Chapter 21 Grenada War War War Background
After independence, Grenada became a member of the British Commonwealth and was governed by the United Labour Party. The United Labour government, with Eric Gehry as prime minister, pursued a pro-Western and pro-American policy, causing discontent among the opposition party "New Jewel Movement".
Founded in 1972 by pro-Soviet and Cuban figures in Grenada, the "New Jewel Movement", also known as the "United March for Welfare, Education and Liberation" movement, advocated "the restoration of all democracy and freedom", the holding of "free and fair elections", the implementation of "economic revolutionization", the establishment of a "state of the people in politics", and the socialist road.
The movement staged a coup d'état on March 13, 1979, overthrowing the Gehry government and forming a coup d'état with the name of Morris? Bishop is the new government of Prime Minister. After the establishment of the Bishop government, it pursued a policy of "one-sidedness" towards the Soviet Union and Cuba in diplomacy.
received a large amount of economic and military aid from the Soviet Union and Cuba, and created the "People's Revolutionary Army" and militia units; Cuban engineering troops are building a new "tourist airport" on the island, with a main runway of 3,000 meters long. U.S. President Ronald Reagan argued that "Grenada has become a colony of the Soviet Union and Cuba as a base for exporting terror and subverting democracy."
If Grenada is completely controlled by the Soviet Union and Cuba, the "iron triangle" consisting of the airports of Grenada, Cuba, and Nicaragua will put the Caribbean region of Central America, which is the traditional "backyard" of the United States, under the threat of Soviet and Cuban combat planes, and the smooth flow of US sea transportation lines and the security of the United States will be seriously threatened.
Grenada is in danger of becoming a "second Cuba". As a result, the United States has been exerting constant pressure on the Bishop government in a deliberate attempt to overthrow the pro-Soviet-Cuban regime in Grenada and bring it into the ranks of democracies. With the development of the situation in Grenada, Georgia has gradually become a focus of struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union for hegemony and the contradictions between the United States and Cuba.
Under pressure from the United States, the Bishop administration began to take steps to ease tensions with the United States and other Western countries.
On June 7, 1983, Bishop also personally visited the United States and reached an "understanding" with the United States.
However, Bishop's actions provoked fierce opposition from pro-Soviet and Cuban "hardliners" within the government, led by Deputy Prime Minister Cord and Commander of the Government Forces, Austin, and the former Soviet Union and Cuba also resented it.
On October 13, hardliners staged a surprise coup d'état and put Bishop under house arrest.
On the 19th, thousands of people marched in support of Bishop in the capital, St. George's, and rescued him, who clashed with the putschists, who fell back into the hands of the putschists and were secretly executed on the same day.
On the 20th, the military took over power and established a "Revolutionary Military Council" headed by Austin, and Georgia fell into the hands of pro-Sugu hardliners.
The coup gave the Reagan administration the excuse it needed to send in Marines: the thousands of Americans living on the island were in danger as a result of the new regime in Grenada.
In addition, the Eastern Caribbean Organization, which was afraid of the Soviet, Cuban, and Georgian "export revolutions," held a meeting on the 21st and demanded that the United States send troops to Grenada. Herbert? Walker? Bush then convened a meeting of the National Security Council's planning group and made a preliminary decision to send troops.
On the 24th, US President Ronald Reagan reconvened a meeting of the National Security Council's planning group and formally decided to send troops. Then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Kasper? In his memoir, "The Fight for Peace," Weinberg declared that the United States was "trying to save the Americans there [in Grenada] from being taken hostage and from repeating what happened in Iran in 1979." ”
The decision to send troops was made in response to an "urgent request" from the Caribbean countries. The above situation shows that the October coup d'état in Grenada provided an opportunity for the United States to invade Grenada, and became the fuse for the United States to invade Grenada.
The commander of the U.S. invasion was William Brown, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, based in Washington. Admiral MacDonald; Commander of the 2nd Fleet, Joseph? Vice Admiral Matcalfe is the field commander.
The main combat forces invested by the US military are: 15 ships of various types, mainly including one aircraft carrier (Independence, with a displacement of 78,000 tons and 85 aircraft), one missile cruiser, one missile destroyer, two destroyers, and five amphibious ships including the 18,300-ton amphibious assault ship Guam;
230 land-based and carrier-based aircraft and helicopters of various types; The ground forces mainly include 1 brigade headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army, 4 battalions (5,000 people), 2 battalions of the 75th Special Forces Regiment (700 people), and 1 reinforced battalion of the Marine Corps (1,900 people). The above-mentioned troops are all from the US "Rapid Deployment Force."
In addition, six countries — Barbados, Jamaica, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda — have sent 396-strong contingents to complement U.S. operations (Caribbean Peace Force), which is essentially two police units.
The USS Independence aircraft carrier squadron and the USS Guam amphibious assault ship squadron were deployed to the waters around Grenada on 23 July, and a sea and air blockade zone with a radius of 50 nautical miles was established around the island to impose a complete blockade on Grenada.
On the 24th, the US military transported some army rangers and weapons and equipment to Barbados, which is only 250 kilometers away from Georgia. On the same day, troops from Caribbean countries that were cooperating with the US military operations were also assembled in Barbados. At the same time, the troops participating in the war in the continental United States also entered a state of imminent war.
In a dilapidated room, obviously surrounded by the US Air Force, Luo Xingyao sat in the dark room, the lighter cover in his hand flashed with the shaking of his fingers, and looked through the cracks in the building at the 4 American special forces members who entered the building not far away, and there were 2 people outside the door holding a charge in the hidden place, all of which did not escape Luo Xingyao's eyes.
Luo Xingyao came to Grenada earlier than the United States, after careful layout, through the locals, released a false information to the US military, and deliberately attracted a squad of American special forces to come here, after a few days of smooth fighting, the US army broke into pieces and fought all over Grenada, and this gave Luo Xingyao a chance.
Four special forces soldiers came to the room wearing protective suits, and sure enough, just like the intelligence, there was a basement here, open the basement door and enter it. Suddenly, a soldier looked in horror at the countdown to the display in front of him, on which there were only 5 seconds left, on which was written in English "To our great comrades of the American army!" ”
"There's a bomb, there's a bomb, run!!" Several people heard the roar from the headphones and ran eagerly towards the door.
"Bang!! Boom ......" The whole building collapsed in the sound of the explosion, the captain looked at the building in front of him sadly, feeling so heartbreaking, regardless of the dust raised by the explosion, he rushed forward quickly, wanting to move away from the building above to rescue his partner who got along day and night, I thought it was a simple task, but I didn't expect it to be a trap.
"Captain, there's a situation!" Another member of the team on the side desperately grabbed the captain, and now the current situation is to determine whether there is an ambush, and saw a person wearing a mask in the dust around him, with a height of about 1.9 meters or less, and quickly came in the direction of the two of them.
The captain stared back to back with the team members staring at the other people who might appear around him, since it was a trap, it couldn't be just one person, and shouted heartbreakingly: "Come on, you bastard!" Come on!!! ”