On the bicentennial of the impressive crossing of the Andes led by the great American strategist, a review of the planning and logistics devised to overcome the great obstacle.
The immensity of the mountain range was the obstacle to overcome.
Last February marked the 200th anniversary of the Crossing of the Andes, which General José de San Martín de Mendoza led to Chile in 1817 with the Liberation Army, in order to fight the royalists in their search for continental independence as part of his Strategic Plan.
The campaign has been highlighted on numerous occasions as one of the most intrepid, bold and strategically brilliant feats of all time.
Aside from the strictly military aspect and its political connotations of the time, it is worth highlighting logistical and planning aspects, strategies that San Martín devised to first battle the immense mountain range in the real conditions of 2 centuries ago.
“Much emphasis is placed on the crossing and the end with the battle of Chacabuco, but we must speak of the crossing as a military campaign, something specifically prepared whose consequence was the liberation of Chile. "Only in this way can the genius of a certain José de San Martín be contemplated" explains historian Esteban Ocampo, one of the members of the campaign who recreated the crossing this year, faithfully respecting the conditions of the time. (See separate)
Six columns
San Martín designed the campaign dividing the Army into six columns on a front of 800 km from the south of La Rioja to the south of Mendoza, where the southernmost group crossed.
Two of these passes were main ones through which the bulk of the Army of 2,500 men circulated. The other passes were auxiliary ones with columns that were not very numerous and with the intention of distracting and dispersing the enemy forces in specific missions -already in Chile- so that they would not have all their power at their disposal in the battle of Chacabuco.
A main column advanced along the Uspallata route under the orders of Colonel Gregorio de Las Heras together with the artillery under the command of Fray Luis Beltrán. The pass, accessible and low, was very used for trade at the time.
The other important column went through San Juan, the Los Patos route through Valle Hermoso which was divided into Ojo de Agua and Paso de Ortiz, where part of the advance party passed, and the Yaretas pass, where San Martín actually crossed.
The secondary routes were Comecaballos in La Rioja with Lt. Col. Zelada; Guana, north of San Juan under orders of Lt. Col. Cabot; Portillo-Piuquenes, through the Tunuyán valley from the Fort of San Carlos under the orders of Captain Lemos; and Planchón, south of Mendoza through the area of the Peteroa volcano in charge of Lt. Col. Freyre.
One of the many rivers they had to wade through in the Andean campaign.
Clothing
The traditional uniforms were made of a very particular cotton cloth, a type of fabric that was thermal enough to not be too hot in summer but was warm enough in winter. Under the jacket they wore a high-necked shirt and the officers also wore a vest.
In the case of the Grenadier Regiment they received short red jackets made of sheepskin called “pellizas” that they wore as a coat over the jacket. They also wore black cloth trousers with leather reinforcement. Most of the soldiers wore Cuyo ponchos and cloth cloaks with a warm inner lining.
The trousers had a leather reinforcement to prevent wear from rubbing against the saddle in the case of the riders and on the cuff to protect the clothing from damage from the stirrups.
To keep their feet warm, each soldier used “tamangos,” a kind of sheepskin covering that was placed over their shoes, which were usually made of leather with buckles. In the case of the Infantry, they called a boot a short, mid-calf or even knee-high gaiter that went over the shoes.
For their hands they wore cloth gloves, for their heads they covered the back of their necks and ears with scarves, and on top of that they wore a “head cover,” a cap or hat, a kind of beret that they wore during training in the barracks. In other units they wore caps with sleeves that fell to one of the shoulders.
The regiments wore three uniforms: the barracks uniform, the campaign or combat uniform, and the parade or gala uniform, the latter being the most striking. The one used for crossing was the combat uniform.
At night, very simple reinforced cloth tents were set up in less than 3 minutes. They had four poles and two guy lines, one in front and one behind. Each tent accommodated 2 to 3 soldiers and they used individual saddles, fleeces and blankets as beds, and even the saddle served as a pillow. They covered themselves with the same coat as each other.
San Martín's first great challenge was to overcome nature.
Food
As the main food to face the crossing of the high peaks, each soldier carried a piece of charqui that they ground and cooked quickly in a kind of Valdivian broth with lots of onion and garlic for altitude sickness. They were meals in the style of carbonada or succulent stew that provided a significant amount of protein with the simplicity of preparing it in a few minutes to immediately recover strength.
The Army also carried 700 cattle on the hoof that they slaughtered as the columns advanced. Thus, fresh meat was available as a roast or stew.
Bread, flour biscuits, vegetables, nuts and a daily ration of liquor completed the diet to avoid the effects of altitude and cold, since that was what the campaign's food plan was about, which also resulted in simple and quick food to prepare.
Logistics
Each column on its march itinerary had a detailed description of each day: the points they had to join, the length in leagues, the availability of water, grass and firewood, the type of terrain and forest. This information was useful for the guides to regulate the march and thus reach the planned points.
The instructions began with the following text: “You will advance according to prudence, your experience and the intelligence you have to comply with these orders.”
Communications through messengers were also very important. It is known that San Martín sent constant messages to Las Heras to speed up or slow down the march depending on the tactics. In the diary of Bernardo O’Higgins, the vanguard of the Los Patos route, these communications are recorded, which he sent to San Martín in the rearguard.
The central concept of the plan to cross the Andes was to minimize any problem, error or imponderable when facing the mountain. In 1816, the Great General confessed in a letter to Tomás Guido that what kept him awake at night was not the opposition, what the enemy might be preparing on the other side, but being able to cross this mountain range with 5,000 men and then give battle.
The precise and coordinated arrival of the columns on February 8, 1817, to Santa Rosa de los Andes was the result of precision in communications and efficiency in planning. This made the achievement possible and led to the military triumph of Chacabuco. Crossing the mountain range having fulfilled the objectives designed was half the battle won.
The group that designed and carried out a historical recreation of the San Martin crossing.
A faithful recreation
A group of people who make up the Historical Cavalry Squadron crossed the Andes last February, emulating and paying homage to the liberating feat and in exactly the same conditions as the Army formed and led by General José de San Martín in 1817 did 200 years ago.
Without any technological aid, dressed in the same clothing and sleeping in period tents, on February 3, 2017 (what a date) six “reenactors,” a cameraman, and three guides who traveled through the Argentine side took the initial step from the San Juan town of Tamberías to realize a dream and a feat that they have been planning since the end of 2015.
The preparation included a lot of personal training, constant medical checkups, horseback riding practice, all to be able to face eight to ten hours of mounted marching every day at altitudes above 3,500 meters.
They used clothes made with the same fabrics used in the San Martin Army, the same tents, blankets, utensils such as lanterns, candles, sabers, all derived from a deep historical investigation to reproduce the feat faithfully.
The saddles served as beds at night, and the same poncho as a coat was a blanket to try to sleep in the middle of the relentless cold of the mountain range.
Pablo Zamprogno, Esteban Ocampo and his son Martín (10), Javier Madariaga, Guadalupe Strada and Daniel Gwaszdac are the members of the Reenactors Group of the Historical Cavalry Squadron. The itinerary was approximately the one taken by the column led by Lt. Col. Juan Manuel Cabot in 1817, through the North of the province of San Juan known as Guana Pass. After six days of travel through La Vega Grande, Los Azules, Los Esteros de la Mula and La Cuesta, they arrived at “Paso del Gordito” where Chilean authorities from Monte Patria and Ovalle welcomed them to cross the border. Then came Las Ramadas, Tulahuen, Huana, Monte Patria, Ovalle, Barraza and finally Coquimbo and La Serena, the final objective of the great enterprise, always received by the towns with great joy and emotional recognition.
The objective of the initiative was to experience the crossing of the Andes as San Martin's soldiers experienced it 200 years ago. The result, in the evaluation made by its protagonists, was highly satisfactory and a reason for greater admiration for those men who accompanied the Liberator in 1817.
General Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid was a brave man who was said to have more wounds on his body than holes in an English lace. On May 20, 1817, he was marching on Charcas with the intention of seizing the city, when a patrol intercepted a message from the Governor of Potosí to President Vivero, informing him that he was sending a reinforcement of 300 men. Shortly after, when going up the Cachimayo slope, Captain Lugones, head of the patriot vanguard, warned that a large party of horsemen was advancing along the same path, but in the opposite direction to the one they were taking.
General Araoz de Lamadrid
Aware of the case, the then sergeant major Lamadrid called a halt and went ahead to meet the captain, who upon arrival told him: —There is no doubt, my elder, they are Goths (Spaniards). -Better. Do you see, captain, that force? Well, know that in a few minutes it will be ours without costing us a shot or a drop of blood,” he told her, as he continued walking. And he kept advancing until very close to the royalists to whom he shouted: "Hey, comrades! We are the help sent by the Governor of Potosí." Convinced, the Spanish officers advanced about 100 meters from their troops to where the Argentines were and one of them approached the famous Tucuman smiling, saying: — How are you doing, Ostria? It's been ages since I last saw you! "I am not Ostria," replied Lamadrid. —Excuse me, but the resemblance is so great! "Who is your commander?" Colonel López, head of the royalists, then intervened. Lamadrid, seeing that the Captain Lugones and his men surrounded the king's officers, he answered: —The commander is Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid here, and you are talking to him, but keep talking calmly, because your life is at stake. As the Spaniards saw that they were in the power of the audacious Argentine, they continued the march in the midst of their captors followed by the troops that, moments later, found themselves surrounded by the bulk of Lamadrid's forces.
At 12:40 PM, a significant aerial bombardment occurred over the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, marking the largest attack on the Argentine mainland. Several planes from the Argentine Navy and Air Force targeted the adjacent Casa Rosada, the official seat of government, while a large crowd gathered in support of President Juan Perón. This attack coincided with official public demonstrations condemning the alleged burning of a national flag during a recent Corpus Christi procession, which was attributed to Perón's critics. The attempt was part of an ultimately aborted coup.
The assault involved 34 aircraft, including 22 North American AT-6s, five Beechcraft AT-11s, three Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, and four Air Force Meteor Glosters.
Approximately 9.5 tons of munitions were dropped, resulting in the death of 150 to 364 people, mostly civilians, and injuries to over 800. The attack ceased at 5:20 pm local time, during which three planes were shot down by hastily assembled anti-aircraft guns. Additionally, 19 horse grenadiers from the presidential guard were killed, and an AT-6 was shot down by a loyalist Gloster Meteor over the Río de la Plata.
Simultaneously, Argentine marines attempted an assault on Casa Rosada but were repelled by loyalist forces. The rebel forces withdrew to the Ministry of the Navy facilities, where they surrendered that night, including the coup's leader, Vice Admiral Samuel Toranzo Calderón. His second in command, Vice Admiral Benjamin Gargiulo, tragically committed suicide.
Following the failed coup, angry mobs set fire to eight churches and a cathedral that night.
In the aftermath, the pilots were ordered to fly to Uruguay and seek asylum, as the planned coup lacked support from the Army and most of the Air Force.
Later that year, in September, the bulk of the armed forces joined the Revolución Libertadora, overthrowing President Perón and initiating a period of military rule that ended with the 1958 presidential election, won by UCRI's Arturo Frondizi. Despite the Peronist party's inability to participate in the electoral ballot, Frondizi's victory was influenced by Perón's instructions to his loyal base, conveyed from his exile in Madrid, to strategically vote for Frondizi.
Máximo Rivero Kelly, one of the naval pilots involved in the bombings, was promoted and became the second in command of the Argentine Navy during Raúl Alfonsín's presidency. He maintains that the naval pilots were targeting the presidential palace, but a plane malfunctioned, resulting in approximately 20 civilian casualties.
As of 2013, bullet and shrapnel marks from the aerial attack are still visible on some buildings on the south side of Plaza de Mayo.
June 16, 1955 dawned in the worst weather conditions. It was cold and a dense layer of clouds covered the sky of Buenos Aires. The meteorological service announced light rains with very light winds and the ceiling, barely 200 meters, was extremely low for the Air Force planes that were going to make a flight over the capital around noon in reparation to the national flag.
That morning, the porteños (people born in Buenos Aires city) were preparing for a new day of work without imagining the frightful tragedy that was about to befall them.
From a very early hour there was an unusual movement in the Ministry of the Navy, where Admiral Benjamin Gargiulo had spent the night. The senior officer was extremely nervous when Rear Admiral Samuel Toranzo Calderón, Chief of Staff, appeared in his office.
"The orders have been given," said the newcomer as soon as he entered the door, "Government House is going to be bombed."
While this dialogue was taking place, in the nearby Naval Arsenal the conspired troops rushed their equipment.
The senior naval officers were at their posts when the first light of that gray day began to creep slowly over the horizon. They had established their meeting point on the 4th floor of the building, headquarters of the Marine Infantry Command, entrusting its custody to Marine Infantry Company No. 1 under the command of Lieutenant Barbará, who had divided it into two sections under the orders of non-commissioned officers Pacífico Flamini and Esperidión Funes. Its troops, wearing combat uniforms, were equipped with FN repeating rifles and machine guns and had instructions to shoot to kill.
