Cuban Nightmare

In his account of the Bay of Pigs fiasco [November] Grayston Lynch may have allowed his loathing of the Kennedy administration to cloud his judgment and recollection. First, there was no official recognition of Castro's "Soviet leanings" by the Eisenhower administration before he seized power New Year's Day 1959. It wasn't until Jan. 8, 1960, that the director of central intelligence ordered the clandestine service to form a special task force to overthrow Castro, according to Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.

Second, the Bay of Pigs became the landing site because it had an airfield nearby in which a U.S.-recognized "government in exile" could be flown. U.S. aircraft carriers were waiting over the horizon (giving rise to the mistaken belief that they would rescue the landing force if needed). Then the Cuba Task Force relied on 65-year-old maps that didn't show the modern extent of surrounding swamps.

Third, Kennedy's advisers didn't reduce "the air strikes by half" at "zero hour." Cuba Task Force chief Richard Bissell cut the D-1 air raid on Castro's three air bases from 16 to eight B-26 light attack bombers. When the cover story—that a single defecting Cuban pilot destroyed half of Castro's warplanes before flying to a hero's welcome in Florida—fell apart, Kennedy's aides decided that any further strikes would have to be launched from the beachhead. This inadvertently cancelled a D-day strike from Nicaragua.

Fourth, the mission was "doomed from the start" because it counted on sparking a popular uprising. By Nov. 15, 1960, the clandestine service had concluded that even a 1,500- to 3,000-man invasion could not succeed without direct U.S. military support. When they briefed President-elect Kennedy, however, they didn't tell him that, nor that Eisenhower had not authorized an invasion.

Finally, Lynch must know that the "ill-conceived notion of 'plausible deniability' [of American involvement]" is not mere face saving but fundamental to covert action itself. Otherwise, why be covert? Just send in the Marines!

Ronald R. Gilliam
Thonotasassa, Fla.

Vive La 4th!

I enjoyed the article and photographs of the August 1944 Liberation of Paris ["La Libération!" September]. I was surprised that no pictures of the 4th Infantry Division were included. The 1st Battalion, 110th Regiment, of the 28th Division participated in the liberation and the parade, but the 4th Infantry Division took the city. After many weeks of contact with the enemy, the 4th was in no condition to do a parade; therefore, the 28th was called on. For some reason, the 4th Division is rarely mentioned in military history magazines.

Bert C. Nicholson
Danville, Ill.

Frank Dismay

[Re. "Pressure/G Suit," Power Tool, December:] We [Canadians] get dismayed when others do not accurately depict our cherished icons. I am referring to the improper identification of "Frank" Banting. Sir Frederick Banting, co-developer of the G suit, was also the discoverer of insulin. In 1924 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. At the start of World War II he began working with Wilbur Franks on the development of a flight suit for pilots to counteract G forces and to prevent blackout. The flight suit is still in use.

M. Derlick
Toronto, Canada

En Garde!

"The Past Recaptured" [January/February] is an outstanding series of pictures of French veterans of the Napoleonic wars in original uniform. However, on P. 46, the description of the picture of Hussar Moret calls out a shield. No cavalryman of a European army of this period used one. However, I do see a sabretache behind his left leg. There are also sabretaches behind the left leg of Quartermaster Sergeant Delignon (P. 45) and touching the left leg of Hussar Fabry (P. 48). These were originally used by the hussars of various European armies who had copied their uniforms from the original Hungarian light cavalry, including the tight breeches with no pockets. The sabretache served as an attaché case for private possessions as well as a clipboard for sketching during reconnaissance and briefcase for delivering dispatches.

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