New York Times
April 19, 1961.  p. 1.

Rebels Harassed
Havana Reports Raid by B-26 but Asserts It Was Driven Off

By Tad Szulc
Special to The New York Times

        MIAMI, April 18--The forces of Premier Fidel Castro appeared tonight to have mounted a major tank-led offensive designed to dislodge rebel fighters from their narrow beachhead on the marshy southern coast of Cuba.
        An announcement over Cuban television said that "news of victory" would be broadcast within a few hours.
        The Havana radio reported late tonight that a B-26 bomber had attacked the city earlier in the evening.
        According to the radio, the bomber appeared over the city at 8:20 and dropped a bomb on the military base of San Antonio de los Banos. The plane was then reported to have made several strafing passes over the city.
Plane Strafes City
        The Cuban radio said that the bomb had missed its mark and that the strafing passes had done no serious damage. It said that anti-aircraft batteries had opened fire on the plane and that the plane had then flown off to the north.
        [The apparent arrest of several Americans in Havana was reported from the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.]
        Although the Havana regime maintained official silence about the operations in Las Villas Province, where anti-Castro troops landed before dawn yesterday, a communiqué from the rebels' Revolutionary Council said that Soviet-built tanks and Mig jet fighters were attacking its units.
        The communiqué spoke of a "rapidly expanding area already being liberated by the revolutionary command," but there were no indications that the invaders had succeeded in capturing the town of Jaguey Grande, across the provincial line in Matanzas Province, which seemed to be their immediate target.
Revolt's Extent Unclear
        Deep concern was developing here over the immediate and long-range political repercussions of a possible failure of the rebel landing operation in southern Cuba.
        If the rebel attempt to establish a foothold on Cuban territory is defeated--and this was a possibility that was begrudgingly being accepted in some anti-Castro quarters here--it could deal a demolishing blow to the entire exile movement and help to consolidate Dr. Castro's position.
        There were no indications whether masses of Cubans had rebelled against Premier Castro at the news of the first landing. [more ...]