In addition to the rebel officers, numerous civilians showed up at the Ministry, almost all of them candidates to join the Junta de Revolución Democrática that was to be established immediately after the fall of Perón. Notable among them were doctors Luis María de Pablo Pardo, Adolfo Vicchi and Miguel Ángel Zavala Ortiz, Mr. Raúl Lamuraglia, his son Jorge, Alberto Benegas Lynch and Carlos Olmedo Zumarán and the lieutenant (R) Claudio Mejía. Almost everyone noticed the lights on in the presidential office and other rooms in front of the Casa Rosada, and several cars parked on the esplanade, convincing proof that Perón and his relatives were in the place.
To all this, in the nearby Naval Arsenal, the 4th Marine Infantry Battalion, which was to carry out the land attack against the government headquarters, finished its preparations under the watchful eye of its boss, Commander Juan Carlos Argerich. According to the established plans, they had to concentrate near the Ministry to march from there towards the objective after the Naval Aviation carried out the bombardment. At the same time, civilian elements belonging to the anti-Peronist revolutionary commandos would occupy positions on rooftops and other previously designated places and were preparing to go into action once the hostilities had begun.
At 08:00 sharp, as was his custom, Perón entered his office, greeting the members of his General Staff, Generals José Humberto Sosa Molina, Defense Minister; Franklin Lucero, Minister of the Army; Carlos Jáuregui, head of the State Information Service; Admiral Gastón Lestrade, Brigadier Juan Ignacio San Martín and Major Alfredo Máximo Renner, his private secretary.
Immediately afterwards, after taking seats around the meeting table, the soldiers went on to discuss the main points on the Agenda, among them the delicate situation with the Church and the act of reparation to the National Flag that the Argentine Air Force had scheduled for that morning. They were unaware that a revolution had been launched and that at the nearby Punta Indio Naval Air Base, southeast of Magdalena, the last preparations were being made to launch an attack on the seat of government.
Everything was tense in the rebel ministry when the news arrived that frigate captain Jorge Alfredo Bassi had taken charge of the Ezeiza International Airport, where Company No. 5 of the Marine Infantry had been stationed with all its weapons.
In the Naval Arsenal, Captain Argerich, with his helmet on, his grenades and binoculars hanging on his chest, the pistol at his belt and the Halcón rifle-machine gun in his hands, finished reviewing the troops and after exchanging a few words with the officers and non-commissioned officers under his command, addressed her with a firm voice: “I hope they know how to comply with the Homeland and its commander. Charge!”1.
As a reflex action, the troops prepared their weapons and immediately boarded two trucks parked in front of the building to head quickly towards the Ministry of the Navy, preceded by a jeep.
In Punta Indio, meanwhile, the frigate captains Osvaldo Guaita and Néstor Noriega were making the last preparations to launch the attack and that was what they informed the Ministry of the Navy at 09:46 that terrible morning.
The turmoil at the base was complete, with officers and non-commissioned officers coming and going giving and receiving orders and mechanics refueling and making final checks on the planes. On board, in the cabins, pilots and crew members waited expectantly for the departure order, attentive to what their boards marked and the signals from the ground crew.
Four minutes later, the control tower issued the long-awaited directive and almost immediately, one by one, the five Beechcraft twin-engine bombers, equipped with 110-kilogram bombs, began to roll down the asphalt towards the main runway to take up their position on their south head. Behind them, the fifteen single-engine North American AT-6 dive bombers commanded by Lieutenant Commander Santiago Sánchez Sabarots did the same, carrying two bombs of 50 kilograms each and 7.65 caliber machine guns. The orders were clear and final: they had to kill Perón.
Already at the end of the runway, the first plane contacted the control tower to request permission to take off.
-Permission granted. You can leave - was the answer that came through the headphones.
Giving maximum power to its engines, Lieutenant Commander Jorge Imaz's Beechcraft, registration 3B-3, began to taxi until it took off and lost sight of the cloud cover that covered the region. It had Lieutenant Alex Richmond as prompter, Captain Guaita himself as co-pilot, Chief Corporal Roberto Nava as navigator and midshipman Miguel Ángel Grondona as supernumerary.
It was 10:00 in the morning on that cold winter day, visibility was poor and no movement was perceptible in that part of the province of Buenos Aires except for the light drizzle that fell on the fields.
June 16, 1955, 10:35 a.m. The Casa Rosada (Pink House) awaits the attack. Perón has already retired to the Ministry of the Army
Captain Imaz led a group of bombers, including the 3B-4 piloted by Lieutenant Carlos J. Farguío, with Captain Néstor Noriega as prompter, Lieutenant Roberto Moya as navigator, and Petty Officer José Radrizzi as supernumerary. Following them were the 3B-11 under Navy Lieutenant Jorge Irigoin with Frigate Lieutenant Augusto Artigas as co-pilot, Corvette Lieutenant Santiago Martínez Autín as pointer, and mechanical non-commissioned officer Francisco Calvi as assistant. Also in the squadron were the 3B-6 piloted by Lieutenant Alfredo Eustaqui with Lieutenant Hugo Adamoli as pointer and NCOs Girardi and Maciel as assistants, as well as the 3B-10 of Lieutenant Alberto del Fresno with Corvette Lieutenant Carlos Corti as pointer and NCOs Mario Héctor Mercante and Ricardo Díaz as assistants.
Following the bombers, AT-6 single-seaters were piloted by various lieutenants and midshipmen, including Lieutenant Héctor “Tito” Florido Alsina, Eduardo Velarde, Héctor Orsi, Raúl Robatto, Heriberto Frind, Carlos García, José M. Huergo, Julio Cano, José Demartini, Eduardo Invierno, Luis Suárez, Máximo Rivero Kelly, Arnaldo Román, César Dennehy, Juan Romanella, Héctor Cordero, Sergio Rodríguez, Horacio Estrada, and Eduardo Bisso.
Under Captain Guaita's command, the Naval Air Squadron No. 3 comprising these twenty-four planes took off smoothly, overcoming the cloud layer, and set their course towards the Federal Capital with the mission of ending Perón's regime.
Meanwhile, government sources detected something unusual and initiated the CONINTES plan to suppress any seditious attempt. At Morón Air Base, Commander Commodore Carlos Alberto Soto was unaware that some of his pilots, designated for the Flag parade over the city, were planning to desert and join the revolutionary movement led by Major Agustín Héctor de la Vega. Captain Julio César Cáceres was expected to arrive as a liaison with the revolutionary Navy troops.
Soto was inspecting flight visibility when he received an urgent call, summoning him back immediately. Once on the ground, he was informed that the CONINTES plan was in effect due to rumors of an uprising. Brigadier Juan Fabri, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, had notified him that all flights over Buenos Aires were prohibited due to the expected attack.
Soto was left puzzled, as he was told that the Federal Capital was going to be bombed and that he needed to be alert to take action.
Rear admiral Samuel Toranzo Calderón
Still hesitating, he asked if he should proceed to shoot down enemy planes and was very surprised when Brigadier Fabri answered yes. Disturbed but not losing his cool, he sounded the alarms and ordered the brigade's four Gloster Meteor jet fighters to be ready to intercept enemy aircraft.
Vice Commodore Carlos A. Sister take off from Morón to attack Ezeiza
The base personnel were immersed in this activity when Brigadier Mario Emilio Daneri showed up, accompanied by other officers. He had instructions to take over the Defense Air Command and take all measures to counter the impending air attack on the city. “The time has come to show what we are capable of doing. I trust in the loyalty of all of you towards the constituted authorities and I wish that we now put it to the test, ”he said by way of a harangue.
10.30 a.m. June 16, 1955. The Naval Aviation flies towards the objective
Daneri's speech was interrupted by another call from Brigadier Fabri, reaffirming the order to leave and shoot down any plane over Buenos Aires. The Aeroparque Metropolitano and Ezeiza International Airport were already closed, and a commercial plane from Colonia had to turn back.
Meanwhile, the attack squadron, led by Frigate Captain Guaita, arrived in the city center and circled over the Río de la Plata, awaiting improved weather conditions.
As President and Commander-in-Chief, the President should have taken personal charge of the repression, but he chose to delegate command to General Lucero and seek protection for himself.
Lucero urgently summoned the main military commanders to a meeting at the Ministry of the Army, and as a result, he ordered the mobilization of the historic "General San Martín" Cavalry Grenadier Regiment, responsible for protecting the President and the enlistment of the powerful "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment to defend the Libertador Building. All military units, including firefighters and police, were placed on alert, and nearby regiments were enlisted to defend the government.
Tension gripped the official offices as time passed, knowing that hostile planes were approaching the city, and preparations were underway to counter the uprising. The Navy School of Mechanics was folded into the uprising, necessitating measures to protect the government headquarters.
Defensive positions were established around the Casa Rosada, with firing sections supported by heavy machine guns. Anti-aircraft artillery was installed on the palace roofs, and command posts were set up in strategic locations. The Army positioned anti-aircraft artillery around Plaza de Mayo, the Cathedral, and the Cabildo, and mobilized the 3rd Grenadier Squad from Palermo.
The Regiment of Grenadiers on Horseback took positions in the government palace, armed and dressed in combat uniforms, while their leaders gave audible commands.
General Lucero displayed a high level of professionalism by implementing correct defensive measures to counter the uprising.
Av. Paseo Colon. Sector in which the main land combats took place. In the background the Libertador Building, headquarters of the Ministry of the Army
Around 12:20 p.m., he had all Army units and loyal forces prepared for mobilization and ready to initiate operations.
The grenadiers stationed at the Government House were under the command of Lieutenant José María Gutiérrez, their guard chief. Lieutenant Gutiérrez was located on the first floor, near the White Room, where an assistant sergeant named Alvarez commanded another heavy machine gun. Additionally, a dozen soldiers equipped with Mauser rifles were stationed on Rivadavia Street, supported by a similar 12.7-caliber piece, with similar devices deployed at the entrances to Balcarce Street and at the back, facing Paseo Colón. Furthermore, 12.7 machine guns were placed at each corner of the terrace, each served by four soldiers under a non-commissioned officer's command.
One striking observation made by scholars and analysts is that the population was never alerted about the imminent events. Between 8:35 and 9:00 a.m., Perón held a brief meeting with the North American ambassador, Albert Nuffert, in his office. Fifteen minutes later, he left for the nearby Libertador Building, the Ministry of the Army's imposing headquarters, without issuing any alerts or taking measures to prevent people from being near Plaza de Mayo. There were no traffic closures, no orders to evacuate the Government House, and no alarms sounded to warn the public.
Life in Buenos Aires continued as usual, with no disruptions.
Meanwhile, at the Ezeiza International Airport, the rebel forces received the first DC-3 and DC-4 planes from the Navy, transporting Marines from the Punta Indio Naval Air Base along with the necessary ground personnel for maintenance, equipment, and refueling tasks.
The infantrymen disembarked and took up combat positions in various buildings while the planes took off again to gather more troops.
During this time, the attacking squadron continued to fly in circles over the city and the river, awaiting improved weather conditions. The North American single-seaters were starting to run low on fuel, and some had to land at Ezeiza to refuel.
The civilian employees at the air station were astonished to discover bombs under the wings of the AT-6s. They attempted to communicate with the capital to find out what was happening but found that the communication lines had been cut. Nonetheless, one of the employees, Eduardo Maidana, managed to establish contact with the State Information Service and reported the events. Consequently, an order was given to machine-gun the rebel planes stationed at the airport.
Due to the severed communications between the attack squadron and the rebel command, Captain Noriega instructed Lieutenant Carlos García, a pilot of one of the AT-6s, to land at Ezeiza Airport and seek information.
Upon reaching the airport, the pilot hurried to Captain Bassi, who was in charge of the air station, to carry out the order. As time passed, anxiety and tension increased among the rebel forces.
Captain Bassi contacted the Ministry of the Navy to request instructions as tempers began to flare due to the prolonged lack of communication and the unfavorable weather conditions. After a considerable delay, the order was finally given to attack, and García rushed to relay it to the squadron. It was precisely at that moment when an Army helicopter landed near the massive Libertador Building, a mere four blocks away from the rebel stronghold.
More than three hours before this, General Perón had entered the Army headquarters, accompanied by his escort of grenadiers. He was on the 3rd floor of the building when the order to attack was issued by the rebel command. Generals Lucero and Sosa Molina, Brigadier San Martín, Vice President Alberto Teissaire, and other civil and military officials were present with him. Around 12:30, Admirals Ramón Brunnet and Gastón Lestrade joined them.
The newcomers briefed the president on the situation, confirming the Navy's rebellion, the thwarting of the CONINTES Plan, and the attempted neutralization of the Navy School of Mechanics. While listening to the report, a significant defense operation was being assembled at the Ministry of the Army, amid a frantic movement.
Unexpectedly, after noon, the weather conditions showed signs of improvement. The ceiling rose from 200 to 400 meters, and gaps started to appear in the clouds. It was precisely at that moment that the naval air squadron launched the attack.
-Accomplish the objective – the commander was ordered- Again: Accomplish the objective.
