American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Half a year ago, the United States brazenly sent troops to suppress the Dominican Republic, which attempted to resist the United States, and the next target is almost certainly Cuba.

　Although the Soviet Union had been working with the Cuban revolutionary army on how to defend against US invasion or intervention, the vast disparity in military strength made it seem that Cuba had little chance of winning, a cause for both worry and discouragement.

　However, at this moment, Khrushchev had a new idea on the Cuban issue.

　Perhaps, the survival crisis of the Cuban red regime and the nuclear missile threat from Turkey can be solved at the same time!

　"Just a few days ago, Cuban comrades conveyed a message to me, hoping that the Soviet Union would further increase its military aid to Cuba. Not just conventional tanks and artillery, but send them some more powerful big guns!"

　Khrushchev casually placed a delicate nuclear bomb model on the island of Cuba on the sand table map and said, "I think this is a good idea - Cuba can also be the Soviet Union's Turkey, a nuclear missile base that threatens the US mainland, right?"

　Chapter 92: Throwing a Hedgehog into the American's Crotch

　The reason why Khrushchev created and launched the Cuban Missile Crisis was to "throw a hedgehog into the Americans' crotch."

　——It cannot be that only American missiles are aimed at the Soviet Union in Türkiye, the Soviet Union must also have missiles in Cuba to threaten the United States!

　To deploy offensive medium-range missiles in Cuba to pose an equal threat to the United States!

　By 1961, the Soviet Union had never deployed nuclear missiles anywhere outside its borders (including Eastern Europe), while the United States had nuclear missile bases and nuclear submarine patrols all around the Soviet Union, causing the Kremlin to worry about the nuclear bomb hanging over its head all day long.

　Decades later, the Chinese people can certainly farm and develop in peace under the threat of nuclear bombs all around them, and act as if they don't care - the US military bases in Guam, Okinawa, South Korea, and even Taiwan are said to have stored nuclear bombs - because they are sure that the United States dare not use them.

　However, the Soviet people in the 1960s did not have such strong nerves and worried about mushroom clouds rising in Moscow every day.

　To this end, Khrushchev hoped to change the strategic situation and deploy nuclear bombs in the backyard of the United States in order to achieve a balance of power and make up for the huge gap in the number of nuclear bombs between the Soviet Union and the United States. At the same time, he hoped to force the United States to abandon its plan to invade Cuba and preserve the Soviet camp's only bridgehead in the Western Hemisphere.

　Specifically, Khrushchev did not really expect to maintain a medium-range missile base in Cuba for a long time, but wanted to use it as a bargaining chip to force the United States to tolerate the existence of a red Cuba and withdraw the medium-range missiles and nuclear warheads deployed in Turkey.

　——The tactic of shamelessly pinching cards out of thin air and then throwing them out to make a deal was used by the United States and naturally by the Soviet Union as well.

　As for why Cuba cannot be built into a real nuclear war base, a poisoned blade that can threaten the heart of the United States?

　There's no way, this is simply impossible!

　If you want to deploy medium-range missiles in Cuba, you have to build launch sites in advance, bring in a lot of support facilities, and finally transport medium-range missiles from the Soviet Union. And regularly maintain and replace them. If any of these links is discovered by American reconnaissance aircraft, it will attract the attention of the United States.

　The strongest reaction.

　Once the United States responded strongly and the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out, the Soviet Union would no longer be able to transport subsequent missiles and nuclear warheads.

　Therefore, the Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba were just a gesture, a bargaining chip, the goal of which was to make the arrogant Americans feel the fear of war, so as to prolong the time of peace and avoid the rapid arrival of a world-destroying nuclear war in the frenzy of the people.

　Marshal Malinovsky was shocked by Khrushchev's proposal. But as a fierce-looking but cowardly old polar bear, the Minister of Defense considered it carefully and finally told Khrushchev, "This matter is likely to be extremely complicated. It's hard to predict what the US will do in response. If President Kennedy insists on not making concessions, then confronting the US in the Caribbean would be very disadvantageous..."

　"Don't be afraid. Since the United States has already stuck a dagger in the heart of the Soviet Union, we can also retaliate in kind!"

