Battle of Santa Clara

Battle of Santa Clara
Part of the Cuban Revolution
Che Guevara, after the battle of Santa Clara, January 1, 1959
Date December 28, 1958 – January 1, 1959 Location Santa Clara, Cuba Result Decisive victory for the 26th of July Movement Final defeat of Batista government Batista flees Cuba
Belligerents
26th of July Movement	Batista government
Commanders and leaders
Che Guevara Rolando Cubela Roberto Rodriguez † Nunez Jimenez	Colonel Joaquin Casillas  Police Chief Cornelio Rojas  Colonel Fernandez Suero Colonel Candido Hernandez
Strength
340 guerrillas	3,900 soldiers 10 tanks B-26 bombers 1 armored train
Casualties and losses
Unknown, Rodriguez killed in combat	2,900 taken prisoner (later released), Casillas and Rojas executed

Decisive victory for the 26th of July Movement

The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara 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. It features prominently on the back of the three convertible peso bill.

Guevara's column travelled on 28 December 1958 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, who was wearing his arm in a sling after falling off a wall during the fighting in Caibarién, divided his forces (numbering about 300) into two columns. The southern column was the first to meet the defending army forces commanded by Colonel Casillas Lumpuy. An armored train, sent by Batista to reinforce supplies of ammunition, weapons and other equipment, traveled along to the foot of the hill of Capiro, northeast of the city, establishing a command post there. Guevara dispatched his "suicide squad", a force under 23-year-old Roberto Rodríguez (known as "El Vaquerito"), to capture the hill. 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 (the barracks of the Leoncio Vidal Regiment and the barracks of the 31 Regiment of the Rural Guard) were under siege from Cubela's forces despite army support from aircraft, snipers and tanks.

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Wikipedia