1958: strategic victory at the Battle of Guisa

In mid-November 1958, the troops of the dictatorship, although demoralized by the defeats and unable to take the initiative on the battlefield, still had leaders, soldiers and means to make themselves strong in cities and towns from barracks and fortified positions, and hoped to stop the Final Offensive of the Rebel Army with the support of the air force.

But that vain hope would be definitively lost during the strategic victory of the bearded men in the Battle of Guisa on the 30th of that month, 65 years ago.

That operation had as prelude the crushing defeat in August 58 of the so-called summer offensive organized by the Batista dictatorship against the Sierra Maestra, with more than 300 dead and 443 prisoners, and which allowed the rebels to occupy a great amount of weapons and resources.

As part of the Final Offensive, on Thursday the 13th of that same month and year, Radio Rebelde broadcast the orders of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro to the insurgent fronts in the eastern region, to the invading columns of Commanders Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto Che Guevara in the central territory and to the insurrectional movement throughout the country to promote actions against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

In that strategy, priority was given to the siege of Santiago de Cuba and the capture of the city of Guisa, a few kilometers from Bayamo, the main headquarters of the military command, positions that it was essential to neutralize in order to take the second capital of the country.
On November 20, troops personally led by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, were ready to take Guisa and accept the challenge of confronting the enemy forces in a war of positions in which around 180 guerrillas, including a female squadron of the Las Marianas Platoon, fought with great courage and defeated five thousand soldiers supported by aviation, tanks and artillery.

The battle began that very day with the accurate fire of the 50 caliber machine gun of Captain Braulio Coroneaux, against the reinforcements that were passing through the Bayamo road, which left several dead.

That brave officer had been a military leader, but in rejection of the crimes and outrages of the dictatorship he began to conspire, was arrested and managed to escape to join the Rebel Army in which, due to his courage and great capacity, he earned his ranks.

Fidel had great trust in that combatant because of his self-confidence and his skill and precision in handling the machine gun, to such an extent that in the midst of the heavy fire he could recognize, among all, his weapon by its characteristic shots and he would say with joy, "That's Coroneaux!"

The last combat was fought on November 27 from the trench with his 50 machine gun on an elevation known as Loma del Martillo, located in a strategic position that dominated the main entrance and exit to Guisa, during one of the final attempts of the army to break the encirclement, when a Sherman tank shot hit his trench and killed him instantly.

Years later, the combatant Luis Mas Martin would recall: "A messenger brought the news to Fidel.... A Sherman killed Coroneaux', he told me when I approached his side. His face reflected the pain of having lost a loved one".
He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Commander and the hill he defended at the cost of his life today bears his name.

For 10 days the Rebel Army prevented, with the use of mines, one after another almost all the attempts of the army column, supported by the aviation and tanks that tried to reinforce the besieged forces.

On November 30, demoralization became widespread among the encircled troops and the soldiers fled, leaving behind a large quantity of weapons.

The enemy military had about 200 casualties, among dead and wounded, 14 trucks, a tank and ammunition and supplies of all kinds were seized, which allowed the arming of new rebel units to complete the campaign for the liberation of the entire eastern region and the entrance to Santiago de Cuba to consolidate the victory of January 1st, 1959.