The SA-2 battery had acquired Cuco’s F-15. The Communist radar operator quickly set up his shot when his attention was drawn to eight more fast approaching objects. With beads of fear running down his neck, his instinct to survive wrested the control of his finger away from his brain and the finger flipped off the radar. The approaching MLRS rockets were not homing in on radar emissions and did not care if he shut it down or not. The MLRS rocket skins separated releasing thousands of the small bomblets in a wide pattern drowning the entire SA-2 regimentxviii in a fiery dust cloud of exploding grenades followed by a satisfying series of secondary explosions. Three battalions of SA-2’s, sixteen missiles still in their launchers, their regimental headquarters and their early warning radar systems along with another six missiles stored on their tractor trailers near the headquarters were destroyed in the time it took to take a deep breath.
Throughout Cuco’s immediate area nearly all the AA sites were going off the air in the same way creating a clear corridor to his target.
The Ibriham was one of twelve ships that at this same moment were hitting selected Communist SAM sites and mobile launchers, all active military air bases and naval facilities. The Satellite information had poured in from U.S. military sources and had gone directly into the last minute targeting of all these sites. The seven main air bases operating the MiG aircraft were hit the hardest. Air basesxix along the beautiful island were now burning, from San Antonio de los Banyos and Jose Marti Air Base near Havana to Santiago de Cuba, a short hop over the mountains from Guantanamo. Cienfuegos, San Julian, Guines, Holquin and Santi Spiritus were all hit with a vicious barrage of cluster munitions leaving small craters the size of basketballs throughout the runways and taxiways. The shaped charge warheads exploded driving its armor piercing projectile deep into anything it landed on. They pierced the concrete and steel reinforced shelters that were supposed to house the precious MiG’s. They exploded fuel tanks and lines laying several feet underground. Several bunkers of munitions exploded in a blast that could be heard for miles and spread missiles, bombs, and shells throughout the base area. The anti-personnel shrapnel in the mini grenades put a hole in nearly everything. The brilliant white incendiary zirconium they carried set almost everything afire. They were followed by MLRS missiles carrying the smart mines. These air-disbursed mines, once deployed, would extend four small wires and could feel ground vibrations of approaching vehicles and people. They would wait until the vehicle was within range before they exploded, driving a molten copper projectile into the tank or anything else that approached it, including an aircraft taking off or some poor dolt with a bulldozer trying to fill in the cratered runway.
Free Cuban Armed Forces - North invasion force, Guantanamo Cuba
October 1, 2018. “L” Day or Liberation Day.
There was nothing creative or surprising about General Zip Petra’s battle plan to capture the airport, road and rail junctions at the bustling city of Guantanamo twenty-one km to his north. The Free Cuban Armed Forces struck north through the town of Caimanera which lay just outside the gates of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. They hammered their way up the Calle Pinto road. The pace was measured, and the expenditure of munitions was truly awe inspiring. The Free Cubans received intelligence that Castro was about to attack the Free Cuban Sector of Guantanamo on October 15th and it had been no secret that Cuba had a full national mobilization underway. The Satellite Intel from the U.S. was so remarkably detailed that General Petra could not believe that the Communists could hide any artillery that he could not see and hit. And hit it he would. The satellite reports consisted of not only visual images of the clearest possible detail but also ground penetrating radar surveys providing subsurface images of underground bunkers. Infrared images mapped warm bodies and their movements and CO2 detectors could tell how many soldiers lay hidden in the underground bunker systems now ringing the base. As a diversion, one of the American operators sent a report locating a small animal burrow with an entrance no bigger than a centavo hidden by brush. The Infrared report determined it was not warm blooded but using CO2 detection concluded it was inhabited by a decent sized snake. This amused Genera Petra but only because he didn’t pay for it. If that report would have been billed to the FCAF the penny pinching miser would have kicked someone’s tail into next week.
