interesting photo

[mrgrant 0]

hello, i was going thru the december issue of cigar aficionado & on page 171 was a photo on the top of the page of castro with what appears to be a m1941 johnson in the background. i wonder where they could of got it from?

[TomW 0]

Mr Grant, it was called the BAY OF PIGS! The CIA backed Cuban exiles were @ least partially armed with M-41 Johnson rifles. At the time, the Johnson rifles, could be seen as a rifle without a country. They were a semi-automatic weapon, that was well made, available, probably cheap & in addition, not easily traceable.

The February 3, 2003 issue of TIME Magazine, on pages 32 & 33 has an article about the Bay of Pigs. It contains a photograph of the Cuban exiles, training with M-41 Johnson rifle's, with fixed bayonets. Fidel Castro's Johnson rifle, was undoubtably, a battlefield pick-up!

[Bob Lamoreaux 0]

I haven't seen the photo, but the Castro guerrillas did use Johnson semiauto rifles and l.m.g.s in their war against Batista. These rifles were obtained through Interarms, possibly by a CIA "front". The l.m.g.s may have been "rewats" -- deactivated by welding the chamber and barrel (to the receiver) and restored to firing condition. Note that "rewat" Johnson l.m.g.s will have a "D" prefix in the serial number. Following the overthrow of Batista and the betrayal of the revolution by Castro's communism, various anti-Castro Cuban exiles organized to overthrow Fidel. The most notable being Alpha 66. A Life Magazine article on these anti-Castro units shows a "squad" armed with Johnson rifles, complete with fixed bayonets (if memory serves me). Hope this helps.