Operation 40


 * For the faction, see Op 40.

"Operation 40" is the first single player level in Call of Duty: Black Ops. This mission introduces the player to the story's main characters. The mission takes place in Santa Maria, Cuba on April 17, 1961, as the player, Woods, and Bowman attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister of Cuba: Fidel Castro. When you first complete the level, you gain the achievement/trophy Sacrifice.

Overview
A cutscene plays where an unknown interrogator is asking Mason questions. Mason is electrocuted multiple times, failing to give satisfactory answers to the questions. The mission starts with Woods, Mason and Bowman speaking to Carlos in a bar. Carlos provides them with intel to help them with their mission. Tropas soldiers enter the bar, while the Task Force remain calm. A Tropas Officer comes over and grabs Mason, and Woods grabs him and impales his hand to the counter with his knife, then smashes him in the head with a bottle. Mason then draws an ASP and eliminates the enemy soldiers. Carlos tosses him an M16 with ACOG and Grenade Launcher attached.

Mason and Woods then exit the bar and commence fighting through the streets. Carlos and Bowman remain in the bar, shooting through windows to provide covering fire. As they fight down the street, Carlos and Bowman join Woods and Mason as they take out police cars. The squad then comes to a large police roadblock, which forces them to take an alley to the left. Fortunately for them, there is a car with its door open ready at the end of the alley. Mason jumps in the driver's seat and is tasked with driving the squad through multiple barricades and to safety. After Mason drives through the barricades, he whites out and a cutscene plays where Mason, fading out of consciousness in the interrogation seat, is given an electric shock which forces him back into his flashback.

The mission resumes with the squad overlooking a building from the other side of a large gorge. When given a signal, Mason, Bowman and Woods zipline over to the other side, where Mason and Bowman quickly and silently dispatch of enemy guards. On entering the building, Mason is tasked with taking a soldier using a telephone out with some garrote wire. The squad then exit the house and fight their way to another building. On entering this building, Mason and Woods are faced with heavy resistance.

After clearing out a room, the squad comes before the door leading to Fidel Castro's room. The squad stack up and Mason pulls out his ASP. They break open the door and Castro immediately draws a pistol, using his mistress as a human shield. Mason shoots Castro, and after a short cinematic of the bullet being followed in its flight in slow motion (only occurs with a headshot), Castro's mistress picks up a gun and is gunned down as well, much to Woods' disgust.

The squad then fights its way out of the building, through the courtyard, and towards an airfield. The squad runs down a cliff while secured with ropes and they make a break for a hangar where their plane is waiting. The squad enters the plane and Mason is tasked with protecting the plane from damage with an M60. Mason then jumps out of the plane, and stays behind in order to use an anti-aircraft gun to clear the runway.

Mason is then pulled off of the AA gun by Lev Kravchenko and is shoved to the ground and stomped on once. Mason awakens seeing Fidel Castro and Nikita Dragovich discussing what to do with him. It is explained that the squad merely killed a double. Castro tells Dragovich to "Make sure [Mason] suffers". The mission ends with Mason in the interrogation chair exclaiming that Dragovich really did make sure he suffered.

Starting Loadout
The player starts with an ASP; after the police are killed Carlos throws the player the M16.

Found in Level
The following weapons can be found with and without attachments.

Intel Items

 * Intel No.1:(1/3 Intel) Located on a crate in a building after you go up a hill and pass a weapons depot. It will be straight ahead as you follow Woods and Bowman into the building.


 * Intel No.2:(2/3 Intel) Located on the dresser in a bedroom with a bed and TV in the area you enter after you kill Castro's double.


 * Intel No.3:(3/3 Intel) Located on the top of a ladder inside the first hangar you enter after you rappel down the hill to the airfield.

