BY FIDEL CASTRO

In February, Pathfinder Press released a new edition of Ernesto Che Guevara's Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War - 1956-58.

To promote this book, the Militant is running "Pages from Cuba's Revolutionary History." This series features articles by and about combatants of the July 26 Movement and the Rebel Army, which led the revolutionary war that overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and opened the socialist revolution in the Americas.

This week's installment commemorates the anniversary of the April 19, 1961, victory of the Cuban revolutionary forces over a U.S.-backed mercenary invasion at Playa Girón, known in the United States as the Bay of Pigs. The 1,500 Cuban-born counterrevolutionaries had launched their assault just two days earlier. They had been openly trained by Washington and armed with U.S. naval, air, and army weapons, including B-26 bombers and troop transports.

The excerpts below are from a speech delivered by Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro at an April 19, 1962, ceremony honoring the heroes who fell at Playa Girón. It was published as part of a book entitled History of an Aggression by Ediciones Venceremos in Havana in 1964. Subheadings are by the Militant.

BY FIDEL CASTRO

A year ago today, the smoke from the last shots of the battle of Playa Girón was clearing. Those who launched the attack had thought that it would be the end of the Revolution; they thought that a year later we would not be here together again; they thought that the Revolution - what it is and what it stands for - could be destroyed; they thought that our country would return to the past, even at the cost of its total destruction.

To measure the degree of criminality of that attack, we must take into account what our enemy had in mind. They made the invaders, the forces that they recruited and trained, believe such stupidities as this - that they would be welcomed with open arms....

The enemy knew only too well that the people would not support the counterrevolutionaries. And so they based their strategy on this fact. The strategy outlined by the Yankee military machine was not the kind that would be followed by anyone who expected the people to join the counterrevolution. On the contrary, it was a strategy planned by those who knew that the people supported the revolution.

That is why they adapted their war plans to the real situation of which they were well aware, and tried to capture a part of our national territory. They did not choose an open battlefield, but an area of our national territory that had very little accessibility....

The objective of that strategy was precisely to establish a foothold in our national territory where they would have set up a counterrevolutionary government, which will receive aid more openly - as if the support they were already receiving was not evident enough - and would have started a war of exhaustion against our country.

They actually planned to start a war of exhaustion against our country adding to all the aggressive measures already taken, such as the total cutting off of our trade, the complete abolition of our sugar quota, the embargo on all possible exports - all intended to strangle us economically....

They misjudged morale of our people
Where did they make their mistake - those who had laid the plans so carefully? What was their error? They made their mistake in judging the morale of our people, the courage of our people, the strength of a revolution....

They thought it was simply a matter of sending a squadron of bomber planes over our country any one morning unexpectedly, to drop bombs and "rockets" in a surprise attack; they thought that the noise of bombs exploding would be enough to create panic among the people, to terrorize the nation and to frighten our combatants....

In order to attain absolute air superiority, a complete control of the air, among other things, they counted on destroying our last plane.

Thus, after having terrified the people, demoralized our armed forces and stripped us of our aircraft, they would have been able to control the battlefield with their planes.

That was their first big mistake - an error in calculation - a military error. The bombings did not intimidate the people nor did they demoralize or frighten anyone; instead, they filled our citizens with wrath and indignation (1)....

Our planes were scattered in different places; our fields were fully protected by antiaircraft batteries; and the cowardly, criminal surprise attack could only destroy a few of those planes. In spite of the fact that our planes were few, old and battered, in spite of the fact that the bombings destroyed some of them, there were still more than enough planes for the pilots we had. So, the cowardly, criminal and treacherous bombings served only as a warning, a warning of the imminence of an attack; it only served as warning that gave us 48 hours to mobilize our defenses....

And that is just what happened. Landing forces were approaching since the early morning hours on the 17th, and they began to take positions in the chosen territory. They had organized their plans. They brought with them the weapons for the new contingents that would land later on, and the food supply was carefully planned for their day to day needs, as is customary with the Pentagon. Paratroopers were ready to jump over the strategic points at dawn, and their complete air control was taken for granted. At the first moment, they met with the most determined resistance of the few militiamen who happened to be around. But when the enemy shouted "surrender," those militiamen answered by saying, "Fatherland or Death!" and opened fire.

And this was perhaps the first surprise that the invaders received: the fortitude of those men, who all alone with nothing more than their infantry rifles, started the resistance and gave warning of the presence of the enemy in that area.

Mercenaries encounter second surprise
The second surprise occurred at dawn, when the invaders were quietly unloading their war equipment, and when the soldiers of their "famous" expeditionary forces, in their flashy uniforms, were landing, as though they were going on a picnic. Suddenly, as this was taking place our few, old and battered planes, loaded with bombs, rockets and bullets, appeared in the sky. Ironically, these bombs, rockets, bullets and planes were the same ones that the imperialists had once given Batista to fight us.

And that, undoubtedly, was the second big surprise, the second big mistake in the plans made by the imperialists, the "brains" in the Pentagon, who had not counted on the heavy shower of bombs and bullets that came down upon invaders so early in the morning....

That day, our few, old and battered planes could not offer our infantry very much air protection, since these planes were concentrating their attacks on the most important target at that moment - the enemy ships. Nevertheless, the infantry was able to advance, and while under the fire of enemy planes, it took position. That was when the real battle began.

The "brains" in the Pentagon most certainly knew that we had received a number of tanks, antiaircraft artillery and cannons, but they estimated that we would not yet be prepared on that date, to use those tanks, those cannons and that antiaircraft equipment. They erred once more in not being able to conceive the calmness with which our armed forces prepared the tank crews and the men who would operate the artillery....

Weapons prepared for victory
And actually thousands upon thousands of humble workers and young people were voluntarily recruited and hastily trained to operate those weapons; and the enemy could not even imagine that on the day of the attack, those weapons were ready for battle and ready for victory. So, what had happened to them by midday of the 17th, was only the beginning, it was only a sample of what was to come. From there on, the battle continued uninterrupted....

Thus, there was one surprise after another, error after error, and things happened so quickly, that the enemy didn't even have time to react or to recover. I'm not referring to the enemy that was here on our beach, but to the main enemy - the one overseas. Not even the Pentagon had time to meet and discuss the situation, because long before such a meeting could be called, there was no longer a beachhead at Playa Girón. For on the 19th, our forces, advancing from all directions, surrounded and defeated the enemy.

During the three days of combat, Yankee aircraft carriers lurked near our shores. More than once their planes buzzed our territory in an attempt to frighten us, and occasionally, even opened fire.

Our troops were not only ready to fight against the mercenary force, but were also ready to fight whatever followed it, while the Yankee leaders bordered on hysteria.

Such a violent and surprising defeat was beyond the imperialists' imagination, and out of pride and anger, they immediately started to threaten and give warning, that they were ready to act unilaterally in Cuba's case. It was thus necessary to transfer the bulk of the troops back to the capital city, where they came from, and where they remained alert, awaiting developments. Other forces were sent to the combat area to capture the rest of the invaders.

The glory of our combatants lies not only in the bravery and heroism with which they fought and defeated the enemy vanguard, but also in their willingness to face the imperialist army if it dared invade our soil.

We didn't prepare that attack. They planned it, thus, we are not to blame for the defeat they suffered. They attacked us, so they themselves are the only ones to blame for their humiliating defeat.

1. This refers to the criminal air attack on Cuban airports and cities on the morning of April 15, 1961, two days before the invasion, made by United States planes painted with Cuban Air Force insignias.  
 
 
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