Freedom Fighters

37. Santiago

Dec 1958
Outskirts of Santiago de Cuba

Oliverio rushed into the room, aiming his rifle at every nook and cranny of the space. An overturned table occupied the middle of the bare room, with barely anything else on the concrete floor.

"Clear!" he shouted.

Dario strolled into the room, breathing heavily in relief. "Okay, that's all for this building. Secure the entrances and keep and lookout," he ordered the rest of the men in his section.

As his men spread out to cover the windows and entrances of the one-storey house, Dario leaned against a wall to steady his thoughts and plan his next action. 

He pressed the push-to-talk button on his radio set and said, "Marco, Lionel, how are you guys doing?" 

"Good," came a curt reply from Marco. "We got a foothold in our street. Enemy doesn't seem to be too active in resistance."

"Same here," echoed Lionel.

"Great to hear that, continue the good work. Out."

He felt a heavy cloud of exhaustion descend upon his mind, frayed by the endless violence of the past few days. 

He hated urban warfare. The room to room fighting. Close combat. The sleepless nights. He hated all of it. 

Leaving their power base in the Sierra Maestra mountains a little over a week ago, the columns led by Fidel, Raul, Huber and himself descended upon Santiago de Cuba with lightning speed, catching the army by surprise. They took the outlying towns in quick succession before embarking on a siege on the island's second largest city. 

But the reality of urban warfare hit them. They could only advance slowly, bogged down by the need to clear house after house. After a few days of hard fighting, the Movement had not even been able to see the city center. 

"So, how are we doing, Dario? You think we can win?" Oliverio asked, while still keeping a lookout at his window.

The column commander sighed, folding his arms as he pondered over the question. Finally, he answered, "Not too good, Oliverio. Not too good."

"Why?" 

"We are making too slow of a progress. The soldiers here are not looking like they will surrender soon. I heard that General Cantillo himself is leading the defense and mustering more troops from nearby garrisons to come. If that's the case, it's going to be an uphill battle. Harder times have yet to come."

"Damn," Oliverio muttered, frowning in worry. 

Dario walked to the window, and scanned the streets. Deathly quiet. The civilians have mostly been evacuated from the area, leaving it to be a brutal battleground between the two forces. But, today had been a rather uneventful day thus far the whole morning. The soldiers were not particularly diligent in their resistance, to say the least. The houses that they had taken thus far earlier were all empty, and barely a shot had been fired at them across the street, or from anywhere.

Suspicious... Dario thought. Perhaps General Cantillo has ordered them to retreat to the city center. No... that would be foolish. Or had the soldiers lost heart? Unlikely... especially with the general around to keep order and punish deserters.

Or... they were planning something...

No matter, Dario knew that he had to keep on going if he wanted to win.

"Okay," he raised his voice, assuming his authoritative stance as he stood up straight with his shoulder back. "Next house. We split down into a two groups this time. Pérez, you take charge of the second group. Go down to a house after the next. Let's go!"