Castro's use of JSAR & JLMG - 2/15/21

[Ed Johnson 0]

I mentioned in another Website Posting that Dad, many years ago, was upset to see Castro's troops with guns that had been manufactured by his company, Johnson Automatics. I would imagine some other folks would have had concerns as well, because Castro's forces were equipped with a wide variety of US weapons.

I can feel Dad spinning in his grave after reading the latest February 2021 issue # 3 of "Firearms News" ( "FN"...formerly "Shotgun News")  and looking at the large summary of small-arms weapons used by Castro on pages 60 through 81. These include photos on page 80 & 81 of both a '41 JSAR & '41 JLMG, big as life. Plus, there are two photos of Castro and his son holding JSARs on page 80, one even with a caption "Castro examining one of the Johnson rifles smuggled in for his troops  (emphasis is mine.....Dad is now rotating at 5000 RPM...). Plus there is a photo of a "Cuban revolutionary" carrying a JLMG on page 81.....(Dad now at 6000 RPM.....).

The article is part # 1 of a two-part or more series on "Small Arms of the Cuban Revolutions" by Paul Scarlata, so there will be more to come later.

As an aside, FN still has a Sarco ad on page 94, 3rd column top, for newly manufactured Johnson bayonets and scabbards @ $124.oo per set, also sold separately. Life goes on.....    Ed J

 

[ArtR 0]

Hi Ed

Funny that you should mention that article....I picked up a copy on Monday and read part 1 on Tuesday... it will be interesting to get others takes on the sequence of events

I too was looking at all the photos and the weapons that they had accumulated.

ArtR

[ArtR 0]

I understand that the next  issue of Firearm News is out  with the 2nd part on JSARs in Cuba. I have not ventured out to get it, but will do so sometime

[Ed Johnson 0]

Yes, the 2nd issue of Firearms News this month has the 2nd of two articles on Cuban use of the '41 JSAR and '41 JLMG by Castro, along with other WWII era weapons. Photos are shown as well. History is history.....but Dad is still "spinning".......

[Brian Alpert 0]

Ed,

     Your father may be rolling over in his grave but remember, during the Cuban revolution, Fidel had not yet declared himself a communist.  Everyone in the US was cheering his efforts.  The first inkling was when his estranged sister came to the US and said he was a communist.  Prior to that time, he was considered a savior of Cuba by attempting to oust the ruthless dictator Fulgencia Batista.  I well remember how shocked we were when he declared himself a communist.

[ArtR 0]

Brian and Ed:

I know that I am not that young, but it appears that I am. While I distinctly remember the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), I do not think that I was much  into the news much before 1959. While we had a B&W TV about 1956, at that age, I was into some strange kids shows and westerns.  It only proves that as generations get older and we lose more from those generations, memories will fade and we can only rely on what was 'written down' or recorded. If history is re-written, or recordings destroyed,  we will lose that as well.

ArtR

[eb in oregon 0]

1 hour ago, ArtR said:

I know that I am not that young, but it appears that I am. While I distinctly remember the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), I do not think that I was much  into the news much before 1959. While we had a B&W TV about 1956, at that age, I was into some strange kids shows and westerns.  It only proves that as generations get older and we lose more from those generations, memories will fade and we can only rely on what was 'written down' or recorded. If history is re-written, or recordings destroyed,  we will lose that as well.

ArtR

I'm not as old as some, but older than a bunch. I remember nothing of the work of Fidel Castro as a kid, but I surely do remember practicing hiding under my desk in school during the Cuban Missile Crisis, my mother shopping for beans, rice, and canned goods, and my dad cleaning and oiling the few firearms he had. And I remember going with him to a local store to buy a few boxes of ammunition for his rifles. And Art you are correct about losing history. We're in the middle of that right now. And not accidentally, on purpose.

[Brian Alpert 0]

This comes from Wikipedia article on Castro:   "In the Sierra Maestra mountains, Castro was joined by Frank Sturgis (one of the later Watergate burglars) who offered to train Castro's troops in guerrilla warfare. Castro accepted the offer, but he also had an immediate need for guns and ammunition, so Sturgis became a gunrunner. Sturgis purchased boatloads of weapons and ammunition from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) weapons expert Samuel Cummings' International Armament Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia. Sturgis opened a training camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he taught Che Guevara and other 26 July Movement rebel soldiers guerrilla warfare."

Many of the arms dealers in the 50's and 60's were CIA fronts securing arms for various supposedly anticommunist insurgencies around the world.  Indeed, Winfield was thought to have CIA connections.  JSARs were popular as they were excellent US made weapons not identified with the US government.

The CIA armed the Bay oF Pigs invaders with JSARs