Battle of Santa Clara

Battle of Santa Clara
	Part of the Cuban Revolution
	; Che Guevara, after the battle of Santa Clara, 1 January 1959
Date	28 December 1958 – 1 January 1959
Location	Santa Clara, Cuba22°24′19″N 79°57′15″W / 22.40528°N 79.95417°W
Result	Rebel victory Fall of Havana; Final defeat of Batista government; Batista flees Cuba;
Belligerents
Republic of Cuba	26th of July Movement; Second National Front of Escambray; Directorio Revolucionario
Commanders and leaders
Col. Joaquín Casillas ; Police Chief Cornelio Rojas ; Col. Fernandez Suero; Col. Candido Hernandez	Che Guevara; Rolando Cubela; Roberto Rodríguez †; Antonio Núñez Jiménez ; William Alexander Morgan
Units involved
Leoncio Vidal Regiment; 31 Regiment	Unknown
Strength
3,900 soldiers; 10 tanks; 1 armoured train; 7 B-26 medium bombers	340 guerrillas
Casualties and losses
2,900 captured; 1 armoured train destroyed	Unknown

The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara by revolutionaries under the command of Che Guevara.^[3]

The battle was a decisive victory for the rebels fighting against the regime of General Fulgencio Batista. Within 12 hours of the city's capture, Batista fled Cuba, and Fidel Castro's forces claimed overall victory.^[4]

^ Ferrals/ACN, Marta Gómez (29 December 2022). "Las decisivas batallas de Camilo y Che". Adelante.cu (in European Spanish). Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^ Miguel A. Faria Jr., Cuba in Revolution—Escape from a Lost Paradise (2002), 69
^ Tamayo, Harry Antonio Villegas (1997). Waters, Mary-Alice (ed.). Pombo : A Man of Che's Guerrilla : with Che Guevara in Bolivia, 1966-68 (1st ed.). New York: Pathfinder. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-87348-833-4.
^ Franks, Jeff (2 January 2009). "Castro says Cuba revolution faces years of struggle". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 8 July 2022.

[1] Ferrals/ACN, Marta Gómez (29 December 2022). "Las decisivas batallas de Camilo y Che". Adelante.cu (in European Spanish). Retrieved 8 January 2024.

[2] Miguel A. Faria Jr., Cuba in Revolution—Escape from a Lost Paradise (2002), 69

[3] Tamayo, Harry Antonio Villegas (1997). Waters, Mary-Alice (ed.). Pombo : A Man of Che's Guerrilla : with Che Guevara in Bolivia, 1966-68 (1st ed.). New York: Pathfinder. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-87348-833-4.

[4] Franks, Jeff (2 January 2009). "Castro says Cuba revolution faces years of struggle". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 8 July 2022.

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