On 26 July 1953, Fidel Castro led an attack upon the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba with one hundred seventy armed rebels. The failed attempt ended with the army and police hunting down and summarily executing many of Castro's followers. Castro sought refuge with the Catholic Archbishop of Santiago and after guarantees of safety the Cuban rebel leader surrendered to police. After being tried for insurrection against the Cuban Republic under Fulgencio Batista, Fidel was sentenced for 15 years at the Isle of Pines Prison. The local communist party in Cuba regarded Castro's rebels as "putchistas" and adventurers at the time of the incident, the few who did not side with the party's line where later rewarded with important positions after the victory of the revolution in 1959.

After Batista's election as president, Fidel Castro and his remaining followers were released from jail under a general political amnesty in May 1955. Castro was exiled to Mexico and later to the United States where he toured cities (such as New York, Tampa, and, Miami) to garner support for his fight to overthrow Batista. The former Cuban president Carlos Prio and other anti-Batista supporters contributed money and an old yacht, Granma, to Castro's cause. In Mexico, Castro's men were being trained by a former Spanish Republican veteran, Colonel Alberto Bayo. Amongst the conscripts was an Argentinian doctor who was to become an icon of the socialist revolution, Ernesto "Ché" Guevara.

After a few run-ins with Mexican authorities, including Fidel Castro's arrest by Mexican police in Mexico City in June of 1956, the fledgling force of 83 men embarked on the Granma and departed from the port of Tuxpan on 25 November 1956. Of these men were 22 veterans from the Moncada attack, five were foreigners born in Mexico, Spain, Italy, the Dominican Republic and Argentina. On 2 December the rebels landed on Coloradas Beach near Belic at the south-eastern tip of Oriente Province. As the old yacht was unloading her passengers and cargo, a Cuban coast guard vessel had spotted her. The yacht and rebels were soon under fire and air force fighters were summoned to assist in the attack upon the rebels.

Battles

Elements from the army and from the naval infantry managed to intercept the beleaguered rebel force at Alegria de Pio. The majority of Castro's force were either killed or captured. Several were summarily executed after their capture by overzealous 'casquitos'* as the soldiers of Batista's forces were called (*the term "casquitos" comes from casco meaning helmet which was the distinguishing feature worn by Cuba's armed forces under Fulgencio Batista. The helmet in use at the time was the U.S. M1 model that was commonly referred to as the "Steel Pot" by GI's). 21 were killed and 26 were captured at Alegria de Pio. Within a month four more were captured. However, 8 managed to escape to freedom and only 16 managed to reach the Sierra Maestra Mountains with Fidel Castro. Castro's second chief of the expedition, Juan Manuel Marquez, was captured and shot on December 15th.

The survivors of the expeditionary force became the nucleus of the rebel army and were among the closest and most powerful members of the government led by Fidel Castro after the overthrow of Batista. These men were Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Ernesto "Ché" Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, Universo Sanchez, Faustino Perez Hernandez, Ciro Redondo Garcia, Efigenio Ameijeiras, Julito Diaz Gonzalez, Calixto Garcia, Ramiro Valdes, Jose Moran "El Gallego", Juan Ameida Bosque, Reinaldo Benitez, Luis Crespo, and, Rafael Chao.

Due to the Cuban police and military's desperate measures in suppressing peasant support for the rebels backfired when several farmers were executed by Batista's forces in front of their family at Palma Mocha. Where local support for the rebels didn't exist literally changed overnight. Soon terror was being waged on both sides and the poor peasant families were caught in the middle. Both Batista's and Castro's forces executed prisoners and whomever was considered a collaborator, and desertion was becoming a problem for both sides as well.

Castro Propaganda

Castro's propaganda war received a boost from an interview between Castro and Herbert Matthews that was published in the New York Times in February 1957. Soon new groups of volunteers were raised and sent to Cub a in support of Castro's revolution. Eventually Castro was able to regroup into a force of 500 recruits and was able now to go on the offensive. By 28 May 1957 he captured the El Uvero Barracks that would be considered an achievement commemorated as the foundation of his ejercito rebelde (rebel army). In early 1958 Castro opened a second front in the Escombray Mountains, Las Villas Province. The United States suspended aid to Batista in March, alleging human rights violations, and a general strike by anti-Batista factions failed in April.

In May Batista unleashed a general offensive, which ground to a halt in July, with Castro well established in all the provinces except Havana and Matanzas. In August 1958 Camilo Cienfuegos and "Ché" Guevara sent their columns racing towards central Cuba from the west and east respectively, and on one occasion two hundred guerillas defeated five thousand demoralised troops. Meanwhile other anti-Batista groups were joining Castro's forces.