　Khrushchev said confidently, "Don't worry. If it was President Eisenhower sitting in the White House now, I might still have some concerns, but the current President Kennedy is just a naive big boy, playing games with a group of equally naive nerds!"

　With my many years of experience, I can definitely win against this young man who just graduated from school..."

　After his election, the young and handsome President John F. Kennedy personally selected his cabinet, forming a surprisingly youthful team with an average age of under 50. Secretary of the Interior Stuttgart Udall was 41, Secretary of Agriculture Orwell Freeman was 43, and Secretary of Defense McNamara was 45. The president's brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, was only 36 at the time.

　In response to media questions about how he had built such a young ruling team, President Kennedy made the following classic statement.

　If age alone were the sole criterion for maturity, the United States would exclude anyone under the age of 44 from positions of trust and responsibility. That would mean Jefferson should not have written the Declaration of Independence, Washington should not have commanded the Continental Army, Madison should not have drafted the U.S. Constitution, and Columbus should not have even discovered America!

　Of course, to be honest, President Kennedy's cabinet, while young, was not lacking in quality. After all, it was composed of top academics selected from across the country. Every cabinet member had a high level of education and a distinguished professional record, earning them the reputation of "a generation of exceptional talent."

　Judging from President Kennedy's achievements in his first year in office, this government's governing ability was above average, and at least it did not cause any major disasters.

　However, in the eyes of the old rogue Khrushchev, the overly idealistic Kennedy seemed not smooth enough and seemed easy to control.

　To describe it in one sentence, it is "A gentleman can be deceived by tricks."

　This was not just Khrushchev's wishful thinking; he actually conducted a "firepower test."

　--At the Vienna Summit held in June this year, Khrushchev played a trick on President Kennedy from beginning to end. He talked about the United States' racial discrimination policies and apartheid system every three sentences, and repeatedly stepped on the United States' sore spots and black spots, leaving Kennedy speechless and unable to say anything.

　In the subsequent operation to repair the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union caught the United States off guard, forcing President Kennedy to accept the result.

　In Khrushchev's view, since he had only tried his hand at the first two rounds, he had the upper hand and had tested Kennedy's true value.

　Then, he would have been more confident in defeating President Kennedy and his fledgling cabinet in a carefully planned Cuban Missile Crisis.

　However, despite Khrushchev's good self-esteem, Defense Minister Marshal Malinovsky was still hesitant and lacked confidence.

　Seeing that the Minister of Defense was so embarrassed, Khrushchev called in General Anatoly Gribkov, Deputy Chief of the Soviet General Staff.

　Subsequently, General Gribkov and his two assistants formulated the Anadyr Plan in accordance with Khrushchev's wishes.

　——Action plan: Anadyr.

　Goal: To deploy medium-range missiles in Cuba that could reach major U.S. regions, along with a conventional force sufficient to defend against U.S. airstrikes and landings.

　“我军将在古巴部署5个弹道导弹团，其中3个团装备R-12型中程导弹（北约代号SS-4），射程2000公里。另外2个团装备R-14型中远程导弹（北约代号SS-5），射程3700公里，从古巴西部发射，导弹射程足以覆盖美国本土全境。每个导弹团配备8具发射架、12枚导弹及12枚核弹头。

　That means we will deploy 40 launchers and 60 missiles, 60 megaton nuclear warheads in Cuba."

　“In addition, in order to strengthen Cuba’s mainland defense capabilities and prevent the US military from directly invading Cuba, we also need to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Cuba.

　具体包括1个可投掷核炸弹的轰炸机团和2个近程导弹团，搭配FKR-1短程巡航导弹发射架16具、配属80枚常规导弹和80枚战术核弹头。

　In addition, four or five nuclear mines with a yield of at least tens of millions of tons will be transported to Cuba and stored in warehouses in major Cuban ports. When these ports are attacked by the US military or rebels supported by the US military, they will be used to launch amphibious attacks.

　, and when it is about to fall, detonate the nuclear warhead and perish together with the invader."

　"In addition to nuclear weapons forces, the Soviet Union also needs to deploy conventional forces to Cuba as support forces, mainly air defense and ground forces, including two air defense missile divisions, two heavy rocket artillery regiments, one MiG-21 fighter regiment, one missile boat squadron, and four motorized infantry regiments. These are all Soviet or Warsaw Pact forces, totaling about 50,000 personnel."

