THE
REBEL ARMY:
Armed
branch of the Cuban Revolution during the National Liberation War (1956-1958),
begun when the revolutionaries coming on the Granma
yacht
expedition landed on Cuban soil on January 2, 1956.
This is the date on which the Revolutionary Armed Forces Day is
celebrated.
These
men encountered a serious setback at the beginning of this stage of
the struggle. At a place known as Alegría
de Pío, in what was the Oriente province, they were surprised by enemy forces
that caused them casualties and provoked the total
dispersion of the inexperienced revolutionary army.
The struggle was started anew in the Sierra Maestra with only seven guns
and in two years’ time the tyranny’s armed forces, 80 thousand strong, had
been defeated all along the line.
This
feat was possible thanks to the unswerving determination to triumph and the
correct fighting strategy of the rebel command headed by Commander-in-Chief
Fidel Castro Ruz, and above all by the strong support of the popular masses of
workers, peasants and students.
The
small guerrilla column gradually grew with the incorporation of the population
of the area and the reinforcement of the combatants from the cities.
New columns were formed at the beginning, the first one put under the
command of Major
Che Guevara,
and later on Major Raúl Castro Ruz and Juan Almeida Bosque were entrusted with
opening the Second Eastern Front Frank País and the Third Eastern Front Mario
Muñoz, respectively. After defeating the tyranny’s army in the summer of
1958, the Commander-in-Chief of the Rebel Army decided the time had come to
extend the war to other territories. New fronts were created and the invasion
of the west
was begun by two columns commanded by major Ernesto Che Guevara and Camilo
Cienfuegos.
The
following remarks of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, summarize the role of
the Rebel Army in the Cuban Revolution:
“The Rebel Army was the soul of the Revolution. Its victorious weapons brought forth a free, beautiful, powerful and invincible new homeland. Its soldiers vindicated the generous blood shed in all the struggles for independence and with their own blood they laid the foundation for Cuba’s socialist present. The weapons they wrested from the oppressors in an epic struggle they gave to the people and they blended with the people, to become since then and ever after the people in soldiers’ uniform.
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