United States invasion of Grenada

United States invasion of Grenada
Part of the Cold War
An American Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter hovers above the ground near an abandoned Soviet ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft weapon during the American invasion of Grenada, 1983.
Date 25 October – 2 November 1983 (8 days)[1] Location Grenada Result American–CPF victory Grenadian People's Revolutionary Government toppled Hudson Austin deposed Nicholas Brathwaite sworn into office Cuban and Soviet forces expelled
Belligerents
United States Grenadian Opposition Caribbean Peace Force:  Barbados  Jamaica Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States  Antigua and Barbuda  Dominica  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Grenada (PRG)  Cuba  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Ronald Reagan Caspar Weinberger Joseph Metcalf III Norman Schwarzkopf Edward Trobaugh Jack B. Farris Sir Paul Scoon Nicholas Brathwaite Tom Adams Rudyard Lewis Florizel Glasspole Edward Seaga Wilfred Jacobs Vere Bird Aurelius Marie Eugenia Charles Clement Arrindell Kennedy Simmonds Allen Montgomery Lewis John Compton Sir Sydney Gun-Munro Milton Cato	Hudson Austin  Fidel Castro Pedro Tortoló
Strength
United States: 7,300 troops 4 tanks 1 LPH USS Guam LPH-9 Flagship ComPhibron 1 LHA (USS Saipan (LHA-2)) 1 aircraft carrier 3 destroyers 2 frigates 1 ammunition ship 27 F-14A Tomcats CPF: 353 peacekeepers	Grenada: 1,300 troops 8 APCs 2 armored cars 12 AA guns Cuba: 784 (including 636 construction workers according to Cuba)[2]: 6, 26, 62
Casualties and losses
United States: 19 killed[3] 116 wounded[2]: 6, 62  36 injured:[4] 9 helicopters destroyed[4][5]	Grenada: 45 killed 358 wounded[2]: 62  6 APCs destroyed 1 armored car destroyed Cuba: 24 killed[4] 59 wounded[6] 638 captured[2] 2 transport aircraft captured Soviet Union: 2 wounded[7] Weapons cache seized: 12 APCs 12 anti-aircraft guns 291 submachine guns 6,330 rifles 5.6 million rounds of ammunition[8]
24 civilians killed (18 of them when a mental hospital was mistakenly bombed by U.S. Navy A-7s)[4]

The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean countries invaded the small island nation of Grenada, 100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela at dawn on 25 October 1983. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days.^[9] It was triggered by strife within the People's Revolutionary Government, which led to the house arrest and execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada, Maurice Bishop, and to the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council, with Hudson Austin as chairman. Following the invasion there was an interim government appointed, and then general elections held in December 1984.

The invading force consisted of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, the 82nd Airborne Division, and elements of the former Rapid Deployment Force, U.S. Marines, U.S. Army Delta Force, Navy SEALs, and ancillary forces, totaling 7,600 troops, together with Jamaican forces and troops of the Regional Security System (RSS).^[10] The invaders quickly defeated Grenadian resistance after a low-altitude assault by the Rangers and 82nd Airborne at Point Salines Airport on the island's south end, and a Marine helicopter and amphibious landing at Pearls Airport on the north end. Austin's military government was deposed. An advisory council designated Sir Paul Scoon as Governor-General of Grenada until the 1984 elections.

The invasion date of 25 October is now a national holiday in Grenada, called Thanksgiving Day, commemorating the freeing of several political prisoners who were subsequently elected to office. A truth and reconciliation commission was launched in 2000 to re-examine some of the controversies of that tumultuous period in the 1980s; in particular, the Commission made an unsuccessful attempt to locate the remains of Maurice Bishop's body, which had been disposed of at Austin's order and never found.^[11]

At the time, the invasion drew criticism from many countries. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher privately disapproved of the mission, in part because she was not consulted in advance and was given very short notice of the military operation, but she supported it in public.^[12] The United Nations General Assembly condemned it as "a flagrant violation of international law" on 2 November 1983, by a vote of 108 to 9.^[13]

The invasion exposed communication and coordination problems between the different branches of the U.S. military when operating together as a joint force. This triggered post-action investigations resulting in sweeping operational changes in the form of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act.^[14]