　In order to strengthen its combat capability and withstand the most intense response possible from the United States, the Cuban Revolutionary Army must reorganize and upgrade its equipment. It is recommended to provide Cuba with 400 T-54 or T-55 tanks to form two independent tank brigades, and to provide 600 to 800 artillery pieces and 100 rocket launchers.

　Due to Cuba’s limited financial capacity, the Soviet Union needs to increase its funding to support Castro in expanding the Cuban revolutionary army from 3 to about 5, and to stockpile ammunition and fuel to sustain at least three months of high-intensity combat.

　General Gribkov introduced the preliminary "Anady Plan" and asked for Khrushchev's opinion.

　After hearing the Anadyr Plan, Khrushchev was very satisfied. He immediately urged the Ministry of Defense and the KGB to further refine and implement the plan. In December, he invited Castro to visit the Soviet Union so that he could have a face-to-face conversation with him and finalize the matter as soon as possible.

　When Castro heard that the Soviet Union was really willing to deploy nuclear bombs in Cuba, he was naturally overjoyed and responded to all of Khrushchev's requests.

　However, when the Soviet General Staff was formulating the plan, they discovered a problem that was likely to lead to the failure of the plan.

　Simply put, it would take at least two months to complete the massive transportation and deployment mission across the Atlantic Ocean in the "Anadyr Plan."

　Next, more training time will be needed to enable the officers and soldiers of the Cuban Revolutionary Army to skillfully use the weapons and equipment provided by the Soviet Union.

　But the question is, did the Cuban revolutionary regime at the end of 1961 have more than two months of peace time to calmly prepare for war?

　——The tropical rainy season in the Caribbean has ended, and the scorching sun of the dry season has once again dried out the muddy land, bringing the region into the combat season again: the 2506th Brigade rebels, who have been preparing for war in the Dominican Republic for a long time, may now cross the sea to invade Cuba at any time.

　If the war in Cuba breaks out again in January or February of next year, how can the "Anadyr Plan" be implemented?

　By then, the medium-range missiles had not yet been deployed, and the Soviet nuclear bombs shipped to Cuba might be seized by the enemy, which would be too passive!

　In this regard, Castro said confidently that the above situation would never happen. He had already planted spies among the 2506th Brigade mercenaries recruited by the CIA, and he also had many informants in the Cuban opposition political groups in exile in the United States.

　According to the intelligence provided by these people, the Cuban rebels numbered 2506th Brigade still have some problems with organization and multi-service combined arms operations due to the crazy expansion of their new base in the Dominican Republic. They will have to train until at least February of next year before the entire army can be deployed in combat.

　As for actually landing in Cuba, the earliest it will happen is March next year.

　In addition, the KGB's intelligence network in the United States also sent good news to the Kremlin.

　——Over the upcoming Cuban invasion, an internal conflict has broken out between the American army and intelligence agencies!

　As we all know, in the overseas wars launched by the United States, especially in small-scale overseas special wars, the CIA and the Pentagon have always been competing with each other for the limelight, funding, and various benefits gained after the war.

　In Operation Crusade, the 1961 conquest of the Dominican Republic, the US military deployed a massive force, including Marines and an aircraft carrier battle group. However, these forces played a minor role in the background, with CIA agents assassinating enemy leaders and the CIA's private army (the 2506th Brigade) maneuvering.

　Therefore, in the distribution of post-war benefits, the CIA naturally took the lion's share. More than half of the $800 million fortune left by the "benefactor of the motherland" Trujillo, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in assets from other Dominican wealthy and powerful people, were swallowed up by the CIA, and the Pentagon gained very little.

　Therefore, the Pentagon, which was furious, simply bypassed the CIA and formulated a separate "Northern Forest Plan" to conquer Cuba this fall. Specifically, it imitated the Maine incident that provoked the Spanish-American War and the prelude to Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. The US military directed and staged a series of terrorist attacks, set off explosions at the Guantanamo base and civilian facilities in Florida, and sank one or several Cuban refugee ships on the high seas. The blame would then be put on the Cuban revolutionary government led by Castro, and a formal declaration of war on Cuba.