As the clouds started to clear, the Navy aviators could make out the key landmarks of the capital city, which served as important reference points for their forthcoming actions. These landmarks included the Government House, the Ministry of the Army, the Ministry of the Navy, the Ministry of Communications, the Argentine Electricity Company with its smoke-emitting chimneys, the Cathedral, the Cabildo, the port area, Plaza de Mayo, and Paseo Colón avenue.
Upon receiving the attack order, Captain Noriega promptly communicated it to his squadron units and immediately initiated the launching run:
-Comply with the “Ministry of the Navy” plan –he communicated over the radio- Open floodgates. Ready to drop loads (3).
The naval squadron was divided into two sections. The first, which made up the bulk of the formation, headed directly towards Government House while the second did so towards secondary objectives.
Attacking planes
In their attack run, after making a sharp turn over the Río de la Plata and flying over Puerto Nuevo, the bombers opened the hatches and pounced on the targets.
Captain Guaita's bombs were the first to fall. One of them missed the Casa Rosada and hit a trolley bus full of passengers that burst into flames. The second impacted the seat of government, causing the first damage to its structure.
The trolleybus rose into the air and fell again, its occupants perishing from splinters and the terrible shock wave.
He was followed, one after another, by the remaining four Beechkrafts as they dropped their respective explosive charges.
The impacts and explosions were so violent that the unsuspecting passers-by who were passing through Plaza de Mayo and the adjacent streets began to run desperately in search of protection. The show was amazing. Buenos Aires became the first capital of the continent to suffer a major aerial bombardment.
As the people fled in terror, the anti-aircraft batteries opened fire in return. For the pilots it was terrifying to observe the tracers passing just a few centimeters from their aircraft and even worse, when they began to impact their structures. Guaita's plane was hit in one of its wings, very close to the oil tank, and Lieutenant Irigoin's plane received an impact that went through the door and cut a cable tube that left him cut off from the rest of the squadron. The shot was very close to killing the mechanical corporal Francisco Calvi who, as has been said, was acting as an assistant.
Photomontage of the attack on Government House
Captain Noriega threw his bombs behind Guaita. "I wish luck for the country," he thought as he activated the lever. One of them passed by and hit the Ministry of Finance, causing doors and windows to be blown up, as well as some fires and serious damage to its masonry; the second projectile hit the Government House, generating new damage. What was really dramatic was that many of the passers-by had taken refuge in the aforementioned ministry at a time when its structure was receiving much of the attack.
The anti-aircraft batteries hit several of the planes without causing them serious damage, which allowed them, once the weight of the bombs had been released, to gain altitude and move away quickly towards Ezeiza in order to replenish weapons and fuel.
Behind the Beechkrafts came the North American AT-6s, dropping their dive bombs and climbing to recompose their formation above the clouds. The damage they caused was tremendous. One of the projectiles exploded in the presidential office; another produced a huge hole in the northeast corner of the Ministry of Finance, two more hit the street, a fifth hit the access steps leading to Hipólito Yrigoyen, and another hit the sidewalks of Paseo Colón, between Yrigoyen and Alsina. The bombs had been dropped from a height of 400 meters, when they were prepared to do so from 1000, which is why some of them failed to explode. In any case, the damage was enormous and the cost in lives tremendous.
While a thick column of smoke rose into the skies from the Government House, numerous corpses lay scattered in the streets, all of them civilians who were passing through the place at the time of the attack. Bodies riddled with splinters and a large number of wounded lamenting on the pavement, in many cases horribly mutilated, were observed. The drama was just beginning.
-Advance captain! – Rear Admiral Toranzo Calderón ordered Captain Argerich on the ground floor of the Ministry of the Navy.
Accompanied by his chief of operations, Lieutenant Carlos Recio, Argerich swiftly reached the exterior and boarded the jeep, which led a column consisting of three trucks, with his expectant men waiting inside.
The formation proceeded along Cangallo Street, and upon reaching Leandro N. Alem Avenue, they made a left turn, heading directly towards the government palace.
Just 30 meters away from the Juan de Garay statue, the vehicles executed a 180º turn and came to a stop, with their rear ends facing the Casa Rosada.
A hundred and fifty Marines swiftly disembarked onto the pavement, splitting into two sections. One group, under the command of Lieutenant Carlos Sommariva, took up positions to the northeast, very close to where the trucks had halted. The other section, led by an equally ranked officer, Menotti Alejandro Spinelli, crossed the avenue and positioned themselves at Plaza Colón, facing the rear facade of the imposing building, near the now-absent service station of the Automóvil Club Argentino.
The scene that unfolded was horrifying. Multiple columns of smoke billowed into the sky from various locations. People fled in terror, a trolleybus smoldered in the distance with its occupants tragically trapped inside, and numerous lifeless bodies were strewn about, amid the wounded, dying individuals, and vehicles engulfed in flames.
One of the bombs impacts near the statue of General Belgrano. In the background the Banco Nación building
Dense columns rise towards the overcast sky from Av. Paseo Colón. On the right, the Casa Rosada
A passerby runs between corpses and rubble
A splinter has amputated this woman's right leg. Perón did not warn the population about the imminence of the attack despite the three hours that elapsed since the first alert.
Victims of the brutal attack lie everywhere
This horrifying photograph shows a charred body among the ruins of a building
Dozens of corpses line the streets
Terrible image of the trolleybus hit by a bomb
Argerich gave the last instructions stressing that the civilians with white armbands were friends and therefore should not be shot.
The first thing he managed to see was the machine gun located in the side window of Rivadavia street, next to which the lieutenant of the Grenadiers José María Gutiérrez and the assistant sergeant Álvarez were stationed, and with the intention of neutralizing it, he raised his weapon and swept the position with intermittent discharges.
Gutiérrez and Álvarez moved away from the window in time, while the glassware in the room exploded into pieces. Seized with live fury, they both returned to their posts, and after taking the weapon, the first drew the safety and the second fired.
A volley of bullets passed between Argerich and Lieutenant Recio, forcing the infantrymen to seek protection in the Recova of Paseo Colón. Meanwhile, Company No. 1, with Lieutenant Montiquín's machine gun section, retreated in the direction of the Ministry of the Navy, beaten by heavy fire from Casa Rosada.
The surprise factor had been lost and for that reason, the assault on the government headquarters was an impossible task. As planned, Lieutenant Sommariva ordered his section to withdraw along Paseo Colón, in stages and with the support of the parties, seeking the shelter of the buildings and while they did so, his troops received the encouragement of numerous opposition civilians. Perón who had taken shelter behind cars, walls and columns.
Frigate Captain Juan Carlos Argerich
Lieutenant Spinelli, who firmly maintained his positions because he had not received the order to withdraw, was locked in an intense fight with the grenadiers who defended the Government House. The shrapnel and rifle fire, the shouts of the combatants and the howling of the ambulances, which courageously braved the fire to evacuate the wounded, had prevented him from hearing her.
While these actions were taking place, the alarm squadron of the VII Morón Air Brigade was flying towards the center of the city, made up of four fast Gloster Meteor FMk IVs propelled by their powerful Roll Royce turbines, each armed with four Hispano Suizos cannons of 20mm. The formation was headed by its leader, Lieutenant Juan García, in command of the device registration I-039, followed by First Lieutenant Mario Olezza in registration I-077, Lieutenant Osvaldo Rosito in I-090 and Lieutenant Ernesto Adradas in the I-063, which left minutes later because its right engine had starting problems. Their mission: to shoot down any rebel aircraft they came across.
Peronist militiamen and workers shoot at the Ministry of the Navy (Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, La Revolución del 55)
Peronist workers advance behind a tank towards the Ministry of the Navy (Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, La Revolución del 55)
The Gloster Meteors reached the area of operations and once there, they informed their base that nothing abnormal was observed over Government House. Despite this, they confirmed that they would remain in place, flying in a circle, waiting for the enemy and that they would report any news.
No more than a few minutes had passed when Lieutenant García detected in the distance a formation of two naval planes moving away in a northerly direction, which he hastened to notify the Morón tower.
-Proceed to shoot it down! - was the order he received.
García transmitted the directive to his men and his squadron staggered to the left, throwing himself behind the fugitive aircraft piloted by Lieutenant Máximo Rivero Kelly and midshipman Arnaldo Román.
The naval aviators had separated from the main group because of the fog and had just flown over the headquarters of the "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment without attacking it because by then their units had left for the area of operations. Roman had escorted one of the Beechcrafts and, like his partner, was low on fuel and still carrying his bombs. Consequently, at the time of being detected, both were preparing to land at the Aeroparque with the fuel gauge reading zero.
The rebel aviators were flying over the breakwater of the Club de Pescadores, when the Gloster Meteors intercepted them and opened fire. The discharges passed a few centimeters from Rivero Kelly, who, to avoid being hit, rose to 700 meters and when he was flying over San Isidro he hid in the clouds.
Román, who was piloting the AT-6 serial 3A-23, was about to land when the tracers passed under his aircraft. As if driven by an internal force beyond his control, he attempted an evasive maneuver by turning upward to the right but suddenly ran into Lieutenant Ernesto Adradas's serial I-063 fighter that opened fire on him and hit him squarely.
Román's cockpit exploded into pieces, injuring the pilot in the head, his tank was punctured and the right wing began to catch fire.
Seeing that the controls did not respond to him, he abandoned all attempt to keep the aircraft from him and proceeded to eject. At 500 meters high, he opened the cabin, unfastened the belt that held him to the seat, stood up and, driven by the wind, jumped into the void.
Gloster Meteor of the 7th Air Brigade
The naval plane was hurtling toward the river as Roman flipped in the air and pulled the ring to deploy his parachute. He slowly fell over the dark waters of La Plata with his life jacket inflated, in full view of several onlookers who were on Costanera Avenue.
Moving to the rhythm of the swell, he got rid of all the equipment that was in his way (helmet, parachute and belts), and lightened, he tried to stay afloat, noticing that his boots were filling with water. If he hadn't counted on the life preserver, he surely would have drowned.
Roman managed to make out his plane floating in the distance and then saw it disappear under the water, swallowed by the current. He had just starred in the first downing of an Argentine aircraft in combat and had taken part in the true baptism of fire of the Air Force and Naval Aviation. However, the valiant pilot did not have time to think about such things, since although he had just miraculously saved his life, the danger had not passed.
While trying to stay afloat, Román saw a buoy that was slowly wobbled in the distance and he began to swim towards it, however, after five minutes he realized that a boat from the Naval Prefecture was moving directly towards him.
The boat came to a stop alongside him, with several men pointing their weapons at him, ready to mow him down if he made a wrong move. They took him out of the water and as a prisoner they took him to the Río de la Plata Sub-prefecture, on the North Dock, where he was detained and held incommunicado.
The fighting has ceased. This old photograph shows some of the damage to the rooftops of the Casa Rosada. In the background the palace of the Ministry of Communications. On the right the Ministry of the Navy. Behind, the port sector.
Another view of the roofs of the Government House
Citizens with several corpses shortly after the actions ended.
Destroyed vehicles on Av. Paseo Colón
Ruined buildings on Paseo Colón
Another view of the damage on Av. Paseo Colón
Riddled front of the Ministry of Economy and Finance
Damage to the Casa Rosada
State in which the interior of the Casa Rosada was left
More damage abroad
Meanwhile, the loyalist squadron, under the command of First Lieutenant García, made a new pass over the area of operations and, not spotting enemy planes, concluded their mission by returning to Morón in diamond formation.
The Gloster Meteors touched down at 1:30 p.m., almost at the same moment that Lieutenant Máximo Rivero Kelly was flying over the area towards the Ezeiza International Airport.
Shortly after the loyalist pilots dismounted and informed their superiors of the details of their mission, the VII Air Brigade received orders to attack Ezeiza. Once the directive was given, Vice Commodore Carlos Alberto Síster, a loyal Peronist pilot and commander of the First Squadron, offered to lead the operation.
Síster proceeded to put on his combat suit and when he was ready, he boarded the device registration I-352, from whose cabin he requested instructions from the tower. They arrived almost instantly, clear and concise:
-“Go to Ezeiza and machine-gun planes on the ground. Pass at maximum speed since there are artillery pieces in the sector”.
The Vice Commodore left alone because at the time of taking off, his number suffered a malfunction in one of its turbines that forced him to remain on the ground. At a time when he was giving maximum power to his turbines and preparing to start taxiing, Lieutenant Rivero Kelly's aircraft passed over the brigade heading towards the International Airport.
That generated some confusion since the rebel troops from the Aeronautics Department, led by Commander Agustín de la Vega, had agreed with the Navy authorities that the passage of a naval plane was going to be the signal that the uprising was underway and that they were to proceed to seize the unit. Without meaning to, Rivero Kelly had led the conspirators to believe that the plan was developing according to plan and failing that, they proceeded to take over the unit.
De La Vega only had the support of his assistant, Eduardo Wilkinson, but when he announced that the base had been taken, seven of his officers, known to be anti-Peronists, immediately sided with him, as did the garrison dentist, armed with a gun.
