Last August I toured Cuba and during my stay I saw as much as I could of this country's military past. In the belief that some members of this society might be interested in having details of the various museums and bookshops which I found useful, while also building up a fairly comprehensive picture of the appearance of the Cuban forces in their wars with Spain, between 1868 and 1898. My travels did not include the eastern half of the island, so there are probably several sites of interest waiting for a return trip, especially in Santiago. I also ought to warn readers that my interests in warfare and knowledge of uniforms and weapons ends at about 1914, so I did not take full notes on the equipment of the forces during the war of the 50's that ended with Fidel Castro replacing the Batista Government in 1959. Museums: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Avenida de las Misiones, La Habana. Tel 62-0140 or 61-3859. The National Gallery of Cuba has many delightful surprises: but only one detailed military painting. This is a small oil (c.1870) of a Spanish cavalry trooper in a Cuban setting. He is wearing the red dolman of the Husares de Pavia and blue trousers, but he is not identified as belonging to any unit. The museum is open 10-5, Thursday to Monday, but not all galleries are open every day ( when we called, the guides were kind enough to open up the rooms that we particularly wanted to see). Museo de la Revolucion, Avenida de los Misiones, La Habana. Tel. 62-4091. The first few rooms show the history of Cuba up to 1898 and I contains reconstructions of native Cuban weapons (including a wooden Macana or club) and items relating to the wars with Spain, but more of these anon. The great majority of the building has displays from the period of U.S. hegemony, and there is a great deal on the struggle for independence, including relics of the leading revolutionaries and of Batista's forces. The latter appear to have worn ex-U.S. material, and I could find little about their insignia. The revolutionaries wore a mixture of ex-military and civilian clothing, and their distinctive feature was a "brazal" or armband in black and red, the colours of the 26th July Movement (on that date in 1953 Fidel Castro led an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago which started the war for independence). The "brazales" are normally roughly made and tend to be black over red, with white lettering. In one example the words were "26 Julio", on another "26 de Julio" appeared with a white star on a black shield. One "brazal" had an all black background, while another had a shield that was split diagonally, red over black. To the rear of the museum is a display of vehicles used during the revolution, including a SU 100, and a T 34/85, the latter being the tank which the Cubans used to fire at the U.S. ship "Houston" at the "Bay of Pigs". There are two aircraft, a "Kingfisher" used in 1958 and a "Sea Fury" that was also used at the Bay of Pigs landings. A launch called "Granma" in which Castro "invaded" Cuba. Most unusual are two home-made "tanks" used by the revolutionaries, both painted all over in red and black, the "Dragon 1" was used in combat by Major Camillo Cienfuegos and is a catapillar bulldozer armoured with metal sheets and sacks of sand, the other is a very small armoured car made in 1958 by Che Guevara but which never saw action, this has a silver star painted on its sides. The museum is open 10-5 Tuesday to Saturday, 10-6 Sunday. Again, some rooms are shut. Casa Natal de Jose Marti, Leonor Perez and Calle Egido, La Habana. Tel. 61-3778. I was unable to visit this museum, but it is said to be open 1-6 Tuesday - Saturday and 9-12.30 Sunday. Museo de la Ciudad, Plaza de Armas, La Habana. Tel. 61-0722. This museum is housed in the Captain General's colonial palace and contains a very rich display of weapons and artifacts from the wars with Spain. There are several artillery pieces, but as only one (a 1868 75mm. Krupp field) piece captured in the 1890's, and painted dark brown all over was labelled, I could not be sure whether or not they had ever seen action. Open 10.30-4 Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30-1 Sunday, Opposite the museum and in front of the Castillo de la Fuerza Real, is a collection of Spanish field pieces from the nineteenth century. Museo Historico, Parque Jose Marti, Cienfuegos. Said to contain weapons, but closed for restoration. I was told that it was due to re-open in 1994. Museo Blindado, Puente de la Cruz, Santa Clara. Tel. 2-2758. This is an armoured train derailed by Che Guevara, using a bulldozer (also preserved). It seems to have consisted of two diesel "super-shunter" locos, a flat wagon with an A.A. gun and at least 6 armoured boxcars. The flatcar and 4 of the boxcars are preserved; the train can be visited at any time, but the small display of photographs that is inside the of the boxcars are only on show during these times; 8-12 and 3-7, being closed all day Monday and on Sunday afternoons. [ In "M - 26: The Biography of a Revolution" by Robert Taber, pub. Lyle Stuart, New York, 1961, he writes that in December 1958 Colonel Joaquin Casillas Lumpuy was the commander of the Leoncio Vidal 3rd Tactical Regiment in Santa Clara and he was responsible for the defense of the city, although most of the orders came directly from Camp Colombia where the General Staff were trying to mastermind the battle from afar under the command of General Jose Euletorio Pedraza. It was orders from Gen. Pedraza that sent this armoured train to help out in Santa Clara. The train was fitted with electric kitchens, and carried several of the new British armoured cars, four hundred soldiers, a million rounds of ammunition, and provisions sufficient for a two-month campaign. The train proved to be nothing more than a steel trap for those inside Che Guevara blocked the tracks near the Public Works building with several gasoline tank trucks, which would have made a funeral pyre of the armoured train had its commander tried to push his way through. The track behind had now been torn up (by the bulldozer) and the train was now derailed by a dynamite blast and the guerrillas of Guevara began to throw Molotov cocktails against its sides and under it, turning the seventeen armoured cars into so many ovens, the troops had to now surrender to the numerically inferior rebel force, waving white flags through their firing slits. T.D.H. ] Museo Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs) Tel. 7822. This is the museum of the U.S.