On 28 December 1958 Santa Clara, capital of Las Villas Province, fell, and on 1 January 1959 Batista fled Cuba. Soon afterwards the army was disbanded and replaced by the Milicia Revolucionaria ('Revolutionary Militia') and later that year by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias ('Revolutionary Armed Forces').

"Uniforms"

Conforming to traditional worldwide guerilla practice, rank and file usually wore civilian clothes-colored shirt, trousers, stout boots, straw hat or 'revolutionary' dark beret, with captured or improvised weapons and equipment. As an unofficial "uniform appearance", many rebels refused to shave until Cuba was to be free, hence the nickname 'barbudos' or bearded ones. Guerilla leaders encouraged a more uniformly military appearance, with U.S. Army surplus clothing - WW2 and Korean War vintage olive green fatigue shirts and trousers, the M1943 'Walker' Cap (much favoured by Castro) and captured M1 helmets. Brass Cuban army rank insignia was worn on the cap, however, a few specimens were found where the rank was incorporated onto distinctive unit shoulder patches. The rank structure for the rebels was the following: a star - Commandante (company commander); three chevrons point down - Capitán (platoon leader); two chevrons point down - Teniente (squad leader).

As victory approached, colored arm badges or armbands were worn, usually in Cuban red, white and blue. Other examples are the colors of Castro's '26 de Julio' movement (henceforth referred to as M26) which was red and black. After examining the many examples of M26 unit insignia found in the Museum of the Revolution in Havana, Cuba, most follow a general pattern, however, there is a multitude of variations since most if not all were hand made. Many of the patches that were made followed the colors and logo of the movement, in addition, there were also individual unit identification. Many of the units identified were of the major columns within the various "fronts" or corps of the rebel army such as Columna No. 2 "Antonio Macio" and/or "Invasora", Columna No. 3 "Santiago de Cuba", Columna No. 6 "J.M. Ameijeires", and, Columna No. 9 "Antonio Guiteras".

On occasion, additional identification may be added such as branch of service like "Cuerpo Médico" (Medical - Corps) or an individual's rank insignia embroidered or sewn unto the patch. The arm patch used by Fidel Castro was simple in it's construction, however, bore three stars to identify him as the supreme 'commandente' of the rebel army.

The diamond shaped insignia found sewn on the shoulder straps of the combat fatigue jackets also helped distinguished rank in the field with the standard system of stars and chevrons. Those plain without any rank insignias are believed to be worn by the rank and file. Again, there is a multitude of differences from field made pieces consisting of cheap materials such as felt to fine silver or gold embroidery and excellent quality cloth. The standard background color is red and black.

The armbands followed a similar pattern with the sleeve patches. Most were sewn directly to the fatigues, however, others were made to be removed from the sleeve by either ties or safety pins. In most photographs the rebels appear to be wearing either the patch or the armband, but rarely both. On Fidel Castro's combat fatigue jacket there are both distinctive unit insignias, consisting of a patch and armband, sewn unto the left sleeve. It appears that the majority of patches and armbands were worn on the left arm by the rebels, however, photographs tend to show that on rare occasions that one might find M26 insignias being worn on the right sleeve or on both sleeves as well.

By 1961 most of the M26 insignia had been replaced with a combination of pre-revolution Cuban and Soviet influenced insignias for the FAR and MR. The diamond shaped M26 insignia was still found to be in use on the shoulder straps by veterans serving in the armed or militia forces, including Fidel Castro. But as the Cuban military became more regulated and where uniformity was strictly enforced the M26 influence eventually faded away to become a part of Cuban history. To this day Castro continues to wear the diamond shaped M26 insignia on the epaulets of his combat fatigue jacket and on the Soviet style shoulder boards of his dress military tunic, however, a gold wreath has been added to the diamond shaped insignia to enhance the status of the former rebel leader as the de facto leader of Cuba.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fermoselle, Rafael. The Evolution of the Cuban Military: 1492-1986. Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1987.
Jurado, Carlos Caballero and Nigel Thomas. Central American Wars, 1959-89. London: Osprey Publishing, 1990.
Otaño, José Cantón. Museo de la Revolucion: Reflejo de la Historia de Cuba. Havana: Editorial SI-MAR S.A., 1998.

Movimento 26 de Julio: Fidel Castro's OOB