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The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of Santa Clara, Cuba by revolutionaries under the command of Che Guevara. The battle was a decisive victory for the rebels fighting against the regime of General Fulgencio Batista, within 12 hours of the city's capture Batista fled Cuba and Fidel Castro's forces claimed overall victory. The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista’s regime by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s. ...
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...
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Combatants Cuban Revolutionaries Cuban Government, Batista Commanders Fidel Castro General Eulogio Cantillo Strength 300 12,000 Casualties 80 800 ? Operation Verano was the name given to the summer offensive in 1958 by the Batistia government during the Cuban Revolution. ...
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Combatants Cuban Revolutionaries Cuban Government, Batista Commanders Camilo Cienfuegos Captain Abon Ly Strength 450-500 ? 250 Casualties ? ? The Battle of Yaguajay, was a decisive victory for the Cuban Revolutionaries over the soldiers of the Batista government near the city of Santa Clara in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. ...
Flag of the The Cuban Revolution The 26th of July Movement (Spanish: Movimiento 26 de Julio) was the revolutionary organization led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista regime in Cuba. ...
Che Guevara was a key figure in the Cuban Revolution, an uprising that successfully removed the longstanding dominance of General Fulgencio Batista over the island. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
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Che Guevara Dr. Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna ( June 14, 1928¹ – October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader. ...
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Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
, Santa Clara is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara. ...
The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista’s regime by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s. ...
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (June 14, 1928 – October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara or el Che, was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, political figure, and leader of Cuban and internationalist guerrillas. ...
General Fulgencio Batista y ZaldÃvar (pronounced ) (January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was the de facto military leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1940 and the de jure President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944. ...
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born on August 13, 1926) is the current President of Cuba but on indefinite medical hiatus. ...
Background
In 1958, Fidel Castro ordered his revolutionary army to go on the offensive against the army of Fulgencio Batista. While Fidel led one force against Guisa, Masó and other towns in the east of the island, the other major offensive was directed at the capture of the city of Santa Clara, the capital of what was then Las Villas Province. Santa Clara, the fourth largest city in Cuba, was the remaining crucial obstacle lying between the rebels and an assault on Havana. As such, the city had received regular re-enforcements of troops and equipment as part of Batista's defense strategy. Santa Clara (also called Las Villas after 1940) was a historical province of Cuba. ...
Three columns were sent against Las Villas Province under the command of Che Guevara, Jaime Vega, and Camilo Cienfuegos. Vega's column was caught in an ambush and completely destroyed. Cienfuegos's column directly attacked a local army garrison at Yaguajay. Guevara's column took up positions around Santa Clara. In a conversation between Cienfuegos and Guevara, broadcast to Cubans on Radio Rebelde, the rebels' shortwave radio channel, Guevara was heard saying, Cuban poster showing Camilo Cienfuegos Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (February 6, 1932 - October 28, 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary born in Havana. ...
Combatants Cuban Revolutionaries Cuban Government, Batista Commanders Camilo Cienfuegos Captain Abon Ly Strength 450-500 ? 250 Casualties ? ? The Battle of Yaguajay, was a decisive victory for the Cuban Revolutionaries over the soldiers of the Batista government near the city of Santa Clara in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. ...
"The enemy is concentrated in the usual places . . . I heard you tell Fidel that you were going to take Santa Clara and I don't know what the hell else, but don't you butt in there because that's mine".[1]
Attack on the city Guevara's column travelled on 28 December from the coastal port of Caibarién along the road to the town of Camajuani which lay between Caibarién and Santa Clara. Their journey was received by cheering crowds of peasants, and Caibarién's capture within a day reinforced the sense among the rebel fighters that overall victory was imminent. Government troops guarding the army garrison at Camajuani deserted their posts without incident, and Guevara's column proceeded to Santa Clara. They arrived at the city's university on the outskirts of the town at dusk.
There Guevara divided his forces (which numbered about 300) into two. The southern column was the first to meet the defending army forces commanded by Colonel Casillas Lumpuy. An armoured train, sent by Batista to reinforce supplies of ammunition, weapons and other equipment, traveled along to the foot of the hill Capiro, at the northeast of the city, establishing there a command post. Guevara dispatched his "suicide squad", a force under 18-year old Roberto Rodríguez (known as "El Vaquerito"), to capture the hill, using hand grenades. The defenders of the hill withdrew with surprising speed and the train, containing officers and soldiers from the command post, withdrew towards the middle of the town.
In the city itself a series of skirmishes were taking place between government forces and the second rebel column, led by Rolando Cubela, with the assistance of civilians providing molotov cocktails. Two army garrisons were under siege from Cubela's forces despite army support from aircraft, snipers and tanks. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1150x430, 87 KB) map created from public domain image File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Battle of Yaguajay ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1150x430, 87 KB) map created from public domain image File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Battle of Yaguajay ...
Molotov cocktail is the generic name for a variety of crude incendiary weapons. ...
Capture of the train Guevara, who viewed the capture of the train as a priority, successfully mobilized the tractors of the school of Agronomy at the university to raise the rails of the railway. The train was therefore derailed as it transported troops away from the Capiro hill. The officers within tumbled out asking for a truce. At this, ordinary soldiers, whose morale was very low, began to fraternise with the rebels, saying that they were tired of fighting against their own people. Shortly afterwards the armoured train was in the hands of the rebels and its 350 men and officers were transported as prisoners.
The train contained a considerable amount of weaponry, a huge bonus to revolutionary forces, and it was to become a basis of further attack in the hands of both the rebels and supportive peasants. Various reports have suggested that the surrender of the train and the truce were pre-arranged, relying on payments made to the officers by the 26th of July Movement. Guevara himself described how the men were forced out by a volley of molotov cocktails, causing the armoured train to become a "veritable oven for the soldiers". Flag of the The Cuban Revolution The 26th of July Movement (Spanish: Movimiento 26 de Julio) was the revolutionary organization led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista regime in Cuba. ...
The capture of the train, and the subsequent media broadcasts from both the government and the rebels proved to be a key tipping point in the revolution. Despite the next day's newspapers hailing Batista's "victory" at Santa Clara, contrary broadcasts from Castro's rebel forces accelerated the succession of army surrenders. The reports ended with the news that rebel leaders were heading "without let or hindrance" towards Havana to take over the Government. [2]
Capture of the city Most garrisons around the country quickly surrendered to the first guerrilla commander who showed up at their gate. In mid-afternoon, Che announced over his Rebelde transmitter that the last troops in Santa Clara had surrendered. [3]
References - Anderson, Jon Lee. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, New York: 1997, Grove Press.
- Thomas, Hugh. Cuba : The Pursuit of Freedom.
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