Report of Major-General Igor Demyanovich Statsenko, Commander of the 51st Missile Division, about the Actions of the Division from 07.12.62 through 12.01.1962
Following the directive of the General Staff, in mid-June of 1962 the division was tasked with switching to a new operating structure (command – 6/322; R-12 regiments – 6/332; R-14 regiments – 6/334; RTB [missile technical base] –6/333), to take the regiments of Cdes. Bandilovsky and Sidorov into the division; to take one launch battalion and one RTB assembly brigade into Cde. Cherkesov’s regiment. The division command is to be fully staffed with personnel and equipment, and to be ready to deploy abroad to carry out a special government task. 1. The work of reconnaissance groups to select deployment sites. To carry out this assignment, the advance reconnaissance team arrived on the island of Cuba on 07.12.62 on a Tu-114 airplane. I was in the group together with the head of the data preparation unit [отделение подготовки данных (опд)] of the division. The reconnaissance groups of the regiments arrived on the island of Cuba on an IL-18 airplane on 07.19.1962. Based on the study of the reconnaissance assignment, described in directives from the General Staff, on 07.14.62 a work plan was developed for the advance reconnaissance teams, which stipulated: -
to begin reconnaissance by flying over first the western, then the central part of the island of Cuba; to choose two field deployment position areas for each regiment, stationing the command of the regiment with one of the battalions; to separate the reconnaissance teams into groups by region in order to expedite the work process; to include officers from the Headquarters of the Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Cuba in the regiments’ reconnaissance groups; to organize the interaction of the reconnaissance groups with the group of General Dementiev [top Soviet military adviser in Cuba] and the General Staff of the Cuban Army to provide support and security for the reconnaissance groups during their work.
After the arrival of the reconnaissance groups of the division’s regiments on the island of Cuba, i.e. on 07.20.1962, they studied the work plan, and carefully studied maps of the area where they would be working, particularly the network of roads. They were given special
1