For over a year the Free Cuban Armed Forces had protested the close proximity of Communist artillery. The fact was that the Communists could destroy the Free Cuban sector of Guantanamo with artillery within the first few minutes of an attack. It became obvious that a diplomatic solution was impossible and there was no way Zip Petra was going to let Castro have the first punch in this fight. The offer of automatic immigration to the U.S. for any surrendering Communist soldier had been a boon to their intelligence gathering. Six hundred eighty five communist soldiers defected to the Free Cubans in the last six months. Sixty five of those were especially noteworthy defections that had yielded a tremendous amount of information that helped uncover Castro’s sneak attack planned for October 15th.
At 9:15 PM September 30th, using detailed U.S. satellite targeting info, the Free Cubans hit 364 Communist artillery and mortar sites with the first fifteen minute salvo. Then the real artillery duel started.
Free Cuban Armed Forces -
North invasion force, Guantanamo Cuba, October 1, 2018.
“L” Day or Liberation Day.
The relatively small area of Guantanamo base was a perfect application for the various newly developed high tech air defense weapons making their way into service around the world. All were either developed in, or in the hands of, friendly western countries. They, in turn, could never deliver these high tech marvels into the bloody, bestial pawsxx of the last standing ally of the nightmarish eastern bloc.
The planned installation of the expensive systems seemed like the best deal the Free Cubans never made. Without a penny of their own money the United States planned to install new air, missile and artillery defense weapons that would protect their naval base at Guantanamo and of course, the Free Cuban Sector that lay within the confines of the base proper. Unfortunately, being out of the Free Cuban war making decision loop and with the conflict escalating by the hour, the U.S was behind the curve installing the wonder weapons and planned weapons could not defend anything.
The only anti-artillery weapon found to be operational at the opening of hostilities was being operated and tested by the Free Cubans. It was the new version of the Phalanx CIWSxxi (Close-in weapon system, pronounced see-wiz) the anti-artillery gatling gun. It borrowed some of the same technology from the Navy’s Phalanx close-in-weapons systemxxii, which defends ships from missile attacks. Phalanx was a fast-reaction, rapid-fire 20-millimeter gun system designed to engage anti-ship cruise missiles and fixed wing aircraft at short range. The PHALANX had substantial success in knocking down incoming artillery. It was first used in protecting the Green Zone in Iraq. Its fire finding radar was the first to detect and respond to the incoming rounds, the first to share the enemy firing coordinates with the other artillery and the first to respond with a withering fusillade that had a deafening sound like ripping metal. Even before the Free Cuban guns started to slew their gun barrels into position to return fire, the PHALANX had knocked down the incoming rockets or mortars and in a few cases returned fire.
Nearly every artillery round fired by the Communists was answered by assorted Free Cuban artillery which was directed onto the target by the radar detection units which tracked the trajectory of the incoming enemy round. The coordinates of the enemy artillery battery was sent via radio directly to the scattered and well dug in Free Cuban batteries even before the enemy rounds hit.
After 30 minutes of this sporadic dueling it seemed the Communists had learned their lesson and were using their guns, mortars and RPG’s (rocket propelled grenades) with much less frequency in a ‘fire once and bug out as fast as you can’ mode. Even that did not help them much. The computer quickly located the exact enemy firing position. It id
entified the type of weapon that fired it. It recorded the exact time it was fired. The spot was marked on the computer screen displaying a map. The spot on the operator’s screen had growing concentric circles that encircled the offending spot. These growing circles showed the distance that the enemy could have traveled since shooting their gun. The fire control operator quickly clicked the mouse on the spots of the map that he had the best chance of hitting the enemy fleeing from their firing positions. In many cases the predator drones could give real time video image of the area to spot enemy activity. In all cases the coordinates were automatically sent to the Free Cuban guns that sent their shells to the target. It was a very dangerous business to try to bombard Zip Petra’s “little flock” as he called them. This was to serve as a lesson to the Communist forces that the Free Cubans were going to be unstoppable. If you fired upon the Free Cubans you would bring down upon your head a rain of steel and death.
