CUBAN REVOLUTION: THE 26TH JULY MOVEMENT FLAG, SIGNED BY FIDEL CASTRO, CHE GUEVARA AND CAMILLO CIENFUEGOS, WITH A REVOLUTIONARY "26" ARMBAND.

The flag inscribed and signed by Fidel Castro, dated September 7th 1958, and also signatures of Che and Cienfuegos.

The flag inscribed and signed by Fidel Castro, dated September 7th 1958, and also signatures of Che and Cienfuegos. A field-made cotton flag of the Cuban Revolutionaries, the "26th July Movement," red and black horizontal stripes with white linen numbers sewn on one face "26-7," and a small red and black armband sewn at lower right lettered in white linen, "26", the reverse side with a smaller 26th July flag stitched onto the surface, with horizontal red and black bands, and central white linen numbers "26". The upper right corner signed and inscribed by Fidel Castro "Movimiento 26 de Julio. Comandancia General Ejercito Rebelde, Fidel Castro. Sierra Maestra Sep 7, 1958", [26th July Movement. General Command Rebel Army. Fidel Castro. Sierra Maestra Sep 7 1958], and additionally signed below by two of his company commanders Che and Cienfuegos. The flag made up of thin cotton with three areas of moth damage along old fold lines, with some loss affecting the letters and ground, and the smaller 26th July flag on verso with similar problems from insect damage.

AN IMPORTANT AND RARE 26th JULY MOVEMENT FLAG, dating from the time of Castro's encampment in the hills of the Sierra Maestra in the south of Cuba, soon after he had defeated Batista's troops during Operation Verano. The signatures of Che and Cienfuegos are both added later, probably within 6 months, when the Castro forces were established in Havana. This flag was likely acquired or given to a fellow revolutionary, who later stitched on his own rather worn armband and the smaller flag on the reverse, and kept it as a keepsake.

When Castro arrived in the south of Cuba on the yacht Granma in 1956, his forces suffered badly, being strafed by planes as they landed, and attacked by Batista's forces inland . Only 12 or so of the 82 men who landed, managed to escape to the Sierra Maestra mountains, north of Santiago, to hide out. This was an area that Castro knew well as he grew up on a farm there. Although news of Castro's arrival spread and fighters came to join him, by February 1958 he still only had 400 men under his command. He operated guerilla tactics against the Batista forces, with enough success, to bate Battista into open battle. So in late June 1958, Batista launched an all out offensive against Castro's guerilla forces, sending 10,000 Cuban Army troops into the Sierra Maestra, and bombarding villages that supported Castro. Many atrocities were committed and when a battalion surrendered to Castro, other Cuban Army soldiers began to desert, and the campaign fizzled out by August 8th. Castro then went on the offensive, dividing his forces into three units under Che, Cienfuegos and Vega, and in October they moved out of the mountains to cut through the central part of Cuba to capture Santa Clara. The Americans realizing that Batista was doomed, arranged for General Cantillo, Head of the Cuban Army to meet Castro, and they cut a deal to remove Batista, but Cantillo reneged on the deal, warned off Batista, who then absconded on December 31st to the Dominican Republic with $300m, and Cantillo took residence in the Presidential Palace in Havana. The forces of Che and Cienfuegos moved in on Havana arriving on January 2nd, and Che took city of Santiago, and then moved on to Havana, arriving on the 8th January, when Cantillo was removed.