1955 Revolution: The Fighting in the South of Buenos Aires

Fight in the Southern Part of Buenos Aires Province

Aircraft from the Comandante Espora Naval Air Base take off to conduct bombing operations against the 5th Infantry Regiment in Bahía Blanca. (Image: Miguel Ángel Cavallo, Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)

With the Sea Fleet positioned in open waters and no updates on its location, only the battleships "Moreno" and "Rivadavia," along with the destroyers "Santa Cruz," "Misiones," and "Juan de Garay" from the Ríos Squadron, remained in port. The cruisers "25 de Mayo" and "Almirante Brown," designated as reserve ships without artillery, three torpedo boats, a beacon, two BDI, flatboats, and tugboats completed the contingent. Argentina undeniably possessed a significant war fleet; however, at the onset of the conflict, most of its units were distanced from their home bases.

On the night of September 15, the Comandante Espora police force exhibited heightened activity, leading Captain Jorge E. Perren, the leader of the uprising, to suspect a possible information leak.

Following a series of strategic maneuvers, with officers discreetly convening at predetermined locations, all preparations were finalized. Accompanied by a cadre of rebel leaders, Perren departed from the residence of Lieutenant Commander Ciro Scotti, where he had been in hiding. The group made their way to the house of Vice Admiral Ignacio Chamorro, the base commander, with the intention of arresting him.

Both Vice Admiral Chamorro and Admiral Héctor W. Fidanza, a member of the Special Court of the Navy, were subdued and transported as detainees to the battleship "Moreno." The same fate befell the ship captains overseeing the 2nd Division and all officers who had not aligned themselves with the revolution.


Navy Armored Vehicles run the city



At 7:00 in the morning, a time when both military and civilian personnel were entering the unit, the area fell under rebel control, including the nearby Naval Base of Puerto Belgrano. As Ruiz Moreno outlines in his work, after securing strategic points, the primary concern arose from the 5th Infantry Regiment stationed near Bahía Blanca, led by Lieutenant Colonel Amadeo Angel Albrizzi.

Faced with the regiment's tight-lipped stance on the revolution, a decision was made to dispatch a message urging them to either join the uprising or lay down their arms. Albrizzi, employing tactical measures, maintained radio silence in an attempt to confound his adversaries, unaware that his calls for assistance from colleagues in Olavarría and Azul had been received that morning and appropriate measures were being taken.

Given Albrizzi's unyielding position, Captain Arturo Rial, the revolutionary commander in the Southern Sector, issued a subsequent summons. The response confirmed that the regiment's leader would personally appear before Commander Espora to engage in dialogue. However, the revolutionary leaders saw these responses as mere delaying tactics.

By 3:00 p.m., an air-naval formation identified troop movement near General Cerri, causing concern among base authorities who promptly went on high alert. These were three trucks carrying reinforcements for the 5th Infantry Regiment, dispatched that very morning by the Repression Command.

In an attempt to halt their advance, rebel planes were deployed towards them, releasing bombs that forced the reinforcements to hastily disperse. Subsequently, the occupation of Bahía Blanca was coordinated, a pivotal point for the unfolding events. To execute this, Marine Corps troops received orders to mobilize towards the city. At 3:30 p.m., the troops boarded several trucks, setting out under the command of Lieutenant Commander Guillermo Castellanos—the same individual who, earlier that morning, had flown over the barracks of the 5th Infantry Regiment in a Catalina plane piloted by Frigate Captain Raúl Galmarini.



Rebel Forces Occupy Bahía Blanca (Image: Miguel Ángel Cavallo, Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)

According to Ruiz Moreno, Bahía Blanca was occupied at 4:00 p.m. sharp, without opposition, patrolling the access roads and raiding the GCT and CGE premises, where weapons and documentation were seized. The final movements took place in Villa Mitre, a working-class neighborhood with a marked Peronist presence, where two trucks and an armored vehicle with twenty men and a radio equipment were stationed in order to keep such a conflictive sector under strict surveillance.
When Captain Castellanos was installed in the Municipality (6:00 p.m.), the population was under complete control and it was then that citizens took to the streets en masse to support the movement, cheering the Navy and hurling epithets against Perón.
From the LU7 broadcasting station, Castellano radiated a fiery revolutionary proclamation that only increased the combative ardor of the population. Many civilians volunteered, eager to join the anti-government ranks, while naval planes dropped leaflets spreading the principles of the uprising and inviting the people to join.
It was beginning to get mid-afternoon when Captain Perren was able to inform the rebel command that both Bahía Blanca and Punta Alta, up to a radius of 300 kilometers around, were under revolutionary control, with the exception of the facilities of the 5th Infantry Regiment.