Wielding machine guns, De La Vega and his people reduced eighteen NCOs from the squad, locking them in a hangar near the detachment building. Immediately afterwards, they gathered a total of 180 conscript soldiers and in front of them they headed for the main building, which they arrived at at a time when Sister was taking flight. The rest of the pilots were in their planes, ready to go into action when the insurgents showed up.
Brigadier Mario Emilio Daneri, Commodore Soto, commander of the brigade, and the head of Fighter Group 3, Vice Commodore Orlando Pérez Laborda, were reduced. Soto tried to confront the rebels but De La Vega, pointing his pistol at him, ordered him to stay put. Immediately afterwards, he ordered them to drop their weapons, raise their hands and walk towards the pilots' room where, finally, they were locked up.
Captains Carlos Enrique Carús and Orlando Arrechea proceeded to arrest the pilots who were awaiting orders in their planes, leading them at gunpoint to the same room where their superiors had been held. In this way, they were masters of the situation, with the VII Brigade in their power.
While this was happening in Morón, Vice Commodore Síster was flying to Ezeiza, the so-called “Red Base” of the rebels, determined to fulfill his mission. With the buildings of the air station looming on the horizon, the determined Peronist pilot began to descend while taking control of his board and adjusting the attack device, aiming at the units that were on the main runway.
Bassi and the recently landed Noriega and Sánchez Sabarots saw him drop from the clouds and head directly towards them while he opened fire with his cannons.
Base personnel quickly scattered for cover as bullets rattled the asphalt and ricocheted in different directions. The three chiefs ran towards a nearby ditch to throw themselves into it at a time when Síster caught up with Rivero Kelly's AT-6.
Sister rose and, looking down, identified many of the planes that had participated in the attack on Government House, that is, the twelve North American, and one of the Beechkraft twin-engines, stopped along with two transports and a Catalina.
The aviator headed towards them again, firing resolutely at the single-engines, without being able to hit them due to poor visibility. Still, he riddled the structure of Beechkraft registration 3B-11, knocking it out.
During the attack, he hit a passenger plane of the Scandinavian commercial airline SAS and another of Aerolíneas Argentinas that were nearby, generating the usual panic and concern among the passengers and the crew.
Military and civilian personnel were running for cover when Sister's shots peppered the platforms. The SAS plane, which was due to return to Sweden that same morning, received six cannon hits on the fuselage and the Aerolíneas Argentinas plane between two and three.
On board the Catalina, midshipman Osvaldo Pedroni returned fire, firing from one of the rear machine guns and from the ditch in which he had taken cover, Captain Sánchez Sabarots, moved more by his instincts than by reason, standing with his pistol in hand and emptied the magazine, to no avail.
During his third pass, Sister's cannons jammed, which is why the brave aviator turned back to his base, landing safely fifteen minutes later. His surprise was great when he saw Captain Carlos E. Carús approaching him pointing his pistol at him from his cabin. He was forced to get out, place his hands on his head and walk towards the pilot's room where he was housed together with the rest of the prisoners.
During all this, in the Ministry of War, General Perón, visibly nervous, had completely delegated command to General Lucero and remained on the sidelines, awaiting events.
Lucero had arranged to defend the Ministry and the life of the president by placing heavy machine guns in the windows of the building and reinforcing his defense with cadres and units of the "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment.
From those positions, he ordered to open fire against the Infantry troops located in front of the Government House, beating the area where they were deployed. At the same time, he ordered certain military units to control points considered suspicious, such as the El Palomar Air Base and the Navy Mechanics School, dispatching General José Domingo Molina, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, to the latter, who set up his command post in dependencies of the I Motorized Division, in the Palermo barracks, to which the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments depended, under the command of General Ernesto Fatigatti.
The one who advanced directly to the battle without knowing what was really happening was Captain Marcelo Amavet, head of the 3rd. Squadron of the Presidential Escort Regiment who, at the head of his column, had left Palermo before beginning the bombardment, unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
Amavet took the customary road in times of peace, that is to say Av. Libertador (formerly Alvear) and then Leandro N. Alem, to go directly to the government palace with his vehicles, a bus and two trucks, full of conscripts.
General Franklin Lucero
For its part, the section of the 4th Marine Infantry Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Menotti Alejandro Spinelli, continued to fight clinging to its positions, between the Automóvil Club Argentino service station and Plaza Colón, while being harshly harassed by the grenadiers from the Government House and the forces stationed in the Libertador Building.
Spinelli, who was shooting from the square together with midshipman Antonio Pozzi, ordered the troops closest to him to shoot at the tires of the few cars that were desperately trying to withdraw from the area in order to obtain better cover. Ignorant of Captain Argerich's retreat, he arranged to send the main corporal Juan Carlos López to request instructions, almost at the precise moment when a woman ran through the place at full speed, crying and screaming in terror, her face covered in blood.
Time passed desperately slowly and as Corporal López did not arrive, Spinelli ordered his men to move towards the rear to take cover from the machine guns that were firing non-stop from the Casa Rosada. For this he called the conscript Menafra, and ordered him to leave following the instructions that López did not bring.
Menafra made to run quickly in compliance with the directive but after a few meters he fell seriously injured, hit by shots.
While the bullets were ringing around the conscript, who was rolling on the pavement due to intense pain, the Escort Regiment arrived in the sector, placing its vehicles in the line of fire of the Marines.
Seeing that the column was going to stop under the lateral esplanade of Rivadavia and Paseo Colón (the place where the troops usually got off), Spinelli understood that those reinforcements constituted a death sentence for his platoon and for that reason, he ordered to open fire. .
A rain of lead fell on the motorized column, claiming the lives of several men. One of the shots hit the head of conscript Rafael Inchausti, bus driver, killing him instantly, and wounding his companions.
With the soldier dead at the wheel, the truck continued to move very slowly towards the center of the street, while it continued to receive impacts on its structure. The Navy shooters also shot down the other two drivers, conscripts Ramón Cárdenas and Oscar Dresich, almost at the same moment that the first truck began to catch fire.
On board the vehicles, everything was chaos and confusion, and if more soldiers did not die, it was because of the iron cover provided by the defenders of the Government House. The combat then turned furious, increasing the number of wounded on both sides, especially on board the bus and trucks.
The grenadiers jumped out and while some sought cover behind them, the rest ran towards the government palace, bullets ringing around them.
Officer Mario Davico stopped next to one of the palm trees at the entrance to Rivadavia, right next to one of the unexploded bombs that the Naval Aviation had dropped minutes before, and there he remained motionless. From the building, his companions hurried him to enter because, by drawing fire on himself, it was likely that one of the bullets would detonate the device.
Meanwhile, the combat intensified with the Marines, who still held on to their positions, returning fire with determination, even when they understood that the assault on the government headquarters was impossible and that all contact with their boss, Captain Argerich, it had been cut off.
The chiefs of the Horse Grenadier Regiment, thinking that the air attacks would not be repeated, decided to lower one of the heavy machine guns to place it in the esplanade sector while, from his position, First Lieutenant Carlos Mulhall ordered the evacuation of the wounded soldiers. .
So it was when suddenly two Beechkraft twins came flying low from the west.
Seeing them coming, the troops stationed on the roof of the Government House opened fire while its occupants inside took cover.
Spinelli was relieved when he saw the bombers but was startled when they dropped their bombs because it seemed to him that they were going to hit his position. He covered his head, closed his eyes tightly and waited, but the projectiles fell on the government palace, causing new fires and damage.
It was at that moment that the Marine officer decided to withdraw his company, which had been badly hit by enemy fire, and in this sense, he gave precise instructions.
By then, the civilian commandos headed by Lieutenant of the Navy (RE) Siro de Martini, had taken over the facilities of Radio Miter, in Arenales 1925 and after reducing the personnel at gunpoint, they forced the announcer Alberto Palazón to read out the revolutionary proclamation. His text was as follows:
Argentinians, Argentinians! Listen to this announcement from Heaven, finally overturned on Argentine land: the tyrant is dead! Our Homeland from today is free: God be praised. Armed Forces of the Nation with the solidarity of civilian sectors representative of the Argentine democratic orientation, inspired by the ideals that have illuminated our nationality since May, are rebelling at this moment against tyranny, to restore the validity of public morality, punish the responsible, restore justice and return to the people the essential instrument of their freedoms. They face this supreme decision before verifying that they were on their way to spiritually destroy the country, due to rampant corruption; And they are determined to do it with reckless urgency because of the conviction that the people have lost the legal possibility of forming, expressing and defending their spontaneous will! 4
But Perón had not died, far from it, but from the 5th floor of the Libertador Building, he followed the development of events expectantly.
The reading of the proclamation was answered by another from the CGT, issued by its general secretary, Héctor Hugo Di Pietro through various frequencies. It said:
Companions! On Tuesday the CGT issued a slogan: Alert! The time has come to fulfill it. All the workers of the Federal Capital and Greater Buenos Aires must immediately concentrate in the surroundings of the CGT, Independencia and Azopardo. All means of mobility must be taken, by hook or by crook. Comrades!: in the surroundings they will give you instructions. The General Confederation of Labor calls you to defend our leader! Focus immediately without violence 5.
And the people did not wait. The working crowd, inflamed by its leaders, approached different means and went to the indicated places ready to fight. On the way, he assaulted several armories, including the traditional “Razetti” House, seizing rifles, revolvers, pistols, and knives, and after destroying the wooden palisades of several buildings under construction, he obtained clubs and iron objects.
Alberto Palazón, speaker of Radio Mitre
The mob arrived at the combat zone from all corners of the capital, suburban towns, and even from the city of La Plata, aboard trucks, buses, automobiles, trains, and all means of transportation that could be requisitioned to their transfer, many of them made available by the Eva Perón Foundation.
There were truly incredible scenes, when dozens of workers and employees crossed the streets in the midst of the infernal shooting and took cover in the adjacent buildings to advance in groups and occupy positions immediately near the Government House. In the moments of greatest danger, more people were seen running along Paseo Colón and also terrified passers-by who, trapped by the shooting, tried to protect themselves as best they could.
The irresponsible call of the CGT and its insane encouragement of the mob was the cause of so many civilian victims.
With the noise of the shots as background music, the workers cheered Perón showing an irreducible will to fight until the last consequences. At the same time, the Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista, the fearsome Peronist strike force led by Guillermo Patricio Kelly, urged the population from its headquarters on Av. Corrientes and San Martín, to arm themselves in defense of Perón. Its militants provided numerous civilians with weapons, sending them immediately to the combat zone with the express indication to die in defense of their leader. It was about 200 or 300 fans, many of them fearsome Ante Pavelic Ustachas, identified with the eagle bracelet and the group's acronym, giving instructions out loud, brandishing rifles, pistols and machine guns.
The group sent a truck to the door of its headquarters and after filling it with militiamen and armed workers, drove it towards the front lines of the struggle, escorted by several vehicles and followed by groups on foot who ran behind, shouting slogans in favor of Perón. .
Upon reaching Paseo Colón, the Alianzas ordered the occupants of the truck to get off the ground and encouraging them with cries of war and death, they urged them to get going, which they did with great determination.
-Alliance comrades, let's attack the Ministry!!
While militants and workers were heading towards the rebel headquarters, in the arcades of the Cabildo a second alliance group urged another significant number of workers to go to the CGT to obtain weapons. The improvised troop boarded two trucks and shouted “Perón or death! Life for Perón! ”, He set off at full speed, followed by people on foot.
At that time, the headquarters of the Navy began preparations for its defense since an assault on the position became imminent. It was known at that time that Army units, especially those of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, were converging on the center of the capital in defense of Perón and it was necessary to add their support.
The regiment, a powerful combat unit based in La Tablada, had been placed on alert the night before and at 12:30 on the 16th, received the order to enlist. Shortly after the bombardment occurred, they began the march on the epicenter of the city, dividing into two columns equipped with Oerlikon cannons. The first, under the command of Major Juan Carlos Vita, took Av. Crovara in the direction of Plaza de Mayo ready to join the defense of the Government House and the second did the same towards the Ezeiza International Airport with the mission of seizing which, until then, was one of the most important centers of the rebellion.
Major Vita's section crossed Av. San Martín, a few blocks from Av. General Paz when three naval planes pounced on it, machine-gunning and bombing it. The raid caused the death of three conscripts (one of them the class 34 soldier Rubén Criscuolo) and wounded several of his companions. The splinters also killed an old man who was left lying on the asphalt, at the corner of Crovara and San Martín, one of the many casualties that were not counted that day.
The regiment stopped its march and aiming its anti-aircraft guns repelled the aggression, hitting one of the planes and forcing the other two to withdraw while the passers-by fled in terror from the sector.
At 2:00 p.m. the section arrived at Plaza de Mayo divided into two columns. The first, led by Major Vita, moved forward to reconnoitre the area just as the government headquarters was being attacked by Lieutenant Spinelli's platoon, and the second halted to await instructions.
At that time, First Lieutenant Mulhall was in charge of two of the three heavy machine guns that had been mounted on the roofs of Government House, the third having jammed and was out of service. Short of ammunition, he ordered one of the soldiers next to him to go in search of a new supply while he continued to beat the enemy.
