Battle of Santa Clara

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.

Attack on the city
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 (which numbered about 300) into two columns. 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 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, 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 (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.

Capture of the train
Guevara, who viewed the capture of the armored 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".

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.

Nowadays the "Armored Train" (Tren Blindado) is a national memorial and museum located near the depot of Santa Clara station.

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 Radio Rebelde that the last troops in Santa Clara had surrendered.