Naval Aircraft Flying over Bahía Blanca

At that point it was evident that Lieutenant Colonel Albrizzi hoped to receive reinforcements from the Azul and Olavarría regiments, ignoring that the sailors, upon occupying Bahía Blanca, had seized the Army's communications codes and were aware of all his movements. For this reason, Captain Rial, after the agreed deadlines for a definition had expired, decided to attack the unit.
By his order, Commander Edgardo S. Andrew established a new telephone contact and after he handed him the device, he notified Albrizzi that he had exactly two minutes to speak because otherwise the regiment was going to be bombed. .
After receiving the order to ready, six naval aircraft were positioned at the head of the runway, ready to take off and, faced with a new series of excuses, after the agreed time had expired, they received the order to take off.
Concerned, Captain Andrew tried to mediate, asking his superior to stop the raid:

-Sir, don't bomb them, I know them and I know that sooner or later they are going to give in to us.

Not accustomed to war, the officer did not admit entering into action. However, Captain Rial remained firm.

-Give the order to bomb!

One after another, the North American AT-6s taxied down the runway and took off with a difference of half a minute from each other, towards the outskirts of the city.
At 5:00 p.m. they attacked the regiment's facilities, receiving intense machine gun and rifle fire in response. Lieutenant Rubén Iglesias' plane was hit and although the pilot was injured in the leg, he was able to reach Espora and land without problems.
The first raid was followed by another, with their planes making low flights over the objective, in order to keep the unit intimidated. However, far from giving up its attitude, the regiment maintained its silence, evidencing its intention not to give in to the uprising.

Preparations in Comandante Espora

While the second attack was taking place, the Repression Command encouraged the resistance from Buenos Aires and announced the sending of reinforcements. Albrizzi must have experienced great relief when he learned that the III Cavalry Division under the command of General Eusebio Molinuevo was advancing to his aid, reinforced by elements of the 2nd Artillery Regiment, the 3rd Communications Detachment, and the powerful 3rd Motorized Infantry Regiment based in La Tablada (the same one that entered into combat against the Gloster Meteor on June 16) and the Sapper Detachment 3. For its part, the 1st Cavalry Regiment set out from Azul and the 2nd Regiment from Tandil, both taking the paths of Juárez and Tres Arroyos.

Ground crew assembles a bomb under the wing of a PBY Catalina


Information received from different parts of the country showed that the fighting at the Río Santiago Naval Base was becoming unfavorable and that in the Río de la Plata, the destroyers “La Rioja” and “Cervantes” had received harsh punishment from Air Force. That, plus the advance of the Army units, decided a new attack on the 5th Infantry Regiment.
At 9:30 p.m. on that eventful day, two Catalina bombers left Comandante Espora bound for the military unit, reaching the objective fifteen minutes later.
The first threw flares to illuminate the target and the second dropped its bombs, impacting the facilities, without causing any casualties. This time there was no response and the devices returned to the base without incident. Half an hour later, a communication from the Army was intercepted haranguing the 5th Infantry which, among other things, said: “Do not surrender to the Navy. The bombing will be suspended because they do not have fuses. "In a short period of time, it will receive air support."

An AT-6 North American fly towards the 5th Infantry Regiment in Bahía Blanca

That radio interception led the rebel high command to adopt defensive measures in anticipation of the regiment carrying out some type of mobilization. To this end, permanent air patrols were maintained over their barracks and the regrouping of the military forces occupying Bahía Blanca was ordered. The rebel advances came so close to the enemy lines that at two different points, the sections of lieutenants Martín Schwarz and Juan J. Costa surpassed their defensive perimeter.



At 11:00 p.m. Navy troops, who had already cut the telephone lines that connected Bahía Blanca with Buenos Aires, blew up the bridge of National Route No. 3, over the Quequén Salado River, located between Coronel Dorrego and Tres Arroyos, 150 kilometers away. of the naval air base. The mission was carried out by a demolition section made up of seventeen men under the command of Lieutenant Engineer Jorge Yódice, supported by Lieutenant Navy Infantry Eduardo Fracassi and Midshipman Luis Pozzo, an expert in explosives. The commandos took off in a plane from Comandante Espora and at 6:45 p.m., they landed in a field near the objective. As soon as they landed, one group ran to the route to block it with branches and different types of obstacles while the other proceeded to place the explosives in two different points of the structure.

Communication Center. Comandante Espora Base

Once the device was assembled, the troops withdrew and when they were at a safe distance, they stopped and activated the mechanism. A terrible explosion occurred that shook the night and while the glow and flames illuminated the area, the bridge collapsed. The plan included blowing up a railway bridge near the previous one, but lack of time prevented the operation. The commandos boarded the plane and at 12:00 p.m. they began their return, after successfully completing the first phase of the plan aimed at hindering access to the rebel sector.

Rebel troops occupy the Municipality


DC Guillermo Castellanos (right), naval chief in charge of Bahía Blanca (Pictures: Miguel Ángel Cavallo, Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)


Images
Pictures: Miguel Ángel Cavallo, Puerto belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva

Notes

1. In 1982, Admiral Carlos Büsser led the occupation forces of the Malvinas/Falklands archipelago during Operation Rosario.
2. Jorge E. Perren, Puerto Belgrano y la Revolución Libertadora, p. 187.

1955 Guerra Civil. La Revolucion Libertadora y la caída de Perón