On the outskirts of Guantanamo city the first real infantry engagement was about to begin. There was plenty of Communist armor however ineffective it was. The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) had over 1500 tanks in their inventory, at least on the books. Only about 400 were battle worthy. They were made up of the ancient World War II T34’s, the 50’s era T54xxiii and 55’s and the most modern but still antiquated T62’s.
The Free Cuban Armed Forces were comparatively small, the entire force numbering no more than 32,000. But the equipment that they employed was second to none in the world. With the advantage that technology afforded, they hoped they would be impossible to dislodge from defensive positions and unstoppable on the attack.
Ciego de Avila. Ministry of the Interior armory
October 1, 2018 L Day 11:07 AM (Note dates and times carefully)
Jose and his team waited outside the armory building in the warm sun. It seemed almost peaceful. He heard two voices and frenzied movement from inside the building. Quiet again descended except the buzzing of some flies. Nothing happened. The men grew anxious and were ready to throw in the grenades. Jose calmed the ones around him. They had a little time before they needed to draw this action to a close. “Just be patient, give them time to think. I’ll talk to them again in a few minutes,” he whispered. He sat back and lit a cigar. Two minutes later a gun report boomed at the back of the building, then nothing. Jose ran wide around his men who surrounded the north side of the building. There he found a man Jose had never seen before. The man started in, “I am Tito. A guy poked his head out of the back door. It looked like he was going to run for it. I just scared him. I shot the wall above his head.” Jose was very pleased that this Tito fellow acted with such restraint and that no blood was shed …yet. Jose made it back to where he left his cigar which now lay cold. He re-lit it, sat and waited. It was another two minutes before Jose could not wait any longer. The longer he waited the more worried he became. He also thought that approaching the building while puffing on a cigar would lend an air of much needed confidence. He crouched closer to the edge of the raised road that overlooked the building. “Hey soldiers, I am coming to talk to you, don’t shoot. OK?” He repeated again until he received an “OK, OK come ahead” from the front window. When he approached the font door an older voice called out “Stop there.” Jose started in, “did you think about what you’re going to do?” The older voice said, “ I’m all for coming out but this young guy I’m with wants to hold out till help arrives.” Jose thought for a minute then replied “can you hear me young guy?”
“Yes” said another voice. It was a much deeper voice than Jose expected.
“Look,” said Jose, “I will parole you so you can go home. You will get all your back pay the communists owe you, it’s guaranteed by the new government. I’ll even pay you tomorrow if you like. This revolution is only a few days old, if you join us now you’re guaranteed tens of thousands of dollars even a hundred thousand or more. Cuban real estate alone is worth at least one-hundred-and-sixty-five-billion U.S. dollars. You know how much those FCAF’s (he used the derogatory slang) in Guantanamo will get paid? Over one million dollars each!” Jose could tell the money issue was going over this guy’s head. “Look, in addition to all of that I’ll give you free immigration to the U.S. to you and all of your family.”
The older man shuffled his feet in the darkness. “Phssss,” he hissed in disbelief. “No commander’s gonna take me.”
“I would,” Jose quickly interjected, “you can join our group. It’s as simple as that. Any commander even on the sergeant level can authorize you to join. No one has gotten hurt here. So we have no hard feelings toward you,” replied Jose.
The older man said he was going to come out then added, pointing to the young man in the next room, “This one, won’t.”
Jose then said in a voice loud enough for the younger man to hear “Very well then. Come with me. That is one less that has to die today and one more comrade found,” said Jose. The older man stepped out into the sunshine and let the screen door slam shut. To Jose’s surprise four other men filed out with their hands held up to show they were not armed. All the men walked single file back to Jose’s spot. Then the sound of breaking glass could be heard. The rebels were throwing rocks through the windows and now jeering at the lone man left in the building. The young communist responded by sticking his AK-47 out the window and firing a volley of automatic rifle fire at his antagonists. One round caught a rebel named Eduardo in the throat and dropped him silently and unseen behind a parked MINIT (Ministry of the Interior) truck. The other rebels responded with a withering fire concentrated on that room. Others who were stationed around the building came running to help out as well. When the firing abated a yell came from the building. “I’m hit. Don’t shoot.” Ten seconds passed where no one moved. Then a yell came from the rebels’ line “Eduardo’s down… he was hit.”