The grenadier and a comrade left hastily and returned immediately with several boxes and bands of bullets. Mulhall asked them to accommodate them and then to retire and the two conscripts were locked in when suddenly the soldier Víctor Enrique Navarro fell face down, victim of a shot to the head. Civilian snipers located on the roof of Banco Nación and the windows of the Ministry of Technical Affairs (Leandro N. Alem and 25 de Mayo), had shot down the conscript.
Outraged, Mulhall pointed towards the roof of the bank and fired several bursts, sweeping the position while 20 and 40 mm pieces from the recently arrived 3rd Infantry Regiment did the same on the mentioned ministry.
Navarro's was one of the many useless deaths that occurred that day. Mulhall, embarrassed, covered the conscript with a cloak and there he remained waiting next to his corpse, the development of new facts.
Such was the firepower and combativeness of Spinelli's people that the chiefs who defended the Government House, Guillermo Gutiérrez and Ernesto D'Onofrio, asked their regiment for new reinforcements.
Once the information was received, the grenadiers enlisted troops and at around 2:00 p.m. they left Palermo, under the command of First Lieutenant Roberto D'Amico. They had with them three Sherman tanks, two "Carrier" half-tracks equipped with heavy machine guns and several trucks and buses loaded with conscripts who, seized with enthusiasm and much unconsciousness, fervently wanted to go into action.
As they passed through the gates of the unit, the troops who were to remain in place guarding the facilities greeted his departure by cheering and cheering Perón together with a group of civilians who had come in search of information.
Members of the Cavarly Grenadier Regiment who took part in the defense of the Government House armed with Halcón submachine guns (Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, La Revolución del 55) After the fight, a group of Grenadiers poses next to a tank from the Buenos Aires Motorized Regiment (Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, La Revolución del 55)
Defenders of the Government House after the fighting
The column took Cabildo avenue, continuing later on Santa Fe after leaving behind Puente Pacífico, Plaza Italia and the Botanical Garden. Upon reaching Callao, he turned to the right and taking Corrientes, he reached Diagonal Norte, passing next to the obelisk. Continuing along Av. Diagonal Norte, it left the historic Cabildo on its right and immediately after it ended at Plaza de Mayo to continue along Rivadavia amid intense shrapnel fire.
The motorized unit stopped next to the main door of the government palace, allowing the riflemen of the 2nd Squadron to enter inside and take up their positions. Immediately afterwards, D'Amico gave a series of instructions and began the advance on Lieutenant Spinelli's positions.
The Marines fought with unusual courage, hitting the metal structures of the armored vehicles that were on top of them with their bursts. Their bullets bounced dangerously off their structures and were fired threateningly in different directions, endangering the military cadres and the Peronist militiamen who were in the surroundings.
With D'Amico pulling half of his body out of the turret of his tank and firing the machine gun, the column began to move while the "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment did the same from the Ministry of the Army under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Marcos Ignacio. calm.
Calmón divided his force into three sections, taking position in the center. The idea was to engulf the enemy in a pincer movement and penetrate the middle like a battering ram. Column No. 1 should face the Marines; the second would advance through the immediate sector of the port and the third would do the same following the railways that linked the docks with the Retiro station.
When the tanks started moving, numerous civilians followed them running behind, some ready to fight and others determined to help the soldiers, be it by handing them ammunition, water for the machine guns and even acting as liaisons.
The situation with the civilians began to get out of control since, in their eagerness to take part in the fight and defend Perón, they began to hinder the movements of the forces of repression. Many of them fell riddled with bullets by the infantrymen and others were wounded, requiring their evacuation.
Around the CGT and other immediate points to the Government House, more than 50,000 workers eager to intervene in the fight came to congregate, a truly worrying figure if we take into account the magnitude of the combats that were taking place around the House. of Governmenti, unique due to their characteristics, in the history of America. When Perón from the Ministry of the Army learned what was happening, he sent his nephew, Major Ignacio Cialcetta, with the order to issue the directive that the situation should be controlled and the sector immediately cleared.
Cialcetta ran towards the exit and gained the exterior, where thousands of workers awaited news.
-"Everyone to the CGT," he shouted loudly, "Clear the area!
At that time, trucks from the Post Office and a jeep from the Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista distributed weapons among the civilians, making the situation unsustainable. When Cialcetta arrived at the workers' center and realized that the Army was in control, the mass of workers, fervent, rushed into the streets to join the column of tanks that were advancing on the sailors at that moment, the statement being correct. de Ruiz Moreno, that the harangue of Perón's nephew ended up producing the opposite effect to that expected.
The prevailing situation increased the concern of the rebel authorities who, from the Ministry of the Navy, were closely following the development of events. For this reason, the order of the owner of the weapon, Admiral Aníbal Olivieri, was final. The naval planes had to continue the attacks by adding two new objectives to the Government House: the CGT and Radio del Estado.
Toranzo Calderón, Gargiulo and the high officials supported the decision but the order, although it was given, was never received.
While the loyal forces advanced, the Ministry of the Navy organized their defense, stationing thirty marksmen on the lower floors assisted by twice as many conscripts.
The Peronist troops began to press hard on the positions of Lieutenant Spinelli, both from the Government House and from the Ministry of the Army, for which reason, after a quick analysis of the situation, seeing that his men were dispersed and several others seriously injured , the brave officer ordered the withdrawal, ordering intense fire in order to force the enemy to seek protection.
Spinelli himself set an example by getting up and throwing a grenade towards Government House that seriously injured Captain Marcelo Amavet and Second Lieutenant Camilo Gay when it exploded.
The Marines got up and those around Spinelli proceeded to load Midshipman Pozzi to drag him to the Automobile Club service station. At that moment, a mob of armed civilians, carrying a flag and cheering Perón, began to approach them threateningly, brandishing their weapons. Spinelli and his men pointed at them and fired several bursts of shrapnel at them, causing the death of some of them and serious injuries to the majority. Those that were not hit scattered hastily, desperately seeking cover.
Fired from various sectors, Lieutenant Spinelli's 2nd Section arrived at the service station building, verifying that from the dike area, in the port, the Naval Prefecture was also firing at them.
Waving at them with his right arm, he yelled at his men to hurry up as he tried to cover them with his automatic machine gun. According to Ruiz Moreno, the windows and lanterns of the service station shattered while the buzzer of an abandoned trolleybus a few meters away made the scene even more unreal.
Despite the withdrawal and the support that the soldiers gave each other, several of the infantrymen broke away from the main group and, being isolated, were taken prisoner, receiving severe beatings on some occasions from the angry civilians. A conscript named Jovanovich, finding himself lost, pretended to be seriously injured and threw himself to the ground. Once in the ambulance in which he was being evacuated, he got up, placed his pistol to the driver's head and forced him to take him to the Naval Arsenal.
In their retreat, the Marines suffered numerous casualties, among them Major Galileo Battilana, Marines Carlos Fernández, Antonio Massafra, Norberto Di Tomaso and Carlos Garofalo, and conscript Abel Lerner.
Massafra, seriously wounded in the legs, reached the Ministry of the Navy by his own means and Garofalo, hit when he was shooting melee from a flowerbed, was picked up by a nurse who took him by car to the same place.
From the Argentinian Automobile Club service station, several non-combat civilians kept cover, while the marines continued firing with determination and their wounded were assisted by the place employees.
Spinelli understood that he had to withdraw since, being surrounded by enemy forces, his situation became untenable. Given some directives, his men began a staggered withdrawal in the direction of the Ministry of the Navy at the precise moment when the troops of the "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment commanded by Captain Elicagaray were chasing them.
The loyalist forces tried to clear the service station, courageously defended by the platoon headed by Second Corporal Roberto Vivas, and the civilians continued to advance in large numbers, intermingled with the loyalist troops or in scattered groups, many of whom were killed as they crossed the road. line of fire or when running towards the enemy. The worst thing, according to Ruiz Moreno, was that armed workers continued to arrive from the towns of Greater Buenos Aires (the most important group, that of the Quilmes Breweries) and that several trucks advanced along Avenida de Mayo with people crammed into the box, who shouted pro-regime slogans. They all converged on the Ministry of the Army and the CGT, requesting weapons and when they did not obtain it, they provided themselves with what they could, that is, sticks, irons and chains, courageously and recklessly launching into combat.
Minister of the Navy
The Marine infantry continued their withdrawal in the middle of the fierce firefight, taking cover behind cars and any obstacle that served them to contain the hail of bullets when Spinelli ran alongside Corporal Silvero and the conscript Cofman, he noticed that three armed workers were chasing them. He was about to turn to fire at them when several rounds from the Ministry of the Navy felled their pursuers. In another sector, two other civilians carrying 45 pistols (possibly members of the Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista), followed in the footsteps of a dragon man who was about to be shot when soldier Marcos Robledo shot one down and forced the other to flee quickly.
Another force that was retreating, closely pursued by the mob, suddenly turned around and facing it, fired several bursts, killing a good number of workers while the bulk dispersed.
What was becoming desperate was the situation of the courageous non-commissioned officer Vivas who from the Automobile Club service station continued to cover the withdrawal of his companions. He was accompanied by three men who were firing incessantly while the badly wounded midshipman Pozzi lay under cover on the ground.
The five troops were already considered lost when, unexpectedly, a black car that had been zig-zags driven by conscript Pedro Lodeiro arrived at high speed.
The vehicle stopped next to the station building and from inside, its driver shouted for them to get on. The four fighters ran desperately and once inside they took off at high speed making their tires squeal on the pavement.
Lodeiro left his “passengers” at the Ministry of the Navy and returned via Pozzi, accompanied by midshipman Juan A. Dover, a member of the 1st Company of Battalion 4.
The car sped down Sarmiento Street while the shots rattled around it. The driver was trying to turn the vehicle upside down, facing the rebel base when two bullet holes pierced his windshield, without any of the occupants noticing.
Midshipman Dover hurriedly got out and ran to the building, astonished to see that Pozzi was not there. None of the civilians who took cover there (the employees of the Automobile Club, several passers-by, a terrified elderly couple and a nurse in a state of crisis) knew how to tell him what had happened to him, not even the only two soldiers left in the First, an Army soldier and a straggling Marine, the conscript Luis Croce, who he thought he had seen being evacuated by car to the Ministry, and nothing else.
By then the rebel situation was critical. Army tanks advanced followed by troops and militiamen; the Marines were giving ground and their headquarters threatened to be besieged.
Many of the infantrymen who had become detached from the main group during the retreat fell prisoners, as has been said; Others, after changing their uniforms for work clothes at the Automobile Club, moved concealed among the mob and several others had been evacuated by ambulances. For their part, the civilian commandos who were shooting at the loyal troops from the roofs of the Ministry of Technical Affairs began to receive fire and that ended up neutralizing them.
With the intention of stopping them, the second lieutenant of the grenadiers, Rodolfo Ríos, ran, pistol in hand, towards the government office and entered through the entrance on 25 de Mayo, followed by several civilians willing to do anything, including taking justice into their own hands. However, upon reaching the roofs, he verified that the commandos had disappeared, just like the group stationed at Banco Nación.
In the heat of combat, the Army tanks continued their advance towards the Ministry of the Navy with their commander, First Lieutenant Roberto D'Amico, firing the machine gun from the first lieutenant's turret. Sergeant Alvaro Doffi assisted him, guiding the driver because a very accurate shot had destroyed his periscope, leaving him without vision. From the armored vehicle that was advancing behind him, Sergeant Lorenzo Ordiz also activated his machine gun with half of his body outside the hatch and in one of the half-tracks, Sergeant José María Díaz did the same with his weapon, standing up, to aim better. However, several of those officers were wounded, among them Sergeant Humberto Pedro Raponi, in charge of caterpillar No. 2, and Captain Virgilio Di Paolo, hit in the shoulder while waving a flag next to D'Amico at the precise moment when the armored column moved along Sarmiento street, in front of the Central Post Office.
Once in front of the rebel ministry, D'Amico decided to open fire with the cannon of his tank so, at his order, the vehicle came within range, aimed and fired.
The projectile impacted squarely in the Admirals' Hall, at the height of the second floor, causing damage and fires.
At the Navy headquarters, the fire was called to order and the fire was extinguished, at the precise moment when First Lieutenant Rómulo Federici, chief of the 1st Battalion of the Anti-aircraft Section of the “Buenos Aires” Motorized Regiment, ordered to beat the sector with one of their 7.5 caliber Bofors, causing large explosions and further damage. During the advance, Captain Pascual de Candia, who led a platoon of the mentioned regiment, was seriously wounded.
To all this, in the Automobile Club station, midshipman Dover, surrounded by loyal troops, planned the escape together with his comrades, Lodeiro and Croce. To do this, he carried out a careful examination of the situation and understanding that the only way to escape was by wearing civilian clothes, he asked a station employee, a former Navy conscript, to lead him to a small room where there were some overalls. Upon arriving at the place, one of them proceeded to place himself (behind closed doors so as not to be seen by the men and women who had hidden in the building and by the loyal soldiers who surrounded the sector) and thus gained the exterior to get on the car in which they had arrived, followed by Lodeiro and Croce. It was then that the Army cash that had been hiding with them (whom Dover mistakenly assumed to be a rebel) appeared, pointing his pistol at them.
