Operation Anadyr
1962 Soviet military operation that preceded the Cuban Missile Crisis
Operation Anadyr (Russian: Анадырь) was the code name used by the Soviet Union for its Cold War secret operation in 1962 of deploying ballistic missiles, medium-range bombers, and a division of mechanized infantry to Cuba to create an army group that would be able to prevent an invasion of the island by United States forces. The plan was to deploy approximately 60,000 personnel in support of the main missile force, which consisted of three R-12 missile regiments and two R-14 missile regiments. However, part of it was foiled when the United States discovered the plan, prompting the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Motivations
According to the memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader at the time, he and his defense minister, Rodion Malinovsky, were walking on a Black Sea beach in April 1962 and discussing the threat posed by the short flight time of US Jupiter missiles deployed in Turkey, which needed about 10 minutes to land in the Soviet Union. The disparity in number of warheads between the Soviet Union and the West was also being discussed when deploying missiles to Cuba took root in Khrushchev's mind as a way to compensate for these disadvantages. As Khrushchev put it, he saw the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba as "putting one of our hedgehogs down the Americans' trousers".
Initial plan
The initial deployment plan for Operation Anadyr was drafted by General Anatoly Gribkov and two of his assistants sometime after a meeting of the Soviet Defense Council on May 21, 1962, at which Khrushchev's basic idea was discussed and approved. Gribkov's plan included a main missile force of five regiments (including an R-12 regiment from 50th Rocket Army). Three would be armed with R-12 medium-range missiles and two armed with R-14 intermediate-range missiles; each regiment would also be equipped with eight launchers and 1.5 missiles per launcher. In support of this main force, the plan called for:
two regiments of FKR-1 cruise missiles equipped with 16 launchers and 80 tactical nuclear warheads
two antiaircraft divisions
a fighter regiment equipped with MiG-21s
four motorized rifle regiments, each with its own tank battalion
a brigade of 12 missile boats
The total personnel figure for the operation was 50,874.
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