Following the assault, Fidel Castro, Cuba's prime minister and commander-in-chief, immediately mobilized all revolutionary military units and placed them on alert. The next day, hundreds of thousands of working people marched in a funeral procession for those killed in the bombing. Castro addressed the huge crowd, pointing to the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.

Central leaders of the revolution were sent to take command of the revolutionary armed forces in different regions of the island: Raúl Castro, minister of the revolutionary armed forces, went to Oriente province in the east and Ernesto Che Guevara to Pinar del Río province in the west. Juan Almeida was in Las Villas province, where he had recently been placed in command of the Central Army.

Washington organized an armed invasion force of 1,500 counterrevolutionary Cuban exiles--which included a large number of former military officers and henchmen of the Batista dictatorship, big landowners, and wealthy merchants--who had undergone months of military training in U.S. camps in Central America and elsewhere.  
 
Mercenaries were well-equipped
Brigade 2506 was armed with heavy artillery, five Sherman tanks, 10 armored cars equipped with machine guns, 16 B-26 bombers, five armed naval freighters, and nine landing craft. They were backed up by a U.S. Navy escort including an aircraft carrier, five destroyers, and several other ships and submarines.

The invasion took place at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's southern coast, an isolated area surrounded by swampland across which there were only three roads. The site was selected to allow the mercenaries to establish a beachhead, which could then be used to declare a "provisional government" and call for military support from Washington and its regional allies. At the initiative of the CIA, a "Cuban Revolutionary Council" with José Miró Cardona as the nominal president, had been set up to become such a provisional regime.

The first mercenaries disembarked at Playa Larga and Playa Girón in the early morning hours of April 17, and were immediately confronted by revolutionary militia members. Brigade 2506 paratroopers were dropped on the Yaguaramas and Covadonga roads as well as the road to the Australia sugar mill, with the aim of preventing access by the revolutionary forces to the beachhead.

Combatants from Cuba's militias, Revolutionary National Police, and Rebel Army were mobilized to the battlefront. Castro ordered Capt. Raúl Curbelo, head of the fledgling Revolutionary Air Force (FAR), to have a number of fighter planes in the air before dawn, both to avoid being bombed on the ground and to attack the enemy naval fleet. The Cuban combat planes were largely old British-made Sea Furies and U.S.-manufactured B-26s that were taken over from the former Batista regime.

By the end of the first day of the battle, the Cuban pilots had sunk two transport ships, the Río Escondido and the Houston, and one landing craft, leading the other ships to move further offshore. They had shot down four B-26s and damaged another two.

The Cuban air force lost two planes. By targeting their ships, the revolutionary forces cut off the mercenaries' transport and supply lines, as well as their escape route, and were able to rapidly isolate and crush them.

Capt. José Ramón Fernández headed the main Cuban column in the battle. The Australia sugar mill became the forward command post. Troops under his command advanced south, taking the town of Pálpite and then Playa Larga on April 18, as the enemy retreated. Other columns advanced from Yaguaramas and the Covadonga sugar mill toward the town of San Blas, with heavy fighting along the way.

By the end of the day on April 18, the counterrevolutionaries had been dealt heavy blows and were rapidly becoming demoralized, although fighting continued. On the morning of the 19th, the town of San Blas, held by the mercenary forces, fell, as the revolutionary columns converged on Playa Girón from all three roads.

By the afternoon of April 19, the main counterrevolutionary force was bottled up on Girón beach. The Cuban forces shelled the small landing craft to prevent the mercenaries from being evacuated. At 5:30 p.m., the invaders surrendered. Of the 1,500 Brigade 2506 members, almost 1,200 were taken prisoner, while 114 were killed. About 150 revolutionary Cuban combatants were killed in combat.

The U.S.-organized invasion had been defeated in less than 72 hours by Cuba's workers and farmers.
 

The following are some of the names of officers of Cuba's revolutionary armed forces that are mentioned in Fidel Castro's instructions:

Capt. José Ramón Fernández: Commanded the main column of the revolutionary Cuban forces at the Bay of Pigs.

Capt. José "Pepín" Alvarez Bravo: Chief of Cuba's antiaircraft defense.

Commander Filiberto Olivera Moya: Led Cuban forces from the Covadonga sugar mill through San Blas to Playa Girón.

Commander Raúl Menéndez Tomassevich: Led Cuban troops from Yaguaramas to Cocodrilo.

Commander Sergio del Valle: Chief of staff of Cuba's armed forces.

Commander Pedro Miret: Commanded artillery units on road from the Covadonga mill.

Capt. Raúl Curbelo: head of Cuba's Revolutionary Air Force (FAR).

Commander Augusto Martínez: was stationed at the command post at the Australia sugar mill when Fernández left. Served as a key liaison between Fidel Castro and Fernández and other officers in the battlefield.

Commander Efigenio Ameijeiras: Head of the Revolutionary National Police, which fought at the Bay of Pigs.

Harold Ferrer: Headed the Special Combat Column 1, which participated in taking Playa Larga.
 
 
Related articles:
Miami event discusses Bay of Pigs victory
'Cuba is an example,' say youth leaders on U.S. tour
'First we'll sink their ships, then we'll down their planes'
'Cuban youth have been main actors in struggle'
Unions in Cuba fight social inequalities
 
 
 
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