-Come on –he shouted while pointing at Dover's head- I have three of the Navy here!!
Hearing that, many of the workers who were running towards the Ministry of the Navy diverted their course and surrounded the prisoners. In view of the situation, Dover thought that both he and his companions were going to be lynched.
While the siege around the rebel redoubt was tightening, its head, Admiral Olivieri, who had dispatched Captain Horacio Mayorga to Ezeiza some time ago with the order to resume air strikes, decided to establish contact with General Lucero in order to reach reach an agreement and avoid a bloodbath.
Once the communication was achieved, Olivieri asked the Minister of the Army to appear at the headquarters of the Navy to speak, but he flatly refused, replying that it was he (Olivieri) who should go to his premises. Olivieri hung up but after a moment he called again. Lucero refused to attend to him and, faced with this fact and with the siege increasingly closed, he ordered the defenders to fire on the militiamen to prevent them from taking over the building, the heart of the Argentine Navy and the nerve center of the revolution.
The Peronist militiamen fired from various sectors using long weapons and even machine guns. A group of them tried to get closer to the building to throw explosives inside but it was rejected with machine gun fire that killed some of them. The fact clearly showed the intentions of the civilians to fight.
Olivieri called the Army Ministry again and when he was answered, he asked to speak with General Perón himself. This, like Lucero, also refused to serve him, telling Admirals Brunnet and Lestrade to deal with the rebel officer.
Olivieri told his comrades that he was determined to fight to the end and that the Navy, like the rest of the country, was fed up with the despotic and anarchic government of the first president.
-Tell him to leave or to throw out the corrupt and criminals that surround him, especially Borlenghi and Méndez San Martín.
Like all the affectionate entrenched in the rebel Ministry, the admiral was face down on the ground, between glass and remains of masonry.
Perón's response was an order to Lucero to end the matter once and for all. And Lucero, determined and sure, ordered the bombardment of the rebel headquarters with 80 mm pieces.
Ruiz Moreno refers that by then, the national authorities were convinced that the uprising was practically controlled and that at that point it was only limited to the Navy building because the Naval Aviation had not reappeared. A triumphant report was then issued especially for the units engaged in combat, whose highlighted paragraphs read: “Situation dominated. Units remain ready and vigilant. General Perón sends a big hug for absolute loyalty”. However, those who believed that were completely wrong.
The artillery units were preparing to open fire on the Ministry of the Navy when, at 3:20 p.m., loud voices from the roofs of the government palace raised the alarm.
-We are under attack!!!
Navy planes coming from the west reappeared over the skies of the city to unleash a second bombardment, much more violent than the previous one.
The new formation was led by Captain Imaz's Beechkraft 3B-3 and was received by intense anti-aircraft fire from the pieces located on the terraces of Government House, from the Oerlikon and Bofors of the Army located in Plaza de Mayo and from the sections anti-aircraft guns from the “Buenos Aires” Motorized Regiment that were deployed in the vicinity.
The planes arrived one after the other, flying low over Avenida de Mayo and Rivadavia. The 3B-3 received a hit that tore through its right wing, without exploding or damaging control cables or fuel tanks.
The plane dropped its bombs and began the escape route at the moment that Corporal Roberto Nava, who was acting as navigator, noticed that one of them was still hooked under the wing. Warned the co-pilot, Miguel Ángel Grondona, knowing the danger that this represented, left his seat and quickly went to the back to remove the parachutes from the places where they were stored and distribute them among the crew. Next, and in an act of great decision, he leaned out of the bomb rack and with half his body outside tried to disarm the fuze to avoid the explosion.
Helped by prompter Alex Richmond and Petty Officer Nava, Grondona managed to detach the bomb and put it inside the device, thus avoiding a real disaster. Under these conditions, the plane flew back to its base (Ezeiza International Airport), while furious fire was fired at it from the ground.
The Beechcrafts dropped their charges seriously damaging Government House and the surrounding area. Behind them, the North American AT-6s did the same, followed in turn by the three PBY Catalinas arriving from the Comandante Espora Naval Air Base.
The aircraft received intense anti-aircraft fire but fulfilled their mission when thirty-three bombs hit the target, twenty-six of which exploded. One of them hit the beach of the YPF Automobile Club service station, just 15 meters from its building, miraculously saving the lives of the three Marines who had just been surrounded by militiamen and loyal Army troops. . Precisely one of those civilians, the one who opened the door of the car in which the sailors were trying to flee, received almost all the splinters from the explosion on his body, dying instantly. That's what saved Dover from flying through the air to land on a mound of rubble.
When the smoke cleared, numerous corpses were found scattered around the place along with a large number of wounded who moaned pitifully. One of them lay lying without his right arm that flew and fell several meters away.
After the explosions, Conscript Croce, his head covered in blood, tried to get up, as did Dover. Lodeiro and the Army officer were unharmed, the latter still with his pistol in his hand, although deeply shocked and paralyzed by fear.
At that moment the ambulances arrived to evacuate the wounded and that saved the three sailors from a worse fate.
The anti-aircraft batteries responded to the attack by firing furiously, hitting one of the Catalinas, the aircraft registration 2P-9 piloted by Lieutenant Carlos Vélez, whose left wing and fuselage were perforated, seriously wounding Second Corporal Carlos Prudencio Sigot . The petty officer was removed from his seat by his companions and carefully deposited in one of the bunks on board.
What Perón and his collaborators did not expect was that elements of the Air Force would join the uprising.
Aircraft from the VII Air Brigade based in Morón took off at 15:31 under the command of Captain Carlos Carús, arriving at the combat zone behind the naval planes, flying at a very low altitude, over Rivadavia Avenue. They received intense fire from Plaza de Mayo and the rooftops of the Casa Rosada, but that did not stop them from carrying out their mission.
At the height of the Cabildo, the planes opened their lower hatches and rose to drop the bombs. Captain Carús did it first, followed by first lieutenants Luis A. Soto and Juan Carlos Carpio and lieutenants Guillermo Palacios and Enrique Marelli, who at the same time activated their cannons. The aircraft passed over the government headquarters, entered the Río de la Plata, made a wide turn over its waters and returned along the same path, machine-gunning the rear of the building.
Ruiz Moreno recounts that on his second pass, Carpio saw Lieutenant Mulhall recklessly firing from the roofs of Government House, in the most exposed sector and under a hail of bullets, and that aroused his admiration. "What the hell does that guy have!" He thought.
At that height of the events, the one who was completely dejected and depressed was Perón himself, who three hours after the attack began, had hit nothing.
In view of the seriousness of the situation, General Lucero, fearful of the president's safety, ordered him to go down with his companions from the 5th floor where his offices (Lucero's) were located to the 3rd basement, where they had organized a kind of bunker.
It was not, as has been said many times, the anti-nuclear bunker that the Justicialist leader had ordered to be built under the Alas building, of the Argentine Air Force, emblem of Peronist architecture, at that time the tallest tower in Buenos Aires, but rather the that had been hastily conditioned for that occasion in the third underground level of the current Libertador Building. 5
The details of the moral collapse of the first president would be recounted, later by Admiral Gastón Lestrade, a direct witness of the events.
Following Lucero's advice, Perón was preparing to take one of the elevators to go down to the Ministry's bunker when rebel planes attacked the building, injuring several soldiers and officials on different floors.
Armando Bonsegnor Farías, an accredited journalist from the newspaper "El Mundo", realized that the president was dangerously exposed and with total disregard for his safety, he ran up to him, took him by the arms and put him against a corner. immobilizing it.
-Stay here, general; Do not move! – She yelled at him while the projectiles rang everywhere.
Perón would never forget that gesture and some time later, he would give the journalist one of the Justicialista cars that his industry produced.
While the President of the Nation went down to the bunker followed by officials and officials in personal custody of him, the rebel Air Force planes passed over the Casa Rosada again, subjecting it to a new attack.
One of the pilots, Lieutenant Guillermo Palacio, had launched all of his projectiles in the first pass and, like his comrades, returned from the river firing their 20 mm cannons. But unlike those, moved by the hatred that the Justicialist leader inspired in him, he decided to release his 800-liter reserve tank located in the back of the fuselage, in order to serve as a napalm bomb.
The improvised projectile was ejected and began to fall spinning in the air, making the pilot think that it was going to hit the middle part of the building. However, not having the aerodynamic design of a conventional bomb, it went somewhat to the left and crashed into the adjacent parking lot, unleashing a large fire that destroyed several vehicles.
By then, the Government House offered a bleak appearance, with partial collapses and large holes in different parts of its structure.
The Communications offices were completely destroyed, with their perforated pipes, gas and water losses, power cuts and fires everywhere. The Ministry of Finance, the Mortgage Bank, the Automobile Club beach, the Hotel Mayo, on Hipólito Yrigoyen 420 and the building of the Patagonia Export and Import Company, on Av. Diagonal Norte 543, also had severe damage when they were hit. by projectiles of various calibers.
However, there was no certainty that the death of Perón, the main objective, had been achieved and as there was the possibility that he had taken refuge in the Unzué Palace, the presidential residence in the Recoleta neighborhood, located on Gelly and Obes 2289, a few meters from Plaza Francia, it was decided to carry out an attack on that sector.
Dantesque scenes in the vicinity of the Government House
Detail of the same scene
In compliance with this operation, the commanders of the "Red Base" (Ezeiza) dispatched Lieutenant Carlos J. Farguío to command the Beechcraft bomber, registration 3B-4, with the order to bomb the presidential residence, which at that time was guarded by a platoon of twenty-two men armed with PAM heavy machine guns, reinforced by two carriers stationed on the entrance to Calle Agüero. One of those soldiers was Antonio Perón, the president's nephew, who had been a cadet at the Military Lyceum and eagerly wanted to take part in the defense.
The plane took off safely, followed by two other similar aircraft, and began to fly over the city, above the cloud cover. In the immediate vicinity of the objective, it descended several meters and at the height of the old Gothic building of the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires (today the headquarters of Engineering) opened fire with its cannons and launched its 150-kilogram bombs, moving away immediately afterwards, in direction to the river.
One of the projectiles hit the target without exploding and the other exploded in a field located between Gelly and Obes and Guido, killing a street sweeper who was doing his work at the time.
The defense of the Palace was in charge of Sergeant Andrés López of the Horse Grenadier Regiment, at that time chief of custody in charge of the residence, who noticed some people leaning out on the balconies of a neighboring apartment trying to see what was happening. As he ordered his men to load the heavy machine gun, he motioned for those people to go inside and close the windows.
After taking positions on the roofs of the mansion, the soldiers set up the defense arrangement by placing the heavy machine gun in one of the angles and positioning themselves with their PAMs, ready to go into action.
López was observing the sky with his binoculars when he spotted a second plane coming directly towards them, from the side of the river. Wasting no time, he turned to his people and ordered to open fire. The discharges shook the surroundings and apparently managed to damage the device, although they did not prevent it from machine-gunning the sector and throwing its bombs, seriously injuring three passers-by.
A third plane arrived by the same route, after making a sharp turn over the murky waters of La Plata, firing its cannons and discharging its bombs, to immediately take off and fly away by the same route. One of them hit Francisco de Vitoria street, a few meters from the monument to Dr. Guillermo Rawson, and the other hit Av. Pueyrredón 2281, killing Miguel Sarmiento, a 15-year-old boy, and a man who was inside the A car. The fourth victim in that sector was a maid who worked in a private residence at 2626 Guido Street, who died as a result of the injuries received, upon arriving at the Fernández Hospital.
After that last raid, the Beechcrafts and Catalinas never took off again. On the other hand, the AT-6 North American and the deadly Gloster Meteor from the Morón Air Base did, which in one of their incursions hit the vehicle carrying General Tomás Vergara Ruzo, who died instantly. The high officer tried to join the loyal troops and offer his services, hence the haste with which he moved towards the theater of operations.
After that last bombardment, the chief of the grenadiers, Colonel Guillermo Gutiérrez, ordered the evacuation of all wounded personnel in the Government House, whether civilian or military, while the rebel planes attacked new targets. The facilities of Radio El Mundo in the town of San Fernando and Radio Pacheco, in the Tigre district, were riddled with fire from their 20 mm cannons, as was the 3rd Motorized Infantry Regiment that was advancing from the southwest, along the National Route No. 3, thus extending the actions to the territory of the province of Buenos Aires.
The rebel high command ordered the dispatch from Ezeiza of a Navy DC-3 under the command of frigate lieutenant José Ventureira, with the order to make itself available to the rebel airmen in Morón, all while desperately trying to establish, which This was the position of General Bengoa, commander of the II Army Corps (Litoral), initially committed to the uprising, but incomprehensibly absent since it broke out.