Trivia

 * The beginning loadout is a similar loadout to the Takedown mission in Modern Warfare 2.
 * In this mission, Mason wears a brown leather ID Bracelet. It is interesting to know that in multiplayer,the lightweight class wear the same bracelets as Mason.
 * Operation 40 is the name of a real-life CIA-sponsored undercover operation in the Caribbean during the early 1960s. They operated with the Cuban rebel group Brigade 2605.
 * Woods has a packet of cigarettes in the fold of his shirt sleeve.
 * After Castro's double has been killed, the player's cross-hairs remain red.
 * The car has a 5-speed transmission, with the shifter mounted on the median between the front seats, neither of which were not seen on cars of that era.
 * The MiG-17F found in the hangar the player passes through has the markings of the Vietnam People's Air Force.
 * In the beginning of the mission the song playing in the background is "Quimbara" by Celia Cruz, though this particular song was from 1974.
 * Once in the car, Bowman appears to have jumped through the window backwards, as he is seated.
 * It is unknown how Carlos escapes the police, as he doesn't get in the car.
 * Soda cans encountered throughout the level have "Treyarch" written on them.
 * The Cuban who enters the bar says to a woman, "Saquen los papeles ahora!" (Take out the papers (passport) now!) followed by, "Salga de aqui puta capitalista!" (Get out of here, capitalist bitch!). The woman replies, "No me toques hijo de puta!" (Do not touch me, son of a bitch!). The Cuban turns his attention to Mason and says, "Oye de donde tu eres!" (Where are you from!) before asking in English.
 * This mission has caused a large amount of controversy due to the fact that the player must attempt to assassinate a world leader, Fidel Castro. Cubadebate, a popular Cuban website, accused the US of trying to kill Castro virtually because they have failed to in the past 50 years. However, Operation 40 failed to assassinate Castro in the video game as they did in real life. The character killed is a double and the real Fidel Castro appears later on.
 * According to Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS), a character named Michael Shaw was captured along with Mason in this level.
 * On the Wii, the ending of this level is in HD, just like the ending to World at War was.
 * If the player jumps to close to the plane's propellers, death ensues and the screen reads "Watch your head."
 * In the sequence where the player must run across the airfield to the cargo plane, the player has unlimited sprint.
 * The soldier that Mason has to shoot in the bar will never actually fight back; if the player looks closely it appears as if his gun has jammed.
 * When Bowman splits up with the player and Woods in the villa, he will appear to climb up a fence onto the roof.
 * During the actual Bay of Pigs invasion only two CIA agents were used. However, it is likely that this mission was covered up and denied by the government.
 * The Police cannot be gibbed by the M203. In addition to this, the police cars can't explode until they stop moving.
 * This mission is the second time in the Call of Duty series that involves the police. The first is the mission "No Russian" in Modern Warfare 2.
 * Bowman will repeatedly mention "B-26s" during the mission. The B-26 was a twin-engined bomber; however, if the player looks up, he/she will notice that the aircraft overhead have four engines, and are most likely C-130s.
 * Woods has no tattoos in this mission. He gets them over time.
 * If the player kills Castro's double with a headshot you will gain the trophy/achievement "Death To Dictators."
 * The Tropas that come into the bar cannot actually be seen walking towards the door. They just spawn outside the door.
 * Castro's Double cannot be killed by a shot to the leg.
 * Before the game actually shows Mason's team in the bar, a lighter can be seen along with a puff of smoke. When the player is given a view of his teammates, no one else is seen smoking. The smoker is presumably Mason, this is further evident when the player later drives the car as a lit cigar can be seen falling to the side. Mason could have been smoking while fighting the police.
 * If the player takes too long to reach the plane, they will be randomly blown up regardless of where they were standing.
 * If the player doesn't reverse the car in time, then a police officer will turn up the back of the car and kill the player.
 * It is impossible to run over the police or civilian standing to the side while driving the car.
 * After killing Castro's Double, the player will automatically reload their ASP, even if they only shoot one shot.
 * When fighting in the courtyard, there is a glitch at the end, when Carlos says that you are good to go, the screen will turn dark and the lines "Your actions has caused your team to be killed" will appear, thus preventing the player from progressing. The only way to fix this is restarting the level.
 * After ducking to avoid the fire from the police while in the car, Mason misses out second gear and shifts into 3rd, probably to allow the car to gain more speed without Mason having to shift gear again, which allows Mason to have more control which driving through the various barriers.
 * When it comes to the part before the player runs into the sugar cane fields it's a great time to earn Frag Master Achievement as there are trucks and explosive barrels mostly everywhere including enemies.
 * This is the only mission throughout the entire game in which you as the player use a weapon that has a grenade launcher and scope attached. Not even in multiplayer will the player be able to attach any other attachment alongside any underbarrel weapons (etc. M203, Shotgun, Flamethrower).