September 21, 2018. Nine days before “L” Day or Liberation Day.
Five kilometers off the Cienfuegos Harbor entrance
Gustavo Kane had finished untying the last hemp rope that lashed the Littoral Sea Minexxiv (LSM) to the bottom of his old fishing boat. The Mine dropped one-hundred and fifty meters to the sea floor. The term Littoral meaning ‘near shore’. The old stained fishing boat and the newest high tech sea mine in the United States inventory made for an odd couple. They were about as different as you could get but they worked well enough together. One providing the subterfuge, the other providing unmatched, high tech killing power. It was a partnership that would be repeated time and again in the coming conflict.
This mine was quite a bit different from the old round porcupine mines moored by a tether to the ocean floor. This was more of a robotic killer than dumb bomb. Enclosed in a protective tube was a very smart torpedo. As it lay in the dark cold depths, three of its long legs folded down, tipping the tube to an upright firing position. The legs dug firmly into the soft muck of the deep ocean. There it waited patiently for its quarry. It was programmed to be very discriminating in its targets. It listened for the exact acoustic signature of a particular type of ship. Among other things it listened for the machinery noises of the transients passing within ten kilometers. It compared those mechanical noises to the blade count of the ships propellers and could accurately identify the exact class and type of vessel. Every ship coming or going from the Communist Naval Base at Cienfuegos was now in range of this ever watchful sentry and killer.
September 30, 2018. 10:27 PM
Ensenada de la Broa, south of Havana
L Day (Liberation Day)
The old, tired, huge cargo ship named the F.C.N. Martinezxxv had just finished firing its guided MLRS missiles. The ship was named after Alcides Martinez, a patriot who was tortured by the Communists for months almost to the point of madness but survived to live in Miami.
The Martinez was the most exposed of all the Free Cuban missile ships. It had crept deep into the Ensenada de la Broa south of Havana and Matanzas. It had to get close because it was armed with only shorter range MLRM missile
s. While the rest of the twelve missile ships were now pointing their bows directly away from Cuba and running for their lives the Martinez had to thread its way through the endless archipelagos of the southern Cuban coast to get home.
Only two missiles remained in their launch tubes. The smoke from the last missile was clearing when the ship turned southeast to round the peninsula de Zapata before it could turn southwest and run for Gitmo as fast as its power plant could carry it, which was not very fast.
Cienfuegos Naval Base
September 30, 2018. 11:05 PM
L Day
Within minutes after the Martinez launched its missiles a Communist Osa II Class patrol boatxxvi sped through the mouth of the Cienfuegos bay and into the open ocean. At nearly thirty knots its bow cut through the waves like a sleek looking destroyer. The aft section however was marred by four bulky missile housings. It reminded one of a Ferrari with trash cans strapped on top of it. However unfortunate the missile tubes looked, they were the reason for this boat’s existence.
Without warning a large white flash appeared in the dark water just beneath the speeding patrol boat. The surface of the water shot skyward lifting the ship and breaking its back. The force of the explosive, over four times more powerful in the water than land, nearly ripped the boat in two. Water rushed in to find the bulkhead hatches wide open, allowing water to flood the ship nearly instantaneously. The sleek little ship slipped beneath the calm evening sea like a submarine diving to the inky black depths below. It left nothing behind but a few survivors, debris and burning diesel fuel floating on the water to mark its grave and to testify of the violence that sent it there.
Safely moored to the docks of the Cienfuegos naval base Captain Arkady Borronto stood on the bridge of the Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria (MG) Antonio Maceo. The OSA II class patrol boat was named after one of the leaders of Cuba’s independence struggle. The captain was listening intently to the report coming over the radio: “The Giron just sank. It blew up and sank. Just like that!” The radar operator spoke with a mixture of sickness and disbelief. “My guy saw it. It was afire then disappeared within seconds. On radar, it was there and… and then it was gone.”
The Cuban Liberation Handbook Page 3