December 29
On December 29, the officers inside the armored train decided to move to the barracks for protection. The damage to the rails caused a derailment, and three of the cars overturned. Ché struck quickly, sending his men to fire on the train and attack it with homemade Molotov cocktails. The men inside, cooking in the heat, quickly surrendered.
The train yielded a great deal of arms for the rebels, including bazookas, machine guns, mortars, a 20mm cannon, 600 rifles and approximately one million rounds of ammunition. This was a huge boost for the rebels, who had been poorly armed, and allowed them to arm some of the student reinforcements that had arrived the day before. The 350 soldiers and officers on board the train were taken prisoner, but once they were disarmed seemed more relieved than anything else, smoking and fraternizing with the rebels.
The train episode has always been shrouded in controversy. Batista claimed that the officers had sold out, and surrendered in exchange for money or as part of some other deal. This belief is echoed by rebel leader Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, although Ché himself always maintained that the train was captured, not surrendered. This was certainly in his best interest, as the train episode became a large part of his legend.
Meanwhile, the rest of the army troops remained inside the barracks, unwilling to fight as news of the capture of the train reached them. Calls for reinforcements from the capital were not answered, as Batista wanted to keep some soldiers in Havana to defend the city from the inevitable arrival of Castro and his rebels.
December 30 – January 1
Combat resumed on December 30 inside the city limits of Santa Clara. Ché’s men ran into a deadly firefight at the police headquarters. The police were fearful of the civilian population of Santa Clara: during the tense few weeks that led up to the arrival of Guevara’s column, they had been torturing locals suspected of supporting the rebel cause. The only other holdout was the Leoncio Vidal barracks on the outskirts of the city where most of Batista’s soldiers were holed up.
On the 31st, the police barracks fell and Ché and his men were in possession of the city itself, although not the military barracks. That night, during the New Year celebrations in Havana, a terrified Batista fled the country after learning of developments in Santa Clara. The next day, January 1, the demoralized garrison surrendered unconditionally after Ché and his officers promised the soldiers and officers they could go home once they were disarmed. The Battle of Santa Clara was over.
Importance of the Battle
The Battle of Santa Clara was important for several different reasons. First and most importantly, it showed Batista that his days as president were over: if a ragged group of 300 poorly armed rebels could overcome his most important line of defense outside of Havana, then surely he had no hope of remaining in power. Batista was holding a losing hand by any definition, but Ché’s unlikely victory certainly hurried his exit.
The weapons captured by Ché and his men would prove important as well. Fidel Castro was not the only person in Cuba working to overthrow Batista: the Cuban Revolution consisted of several dissatisfied factions including communists, students and other rebel forces. Ché was fanatically loyal to Fidel Castro and when he arrived in Havana he controlled the best-equipped army in the country, which allowed Castro to take command without much trouble from the others.
The capture of Santa Clara, the only major military engagement in the whole Cuban Revolution, contributed greatly to the legend of Ché Guevara. His victory at Santa Clara gave Ché a reputation as a military genius which served him well in terms of the prestige he enjoyed in Cuba in the following years. It was a double-edged sword, however, as his skills did not live up to his reputation in his later adventures in Africa and Bolivia.
Source: Castañeda, Jorge G. Compañero: The Life and Death of Ché Guevara. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.
