Word: combatents
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...many details are known about the Soviet brigade, which according to the State Department is composed of motorized rifle battalions, tank and artillery battalions, and combat and service support elements. Significantly, it has no independent airlift or sealift capability...
...granite memorial was dedicated outside Havana 18 months ago to the "International Soviet Soldier" who gave his life to Cuba between 1961 and 1978. There are 62 Soviet names on the memorial. Some of these deaths, according to intelligence sources, occurred during flight training, armor accidents and possibly in combat against pockets of anti-Castro opposition...
Although there had been indications for some time of the existence of Soviet troops in Cuba, what had not been known was the organization of those troops into a combat brigade. Clues and hints to that effect began appearing in the spring, as did reports that the number of Soviet troops was increasing. In March, for example, the National Security Council staff had asked the intelligence community for more information on Cuba. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski had speculated that there must have been more Soviet activity on the island than was immediately apparent, primarily because some 40,000 Cuban...
Because of the presidential directive, the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies intensified their scrutiny of Cuba. Spy satellites, for instance, were directed to hover over the island and take extensive series of photographs. Although the U.S. had been picking up bits of information about the presence of Soviet combat troops on the island for at least three years, the fragmentary data did not appear conclusive. One problem was that developments inside Cuba were assigned a relatively low priority by the intelligence community; it was much more concerned, for example, with what Cuban troops have been doing in Africa...
...least ten years ago that U.S. intelligence first got an inkling that a Soviet combat unit might possibly be in Cuba. But the nation was embroiled in the Viet Nam War, and intelligence was largely focused on Southeast Asia; Cuba had low priority. After the war, intelligence operations were reassigned both in the field and in Washington, where it takes many people and much equipment to sort out incoming information. Cuba watching was increased, but not significantly. Even so, evidence emerged confirming the presence of a mysteriously active Soviet headquarters...