　But if that were the case, wouldn't the 2506th Brigade, which the CIA spent huge sums of money to maintain, be useless?

　Therefore, when the Boreal Forest Project was submitted to President Kennedy, the CIA and the Pentagon immediately erupted in a heated argument. It's said that the two sides even threw ashtrays at each other during a White House cabinet meeting, leading to a physical fight that remains unresolved.

　According to Castro's prediction, the Americans would not launch a military invasion of Cuba until April or May 1962, when the rainy season was just around the corner and there was no time to delay any longer. By then, the Soviet Union's nuclear missiles in Cuba would have been deployed.

　However, Castro's response to Washington's top brass

　Although his judgment was correct, he underestimated the CIA's courage to deceive superiors and subordinates and act alone...

　Author's words: PS: After the mobilization of the Israeli army, there are still 80,000 people who cannot wear military uniforms and have to wear their own clothes.

　Because the Israeli military purchasing agent came to my country to buy pure military green uniforms, and was determined to find the cheapest ones, he hesitated for many days. After placing the order, the products were shipped by the cheapest and slowest sea transportation. As a result, there are still 80,000 Israeli soldiers' uniforms floating in the Indian Ocean.

　Then, given the arduous street fighting in Gaza, Israel wanted to use mercenaries as cannon fodder, but was only willing to offer a salary of 3900 euros, even more stingy than Ukraine.

　Well, if all Jews are so petty, then we can only say that their thoughts are worthy of their suffering.

　Furthermore, some people are making up stories about Anglo-Saxons still controlling the US military. In fact, the top military and political leaders in the US military are all people of color! The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense are Black, the Secretary of the Navy is Cuban, the Deputy Secretary of Defense is Chinese, and the person in charge of nuclear weapons is transgender.

　Chapter 93: Nuclear Bombs for Sugar

　Havana, the capital of Cuba

　"Woo——"

　Accompanied by a long whistle, a Soviet cargo ship with a red flag, loaded with more than 5,000 tons of Cuban sugar and a number of tropical specialties such as tobacco, coffee, canned pineapples, slowly left the dock of Havana Port and headed for the vast Atlantic Ocean.

　Ever since Cuba's "return to power", Eastern European countries in the Warsaw Pact have begun to import large quantities of sugar from this "Caribbean Sugar Island".

　There is no way around it. The overall latitude of the Warsaw Pact countries is relatively high, their own beet sugar production is low, and the taste is poor.

　But the Russians and almost all the Slavic peoples in Eastern Europe are all addicted to sweet food... like a bear greedy for honey.

　Moreover, in addition to being an addictive high-calorie food, sugar is also an important industrial raw material.

　Now that a big gift package has fallen from the sky and Cuba, the "Sugar Island", has been pried away from the capitalist camp, the Warsaw Pact camp must of course get more sugar from Cuba.

　But let's be honest, Cuban candy isn't something you can just put on the shelf and sell. If someone dared to sell Cuban candy in a supermarket in the 21st century, they would definitely be complained by customers!

　Why? Because the quality of Cuban sugar... well, it's hard to put into words.

　This is not white sugar, nor is it the brown sugar that Chinese people use to make ginger soup. Instead, it is a kind of powdered or granulated "brown sugar" that is generally dark yellow-brown in color. If it is not stored properly, it will turn black.

　The appearance isn't the only thing that's unsightly, but the taste of Cuban candy is truly surprising. If you put a pinch of Cuban candy in your mouth, you'll notice a strange salty taste alongside the sweetness of cane sugar. If you savor it more carefully, you might even notice a hint of bitterness.

　Wait, why does sucrose taste salty and bitter?

　Because when Cubans produce sugarcane, they mix seawater into the syrup to act as condensation nuclei!

　According to the Cubans themselves, this is because the supply of fresh water in Cuba is relatively short, so they can only use seawater to make sugar - although I really don't understand why an island with a tropical rainforest climate would be so miserable as to be in a desert. Even fresh water is not enough?

　So, why was Cuban sugar, with such poor quality and taste, still able to be sold in the past, and even become a global bestseller?

