, and not only we, well, remember Khrushchev only on occasion, or with humor as he tapped on the stands with his shoe during his speech at the UN and promised to show the West gruel, and fulfilled his promise to the same, in the Soviet Union created the most powerful hydrogen bomb stomegatonnuyu.
Or do we recall him with hostility and irritation, because he gave Crimea to Ukraine, or maybe many of us simply underestimate him as a policy in which America began to regard our country as an equal power in military power?
These were interesting times, times when we could throw thousands of fighters with missiles and tanks to the other end of the world and eventually make the first power of the world tremble, but could not organize and establish the simplest thing, to ensure their people, who created all this power and the power of the Soviet state, milk and other elementary attributes of life.
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