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abreast of the situation on the beach and at sea from the distance of Washington. Also, there was a confidence in the improvised supply of the beach by air which turned out to be unjustified. Had there been a command ship in the sea with an advance CIA command post on board, a more effective control would have been possible. 12. It may be asked how near the landing ever came to success. Had the ammunition shortage been surmounted, which is to say, had the Castro air been neutralized, would the landing force have accomplished its mission? The Cubans ashore fought well and inflicted heavy losses on the Castro militia while they had ammunition. It seems reasonable to believe that with control of the air they could have maintained themselves for some days, although the vastly superior Castro forces which appeared qUickly on the scene made a break-out unlikely by such a small landing force. The limited number of B-26 crews, if forced to continue to operate from Nicaragua, would have been strained to provide continuous daylight air support to the beachhead. An attempt by the landing force to exercise the guerrilla option and take to the hills would have been virtually impossible because of the presence of the en- circling Castro forces and of the instructions which the Cuban invasion units had received to fall back on the beaches in case of a penetration of the beachhead. We are inclined to 266