　The reason is that Cuba's own sugar factories are only part of the entire international sugar industry chain. Their products are merely raw materials or intermediates and cannot be used directly in the food industry, such as the production of Coca-Cola, let alone put them directly into a housewife's kitchen sugar bowl.

　A few years ago, when Cuban sugar could still be exported to the United States, American companies had to re-refine and purify the Cuban sugar for secondary processing. By 1958, Coca-Cola alone controlled seven Cuban sugar secondary processing plants.

　Now that relations between the United States and Cuba have completely decoupled, the salty, astringent, and blackened Cuban sugar can no longer be sent to the United States for further processing. Cubans themselves lack the industrial capacity to refine white sugar, so they can only load it onto ships and ship it to the Soviet Union, where it becomes a detriment to local consumers.

　But the Soviets didn't care. After all, in the USSR, all goods were supplied with coupons, so anything that entered the market could easily sell. It might just taste a little salty and bitter, but it was still candy! The Soviets were happy to have candy, so why would they complain?

　We Bolsheviks are made of special materials, so we should have stomachs made of special materials! We can eat sawdust black bread, shoe polish-flavored soda, candle-flavored canned food, and industrial alcohol vodka without batting an eyelid. What does a mere Cuban candy with the taste of seawater mean to us?

　If you're a cadre with access to a special supply store, you can get whatever you want. Otherwise, just stop complaining and make do with Cuban candy!

　Even these Cuban candies that don’t look very good might still require people to queue up to buy them once they hit the counters of state-owned stores!

　In addition to the black and bitter Cuban sugar, Cuban canned pineapples, although of poor quality, are also a hot commodity in the Eastern European market.

　Due to their high latitudes, all Warsaw Pact countries lacked tropical fruits. Yet, Germans, Poles, and Soviets alike were enthusiastic about tropical fruits, especially pineapples, which they considered a symbol of wealth and status.

　In the past few years, the Soviets, who were short of foreign exchange, could not find a

　They had been supplying canned pineapples for a long time, until the emergence of Red Cuba and its joining the Soviet camp, Moscow department stores finally had canned pineapples for sale!

　Next, although Cuban cigars were not very popular in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union still underwrote a lot of them in order to help its little brother Cuba.

　Of course, the Americans didn't care at all about the "sea sugar," cigars, and canned pineapples that Soviet freighters took away from Cuba.

　Their eyes were all fixed on the artillery pieces, boxes of ammunition, tanks and armored vehicles that the Soviet freighters unloaded at the port of Havana!

　There were also teams of Soviet soldiers whose legs were weak from the long sea voyage and who were dizzy from the scorching tropical sun!

　"These tanks are not T-34s, but T-54s! They are backed by 122mm field guns and 57mm recoilless rifles!

　My God, is the Kremlin really going to such great lengths to keep Cuba? The streets of Havana are full of Russians strolling around!

　In a three-story building not far from the port, a dark-skinned CIA informant, holding a high-powered telescope, squatted behind a half-open shutter, looking at the rolling steel torrent appearing at the dock with cold sweat on his face, muttering to himself.

　Although Castro's revolutionary government spared no effort in purging domestic spies and reactionaries, the CIA, with its deep-rooted influence over the years, was able to bribe some informants in Cuba to act as intelligence agents by simply paying US dollars.

　Therefore, starting from December 1961, the sudden increase in the amount of Soviet-aided weapons unloaded at ports across Cuba, as well as the tens of thousands of Soviet reinforcements crossing the sea, immediately attracted the attention of spies, and the news was passed on to the CIA headquarters, the Langley Building.

　In addition, the photos brought back by the US U-2 reconnaissance aircraft from over Cuba also showed that the Cuban army's technical equipment had increased significantly. A large number of MiG-21 fighter jets, air defense missiles and Soviet-made missile boats were also discovered to have appeared in Cuba in a short period of time.

　Then, Jacob Estline, Director of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Bureau and Head of the Cuban Special Task Force, who was in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, supervising the training and preparation of the 2506th Brigade of Mercenaries, also received intelligence that the Soviet Union was providing substantial aid to Cuba, exchanging tanks for sugar...