Annex No. 17 What Briefing if any was given the Brigade or the Brigade's Staff on Going Guerrilla

Supplemental material used in Maxwell Taylor's report on the Bay of Pigs operation.

Extracted text

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11 Cif 177 31 May 1961 SUBJECT: What briefing, if any, was given the Brigade or the Brigade's staff on going guerrilla. REFERENCE: Paragraph F. of Memorandum Dated 22 May 1961. The following is a summation of actions involving pre- paration and instruction for contingency employment of the 2506 Brigade in the event elements of the Brigade or the unit ir. total suffered defeat and were forced to operate as guerrillas. 1. All officers and the original cadre (some 375 personnel) which formed the 2506 Brigade received exten- sive instruction (in excess of 13 weeks) in guerrilla war- fare organization tactics and techniques. It was with considerrable difficulty and after strenuous instruction were maricad inclination operations. coventional we.med from Many operations their of the unit to guerrilla fact the operated on that the officers of Brigade leaders had in as guerrillas either with Castro forces in the fight against Batista or in the later operations against Castro after he had seitted power. 2. During the evening, staff and operations classes conducted during the Brigade training cycle extending from November 1960 through March 1961, severt. discussions were c held on the subject of a conventional defeated in the field and forced to continue resistance as - guerrilla element. Circumstances and ways of means of organizing and in various parts of Cuba were discussed in detail. These discussions did not cover the Zapata area specifically for reasons, but covered the other feasible areas to incluie the Escambrays, Pinar del Rio and the Oriente. These discussions were not covered with any specific direc- tion towards the Brigade operation in these locales, but were