For this purpose, the single-engine Fiat license plate 451, piloted by Lieutenant David Eduardo Giosa, was dispatched to Rosario to try to establish contact with the senior officer. The pilot arrived at his destination half an hour after taking off, flew over the facilities of the 11th Infantry Regiment and not noticing movement, landed under a persistent drizzle at the "Granadero Baigorria" aerodrome, complying with the instructions given to him before landing. detach. When he turned off the engine and untied the straps that kept him attached to his seat, armed elements of the General Labor Confederation and the General University Confederation surrounded the aircraft and at gunpoint forced him to get out.
People flee in terror from the combat zone. Others watch absorbed, not giving credit to what they see.
When questioned about the reasons for his flight, Giosa said he was a loyal aviator who had come to convey a message to the local police authorities and was detained there until they showed up.
Meanwhile, the second motorized column of the 3rd Regiment of La Tablada was advancing on the Ezeiza International Airport under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Camilo César Arrechea (its second in command), ready to reduce the rebel troops operating there. It was detected by the observation AT-6, registration number 3A-7, which delivered the news via radio.
The powerful combat unit, made up of half-track vehicles, trucks and jeeps, transported infantry troops plus a section of 60 mm mortars, although it lacked anti-aircraft guns because they were in the hands of the forces engaged in the fighting.
Having learned of the situation, the heads of Ezeiza, captains Bassi, Noriega, Guaita and Sánchez Sabarots, dispatched three AT-6 North American formations against the regiment, with the order to attack and stop the column.
The fighters took off one after the other and flew towards the target that was advancing towards the Airport by different routes at that time. Minutes later they intercepted it, killing and wounding several soldiers with their discharges and cannon fire.
The planes returned over these troops, time and time again, making their advance so difficult that they took more than three hours to cover a stretch of 8 kilometers.
During one of those raids, Midshipman Eduardo Bisso's AT-6 received several hits from gathered fire, causing him to lose control. The device remained in the air for a while but at the height of Tristán Suárez it began to fall in a corkscrew, forcing the pilot to jump from a height of 2,000 meters.
The plane crashed in the middle of the countryside, not far from where Bisso made landfall, turning into a ball of fire from which a thick column of black smoke began to rise.
His descent was seen by some residents of the region who immediately ran to the police station to notify the authorities.
The aviator was picking up his parachute when a group of police from the province of Buenos Aires, headed by an officer, approached him and pointed their weapons at him and stopped him to take him to the police station.
The situation, by then, was as follows: the Ministry of the Navy, the main focus of the uprising, was surrounded by members of the "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment and an armored section of the Horse Grenadier Regiment, as well as dozens of armed and armed civilians. elements of the Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista willing to do anything. The Navy School of Mechanics was neutralized by the forces of General Ernesto Fatigatti; Sections of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Regiment were advancing over the so-called Red Base, at the Ezeiza International Airport, and armored units from Campo de Mayo and the El Palomar Air Base did the same over the Morón Air Base. On his part, the Sea Fleet had not spoken out, much less General Bengoa, commander of the II Army Corps based in Paraná who, as previously stated, had given his word committing himself to the revolution.
Army personnel and armed civilians awaiting further attacks (note the middle soldier with a Halcón submachine gun)
In view of this, Admirals Olivieri, Gargiulo and Toranzo Calderón understood that the situation was desperate and that continuing to resist would be useless. However, they refused to hand over the building to the Peronist mob so, in view of this, the former called the Ministry of the Army again to notify that he was willing to surrender, even if only to the Armed Forces, as long as they were those that took charge of the naval installations.
-We waved a white flag, but we were attacked by shots – Admiral Olivieri informed once the telephone contact was established.
-They were civilian elements that we could not control – replied General Embrioni, Undersecretary of War – Generals Valle and Wirth did not arrive in time to stop them.
-OK. We will now proceed to display the flags again and await the arrival of a general to take charge.
In these terms the delivery of the building was agreed. Inside the Ministry of the Navy, voices began to resound ordering a ceasefire while the officers toured the different rooms indicating to their men that the fighting had ended. Conscripts and NCOs withdrew from the windows, leaving only a few sentries posted.
The first thing Toranzo Calderón did was to personally free the captain of the ship Emilio Díaz, who had been arrested shortly after the uprising because he had refused to fold. Díaz did the same with the captain of the ship Dionisio Fernández and the frigate captain Julio César Pavón Pereyra, who once released, tried to take charge of the situation. They failed to do so because the rebel officers refused to hand over their weapons.
At that moment, the official delegation headed by General Arnaldo Sosa Molina appeared in front of the Ministry of the Navy, followed by the second in command of the "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment, Major Pablo Vicente and a colonel in civilian clothes, who were holding high a white handkerchief The risk they were running was enormous because the Peronist militiamen continued firing from different sectors and the sailors responded to them.
Admirals Olivieri, Toranzo Calderón and Gargiulo, received Sosa Molina in the entrance hall of the building, and once face to face, the newcomer told them that he had brought a personal message from General Perón in which he expressed his desire to stop the bloodbath and demanded the immediate capitulation of the rebels.
The admirals and the general got into a brief discussion that ended with the unconditional capitulation of the Navy.
Knowing the news, rebel troops from the different units began preparations to avoid the prison. In Ezeiza, with the forces of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Regiment entering the airport, the leaders of the movement, Bassi, Noriega, Guaita and Sánchez Sabarots ordered the immediate evacuation of the base. They had drawn up plans to leave the country and go to Uruguay in two Navy DC-3s and two DC-4s and an equal number of Beechkraft bombers, one of which was damaged.
The preparations were feverish and when everything was ready, the officers prepared to board the planes, but not before saying goodbye to the non-commissioned officers whom they instructed to tell the loyal authorities that they had remained faithful to the government and that they had acted under the obligation of their superiors. That way, they would avoid sanctions.
"Everything has been done for the good of the country," Noriega told them before leaving.
At a time when the planes were taxiing towards the main runway, a Fiat single-engine piloted by Captain Jorge Mones Ruiz touched down, who had Dr. Miguel Ángel Zavala Ortiz in the back seat, a candidate to integrate the government board that was to take charge of the country with the fall of Perón. Upon descending from the aircraft, the pilot and passenger were notified by the non-commissioned officers that the base had fallen and that their bosses were leaving for Uruguay.
-Go away too because the 3rd Infantry is entering! - They told them.
Mones Ruiz and her companion climbed back into the plane and left for Morón, hastily leaving the base. It was 4:20 p.m. on a leaden day, extremely cold and rainy.
Transports and bombers headed towards the Banda Oriental except for the DC-4 which turned in the direction of Chascomús to leave a group of non-commissioned officers on a private runway. Having accomplished its mission, it took off again, heading for Montevideo, where it landed an hour later at the Carrasco airport.
When the troops of the 3rd Infantry arrived at the airport, their commanders, Lieutenant Colonel Camilo Arrechea and General Félix María Robles, found it submerged in a strange calm and the most complete silence. In the distance, above the main building, a white flag could be seen, and beyond, near the control tower, a total of one hundred and seventy non-commissioned officers and soldiers waiting in the main building, ready to hand over the unit to the loyal forces.
The Morón Air Base, from where rebel planes continued to leave until the last moment, was surrounded by a large number of armored vehicles from Campo de Mayo, a novelty that was reported to their commanders by Captain Orlando Arrechea who, after his observation flight .
Once notified, Major De La Vega gathered his people to explain what was happening. None expressed the desire to change his attitude, which is why a new Gloster Meteor raid on the city center was scheduled.
According to the plans, the planes were to drop their bombs and continue their journey to Montevideo in order to escape the imminent reprisals. The rest of the personnel would board a Douglas DC-3 that was approaching the tower at the command of Lieutenant Ventureira and would flee.
Captain Carlos Carús was appointed head of the squadron and leading his pilots, he headed towards the planes that were waiting at the side of the runway, ready to take off. Meanwhile, the rest of the officers hurriedly boarded the DC-3 and settled inside, eager to get out of the place as soon as possible knowing that loyalist forces were about to storm the place.
They were busy with that when the prisoners who had been locked up in the adjoining barrack all day, gained the exterior and pounced on their guards, seizing their weapons. Once reduced, they ran towards the runway and began firing at the air transport that was refueling at that time. The first bullet impacted the fuselage, motivating the accelerated ascent of the fugitives. Near the main building, First Lieutenant José Fernández, head of the group of soldiers who guarded the prisoners, and after removing the safety of his machine gun, retraced his steps, pointing at the loyal troops. Seeing him coming, Senior Petty Officer Héctor Sánchez raised his weapon and fired from a distance of 25 meters, an action imitated by Petty Officers Eduardo Adolfo Sánchez and Eduardo Córdoba. Fernández was mortally wounded while the recently released prisoners threw themselves on the ground to take cover to free another group of comrades who were locked up there and upon arrival, they broke the locks and opened the doors.
The detainees gained the exterior and together with their liberators they ran after the DC-3 firing their weapons.
A Gloster Meteor pilot loyal to Perón named Williams, quickly headed towards a plane parked to the side and while he climbed into the cockpit, his comrades pushed the machine to face it with the Navy plane that was accelerating to take flight at that moment. . Williams fired his cannons but due to the inclination of his aircraft, he failed to hit it. The bullets passed under the fuselage and the enemy transport escaped, getting lost in the clouds. It was almost 5:00 p.m. and the base was back in government hands.
Those who did not have time to board the naval DC-3 were Commander Agustín de la Vega and his assistant, Officer Eduardo Wilkinson who, in view of this, hurriedly headed into an adjoining building to change their uniforms. for civilian clothes. At that precise moment, the Army tanks broke into the perimeter of the base, commanded by General Carlos Salinas and his second in command, Colonel Eduardo Arias Duval.
Three of those armored vehicles took up positions on the runway and pointed towards the main building and the control tower, at a time when a new shooting took place in which Vice Commodore Julio César Dozo was wounded, being hit in the legs by shots. of a conscript
Brigadier Mario Daneri took charge of the Brigade, dispatching officers Eduardo Catalá, Ernesto López and Domingo Llembi, with the order to establish contact with the enemy and talk.
The officers approached waving a white flag and shortly after Salinas and Arias Duval approached them with the intention of talking. After a brief exchange of words, the rebel officers agreed to lay down their arms and hand over the base to Brigadier Daneri, who would formally take over. Immediately afterwards, the rebel commanders who had not been able to escape to Uruguay, captains Jorge Mones Ruíz, Jorge Pedrerol, Enrique Gamas, Asdrúbal Cimadevilla, Oscar Barni and first lieutenant Masserini, were taken by truck to the National Penitentiary located in Las Heras and Coronel Díaz avenues, in the Palermo neighborhood.
The only person killed in the fighting in Morón was First Lieutenant José Fernández, who died shortly after arriving at the hospital, due to bleeding from his wounds.
During all this, Commander De La Vega and Eduardo Wilkinson escaped dressed as civilians in the direction of Gate D, believing that they would not be detected there. However, when they were about to jump over the wire fence that delimited the airport premises, a conscript appeared running pointing his rifle at them. They were saved by the providential appearance of Corporal Luis Silva, a staunch anti-Peronist, who got into a fight with the soldier and seized his weapon.
De La Vega and Wilkinson managed to flee confused among the residents of the area who had approached the perimeter of the base to look around.
It was 4:30 p.m. when groups of exalted Peronists headed for the Metropolitan Curia to cause damage and start a large fire. General Fatigatti, commander of the I Army Division, passed by his assistant, aboard a jeep. They did not stop because they had to comply with the order given by General Lucero to take charge of the 2nd Infantry Regiment and guard the Ministry of the Navy, but they were startled by the magnitude of the destruction and losses that were going to occur.
At that same time, the rebel forces were giving up their attitude and preparing to hand over the Ministry of the Navy. Immediately afterwards, General Arnaldo Sosa Molina returned to the Ministry of War and hurriedly descended to the third basement bunker, where he updated Perón on the latest news.
The president listened attentively and somewhat more relieved expressed his agreement that the headquarters of the Navy be occupied by the Army. Surrounding him were General Lucero, Brigadier Juan Ignacio San Martín, Colonel Carlos Vicente Aloé, Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, and Engineer Roberto Dupeyron, Minister of Public Works.
When Sosa Molina and General Juan José Valle returned to the Ministry of the Navy, Fatigatti was already there. It was almost 5:00 p.m. when the three crossed their porticos and entered the dilapidated building, followed by members of the “Buenos Aires” Motorized Regiment with their commander, Major Pablo Vicente, at their head.
Sosa Molina notified Admiral Olivieri that Perón had accepted the surrender terms and that elements of the Army, supported by the Federal Police, would take charge of the unit. When Admirals Toranzo Calderón and Gargiulo were present, the situation became tense since the first of them was final when speaking.
-The responsibility for what happened is entirely mine. I assume the consequences.
The rear admiral was deeply outraged by the attitude of General Bengoa, whom he classified as a traitor, adding that had it not been for him, the rebellion would have triumphed. Despite the fact that Gargiulo ordered him to remain silent, he continued to rant, now against the Army, for allowing the regime's abuses and the persecution of the Catholic Church.