-backed attempt to re-take Cuba in 1961 and is a few hundred yards from the resort of Playa Giron. It is small but well laid-out, and the modern warfare enthusiast should find much of interest. Most of the displays are of photographs, but there are a few of the weapons on show from both sides. The museum is said to be open 9-6 Wednesday to Monday, but when we called on Monday it was officially shut and it was opened especially for us. Museo de Guanabacoa, 108 Calle Marti, Guanabacoa, La Habana. Tel. 90-9117. This museum has a small display of weapons and items relating to the nineteenth century. Open 2.15 - 9.30p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, 9-1 Sunday. The advertised opening times as we found out cannot always be guaranteed, it is hoped that all of the museums visited will remain in much the same way as we found them, although with some of the rigidity of the U.S. embargo to Cuba being slackened maybe the central theme of various museums may have to be sacrificed, but I hope not. Books and Bookshops: The museum shops are all very poor for books as buying books in Cuba is a problem, and even the best bookshops seem to be badly stocked and have irregular opening hours. Three that I found of use were; La Bella Habana, Plaza de Armas, La Habana. A dollar shop, with some works on Cuban history, a dollar shop is where the U.S. dollar can be used to purchase items. La Moderna Poesia, Calle Opisio (near Calle Agramonte ), La Habana. This shop is probably not trading under its old title as it has recently been converted from a peso to a U.S. dollar trading shop. Bookshop on the corner of Paseo del Prado and 54th Street, Cienfuegos ( a peso shop ). The various Intour tourist shops have few books of any military nature. I noticed an expensive ($20.00) Atlas of Bolivar's Life, that would not have been much use to any member of the society and a similar volume on Jose Marti. I managed to purchase all the books that I could on the 1868-98 wars, at quite low prices, there were: "Relatos Heroicos", by Renee Mendez Capote, 1975. My edition was published in 1990 by Editorial Gente Nueva, Palacio del Segundo Cabo, O'Reilly No.4., La Habana, this is a children's set of stories, many on the wars with Spain. "Cronicas de la Guerra", by Jose Miro Argenter, 2 Vols, 1981, pub. Editorial Letras Cubanas, Calle G. No.505. El Vedado, Ciudad de la Habana. The author was born in 1853 and the book was first published in 1909, this work is a detailed account of the 1895-8 war. "General de Tres Guerras", by Abelardo Padram Valdes, pub. Letras Cubanas. The biography of Quentin Bandera, a black General who fought until 1898. "Episodios de la Revolucion Cubana", by Manuel de la Cruz, 1990, published (as are all the remaining works by) Ciencias Sociales, Calle 14 No.4104, Playa, Ciudad de la Habana. Tthis is a set of journalistic sketches, first published in 1890. "La Tierra del Mambi", by James J. O'Kelly, 1990. A "novelesca historia" by an Irish born U.S. journalist, dealing with the Ten Years War (1868-78). "Bala, Tizon y Machete", by Gilberto Toste Ballart, 1990. A collection of articles that was first published in the "Granma", the Pravda of Cuba. "Mi Diario de la Guerra", by Bernabe Boza, 1974. I was only able to find the second volume of this diary which was first published in 1924. It covers the period from January 1897 to June 1898. "Vicente Garcia: Legenda y Realidad", by Victor Manuel Marrero (editor), 1992. A selection of the writings of this important Cuban General of the Ten Years War. For those unable to obtain these books, or even for those who can, I recommend the second volume of Julio Albi de la Cuesta and Leopoldo Stampa Pineiro's "Campanas de la Caballeria Espanola en el Siglo XIX", Madrid 1985, this gives an excellent account of the wars of 1868-78 and 1895-98 in Cuba. Living History: There appears to be a small re-enactment group who give military displays at the Fortress of S. Carlos de la Cabana, La Habana. I only saw photographs of this group, who wear uniform of standard Spanish cut from the 1770's or 1780's. The infantry privates wear tricornes with yellow lace and a red cockade, red coats, waistcoats and breeches, black collars, cuffs and turnbacks as are the gaiters. Buttons are brass, belts are buff leather but look very unconvincing. There is an officer in a white coat faced red, and a drummer in white faced in blue, and a clour bearer in what looks like the blue and red artillery dress (?). [I have another 4-5 pages that deal with the uniforms of the 1868-98 period, which will become an article in its own right and be typed up for the next issue. T.D.H.] Back to Table of Contents -- El Dorado Vol VI No. 4 Back to El Dorado List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by The South and Central American Military Historians Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com