The First Victory
After a few months of exile in Mexico the Castro brothers returned to Cuba with a boosted confidence. In 1957 they scored their first victory when they defeated the enemy army at one of their outposts. This victory encouraged Cubans to show their support toward the July 26th Movement. When the July 26th movement gained power of the mountains, many rebel groups started to become allies with Castro's army. They took victory of many smaller attacks and almost succeeded in assassinating Batista. Batista took a risk and sent a large portion of his army out to attack the highlands in 1958 to try to get rid of Castro. His plan back-fired when rebels used guerrilla attacks on his soldiers. Many of Batista's soldiers then took Castro's side or surrendered. After this event, Castro has the upper hand in the battle and was ready to take victory.