Nowadays the "Armored Train" (Spanish: Tren Blindado) is a national memorial and museum located near the depot of Santa Clara station

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

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

It features prominently on the back of the three convertible peso bill

Guevara's column travelled on 28 December 1958 from the coastal port of Caibarién along the road to the town of Camajuani, which lay between Caibarién and Santa Clara

Their journey was received by cheering crowds of peasants, and Caibarién's capture within a day reinforced the sense among the rebel fighters that overall victory was imminent

Government troops guarding the army garrison at Camajuani deserted their posts without incident, and Guevara's column proceeded to Santa Clara

They arrived at the city's university on the outskirts of the town at dusk

Guevara, who viewed the capture of the armored train as a priority, successfully mobilized the tractors of the school of Agronomy at the university to raise the rails of the railway

The train was therefore derailed as it transported troops away from the Capiro hill

The officers within tumbled out asking for a truce

At this, ordinary soldiers, whose morale was very low, began to fraternize with the rebels, saying that they were tired of fighting against their own people

Shortly afterwards the armored train was in the hands of the rebels and its 350 men and officers were transported as prisoners

The train contained a considerable amount of weaponry, a huge bonus to revolutionary forces, and it was to become a basis of further attack in the hands of both the rebels

and supportive peasants

Guevara himself described how the men were forced out by a volley of Molotov cocktails, causing the armored train to become a "veritable oven for the soldiers"

In the early hours of New Years Day 1959 Batista fled the capital HavanaA few days later, Che went with Camilo Cienfuegos in Havana, on January 8, 1959,

followed closely by Fidel Castro

Source: Wikipedia