One by one, the defenders of the Ministry were depositing their weapons in a previously assigned room, shedding their grenades and semi-automatic rifles of Belgian origin, of which many members of the Army had no news. Meanwhile, loyal generals and rebel admirals toured the floors of the building in order to verify that the disarmament was being carried out under the stipulated conditions. Guards were posted at all levels to isolate them from each other and the 1,500 people on the site, including civilians, were isolated in blocks.
The admirals were detained in their respective offices, awaiting instructions and regulations on their situation. By then, General Sosa Molina had gone back to the Libertador Building to receive orders, leaving General Valle in charge of the place.
After 5:00 p.m., the uprising was completely put down and in view of this, Perón personally called the head of the Federal Police, Inspector Manuel Gamboa, to request information about the situation.
As soon as he hung up, Gamboa received a new call, this time from the Minister of the Interior, Ángel Borlenghi, who expressed his concern about the whereabouts of the revolutionary civilian commandos who, having fled, continued to represent a serious threat. Gamboa understood that he should go out to “patrol” Barrio Norte, but the minister stopped him and demanded that he keep his force in quarters, adding that he himself would make an inspection visit to the Central Police Department, accompanied by Major Ignacio Cialcetta.
That's how it happened and that was the moment when the rebels were about to kill him.
At about 5:30 p.m., when no one expected it, there was a new air raid by four rebel Gloster Meteors that, flying at low altitude, machine-gunned the front of the large police building with their 20mm cannons.
The projectiles devastated the four floors on the side of Av. Belgrano, between 3rd and 6th, causing damage inside and leaving the main officer Alfredo Alucinio dead and the radio electrician Lorenzo Lissi wounded.
Windows, doors and furniture were destroyed, all the walls were perforated and the Communications Department was completely destroyed, in addition to minor damage to other units.
It was Captain Carús's squadron, made up of First Lieutenant Rafael Cantisani and Lieutenants Armando Jeannot and Enrique Marelli, who continued to fly towards the Casa Rosada, to unload new bursts of shrapnel on it at the precise moment when Perón was about to speak to the public from the office of General Lucero, in the nearby Ministry of the Army. They were the only Air Force pilots who joined the uprising since the rest of the weapon remained loyal to its creator.
The Carús squadron was repelled with pieces of Army artillery that pierced one of its commander's wings, although without consequences, which allowed the four pilots to continue their journey to Colonia, Oriental Republic of Uruguay, where they landed twenty minutes later.
Hearing the shots from the last attack, Perón, who had just left his bunker, instinctively sought cover behind a column while Admiral Gastón Lestrade leaned out of the window to see the attackers moving away to the east.
-These were the last, my general. They have no bombs left and they go to Uruguay. "Hopefully Lestrade, hopefully," replied the president, extremely distressed and not entirely convinced.
While crossing the Río de la Plata, Lieutenant Jeannot informed his superior that instead of landing in Colonia he would continue the flight to Montevideo, a request that Captain Carús disallowed, ordering him to maintain formation because the planes were low on fuel and would not arrive. to the Uruguayan capital.
Despite the directive, Jeannot went ahead and, as he had been warned, he plunged into the waters of La Plata, being unharmed. His three companions landed in Cologne without incident.
Half an hour before the attack on the Central Police Department, two Catalina planes that were flying low over 9 de Julio Avenue machine-gunned the imposing white mass of the Ministry of Public Works that stands alone at the intersection of the great downtown artery with the Moreno street. The aircraft opened fire and destroyed with their cannons, destroying a good part of its front at the height of the 2nd, 18th and 19th floors, perforating its walls, tearing out windows and generating several fires, although in this case, without killing or injuring anyone.
The CGT was also the target of rebel fire when one of the Gloster Meteors from the Carús squad riddled the front with its 20 mm pieces, killing the worker leader Héctor Pessano who from a window confronted the device with a revolver.
At 6:00 p.m. on that gray, cold, and rainy day, the uprising had been put down. In these circumstances, Perón addressed the public through the national radio communication chain to inform them that he was speaking from the Libertador Building and that the situation was completely under control. He praised the work of the Army and its courageous action and bitterly accused the Navy, blaming it for the considerable number of deaths and injuries that occurred that day.
I speak to you from our command post, which, logically, cannot be at the headquarters of the Government, so that all the actions that have been carried out on that House have been shooting at an unarmed place, harming only some citizens who They have died from the bombs. The situation is totally dominated. The Ministry of the Navy, where the revolutionary command was, has turned itself in, it is occupied and the culprits have been arrested. I want my first words to be to commend the marvelous action that the Army has carried out, whose components have proven to be true soldiers, since not a single corporal or soldier has failed in their duty. Let's not talk about the officers and the Chiefs, who have behaved as brave and loyal. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the Navy, which is to blame for the number of deaths and injuries that Argentines must lament today. But the most outrageous thing is that he fired at the People as if his rage was not vented on us, the soldiers, who have an obligation to fight, but on the humble citizens who populated the streets of our city. Undoubtedly, time will pass, but history will never forgive such a sacrilege. Now, the fighting over, the last planes, as usual, fled past. These last anti-aircraft artillery shots you've heard have been on those runaway planes. There are still some small pockets to occupy, disarm and bring to justice.
Immediately afterwards, he called for calm and reflection, asking the public to go home and leave everything in the hands of the Armed Forces.
As President of the Republic, I ask the People to listen to what I am going to say. We, as a civilized People, cannot take measures that are advised by passion, but by reflection. Everything is over. Fortunately, fine. Only that we will not be able to stop regretting, as we will not be able to repair, the number of deaths and injuries that the infamy of these men has unleashed on our land of Argentines. For this reason, so that we are not criminals like them, I ask you to be calm: each one of you go to his house. The fight must be between soldiers. I don't want one more man of the People to die. I ask the fellow workers to restrain their own anger: to bite themselves, as I am biting at this moment, not to commit any excess. We would not forgive ourselves if we added our own infamy to the infamy of our enemies. That is why I ask all the comrades to be calm, to celebrate the triumph now, the triumph of the People, which is the only triumph that can make us proud. The Army on this day has behaved as it has always behaved. He has not defected a single man. And the Minister of the Army has personally taken and personally directed the defense. This Minister is a great man. I'm not saying it now: I've known him since we were 15 years old. All the generals of the Republic, the chiefs, officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers have brilliantly fulfilled their duty. With this I fulfill one more passion of my life: that our Army be loved by the People and our People loved by the Army. No one will ever be able to say that an Army soldier has shot his brothers, just as no one will ever be able to say that there is a Chief or an Army Officer who is such a scoundrel as to fire a single shot at his brothers. That is why I want that on this occasion, in which we seal the indestructible union between the People and the Army, each one of you, Argentine brothers, raise in your heart an altar to this Army, which has not only known how to fulfill its duty, but he has done it heroically. Those soldiers who today fought for the Argentine People are the real soldiers. Those who fired against the people are not and have never been Argentine soldiers: because Argentine soldiers are not traitors or cowards, and those who fired against the people are traitors and cowards. The law will fall inflexibly on them. I will not take a step to temper their guilt, nor to temper the penalty that will correspond to them. I have to do justice, but forceful justice. The People are not in charge of doing justice. You must trust my word as a soldier and as a ruler. I prefer, gentlemen, that we know how to comply as a civilized people and let the law punish. We are not the ones in charge of punishing. There is no doubt that these words of serenity will reach the understanding of the comrades and the entire Town. Let's not mourn more victims. Our enemies, cowards and traitors, unfortunately deserve our contempt, but they also deserve our forgiveness. That is why I ask for serenity, once again, now that all the events have passed, with which we have given a lesson to the scoundrel who got up and to the one who urged her to get up, we also tell them once again to get up as many times, each day they will receive a harder and stronger lesson, as traitors and cowards deserve to be punished. I speak to the People, and I speak to them with a heart swollen with my enthusiasm as a soldier, because today I have seen my Army, to which I have the honor of belonging, in all that it is and in all that it is worth. And I have also seen the Town, which is also another of my great loves. I have seen him behave manfully and now I see him behave serenely as well. The guilty will be punished and there will be a memory in the Republic of the punishment they will receive. So I ask everyone to calm down. They are right to be outraged and to be raised, but still with reason you have to reflect before acting. I ask everyone, like me, to punish the wicked in their conscience. The wicked must be punished when they remember the victims they have caused. That will be their punishment, if they are saved from the punishment that I am going to make them apply, strictly complying with the law. A few who can still listen to us, who have not yet laid down their arms, must do so in the shortest possible time. If they don't, we won't bear the responsibility of destroying them. But let them know that if we start their destruction we won't stop until we finish. Good night all. Calm and confident. We have an Army that guarantees order and order must be gradually restored. This will be a sad memory; a sad memory that will put a lifelong stigma on the institutions that failed to fulfill their duty and on the men who betrayed the faith and the Homeland. Nothing else. Good night 6.
At the end of the message, General Justo Ramón Bengoa, recently arrived from Entre Ríos, appeared before Perón who, upon entering the office from which the president had just radiated his message, hugged General Lucero in a strong embrace. Immediately afterwards, the Minister of the Army addressed the President to tell him that the newcomer was a great soldier and a good Peronist, something that displeased some witnesses to the event, among them Admiral Lestrade, who through the mouth of Minister Olivieri knew of the ambiguous and accommodating attitude of the newcomer. Behind him, high-ranking ministers and soldiers arrived who came to pay their respects to the president. They were Admiral Carlos Rivero de Olazabal, Generals Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, Eugenio Arandía, Audelino Bergallo, José Rufino Brusa, Santiago Baigorria, Julio Alberto Lagos, Jorge Imaz Iglesias, Julián García, Alberto Morello, Aquiles Moschini, Angel Manni, Lorenzo Toselli , Benjamín Sánchez Mendoza, Miguel Agustín Pérez Tort, Juan José Uranga and Dalmiro Videla Balaguer, many of them recalcitrant anti-Peronists, as would be seen later. At the behest of General Lucero, they all proceeded to pay homage to Perón, then going on to have tea in an adjoining room.
Admiral Benjamín Gargiulo
In the Ministry of the Navy, meanwhile, the rebel troops that had just surrendered formed up in silence to lay down their arms. Many of his cadres waited seated in corridors and stairs while members of the "Buenos Aires" Motorized Regiment took up position in strategic places.
Then an event occurred that had to shake the entire citizenry.
Admiral Benjamin Gargiulo was a man of honor, highly believer and respectful of the weapon to which he belonged. The defeat experienced by the forces under his command had plunged him into a deep state of despondency that was beginning to be perceived in a manifest mental depression. He felt humiliated and the Navy felt humiliated, a feeling that he conveyed to Lieutenant Commander Fernando Suárez when he showed up at his office to say goodbye to him. Suárez tried to calm him down but was unsuccessful and left him in that state, without imagining the terrible outcome that would take place immediately afterwards.
At night, Admiral Gargiulo was alone at his desk, silent and pensive, his eyes fixed on a family portrait. And it was in those circumstances that he took a firm and drastic determination.
Sitting in his chair, he took a pen and on a blank sheet on which the Army letterhead was printed, he began to write an emotional farewell letter in which he explained to his family the reasons for his his decision. When he finished, he wrapped a rosary around his left hand, pressed the portrait of his wife and children to his chest and, leaning his back against the back of the chair, took his pistol with his right and, placing it on his temple, fired. It was 05:45 on June 17, 1955.
The explosion caught the attention of the officers and soldiers who were near the office, who, upon entering, came across the gruesome spectacle. Admiral Gargiulo lay lifeless, his head covered in blood.
Extremely shocked, those present approached the body of his commander and remained for a few moments contemplating it in silence and with regret.
Gargiulo's body was placed on a stretcher and covered by a sheet on which his cap was placed. Three soldiers took him out of his office while the brave Lieutenant Spinelli, who had fought so valiantly that day, shed tears of sadness and emotion. Lieutenant Sommariva, outraged at seeing the attitude of some Army soldiers when they saw the body passing through the corridors, was outraged and harshly reprimanded Major Pablo Vicente, who immediately ordered the troops to render the corresponding honours. taking a firm stand.
At 5:00 p.m. the following day, the prisoners, escorted by a double line of police officers, boarded several cellular trucks that had approached the Ministry and aboard them, they were taken to the National Penitentiary where they were housed as common criminals, in waiting to be judged. The first chapter of the drama had finished.
Perón and his ministers observe the damage
The next day, Perón and his ministers find out about the events through the newspapers.
Military and civilians observe another unexploded bomb.
Newspaper and magazine headlines.
Heartbreaking image of a child among the rubble. He is not a schoolboy.
Perón and General Lucero are confused in a hug.
Notes
Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, La Revolución del 55, Emecé, Buenos Aires, 1994, Tomo I, Tercera Parte, Cap. X “La batalla del 16 de junio”.
Until 1949 the unit was called the Ministry of War, from that year it became the Army and in 1958 the Ministry of Defense, always based in the Libertador Building.
Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, Ídem.
Ídem.
Ídem.
The mythical bunker of the Alas otro building, consisted of a large concrete and concrete space divided into several corridors and compartments, from which two tunnels left from Leandro N. Alem to Av. Madero. Perón never used it, although he did visit it once, shortly after it was finished.
“La Nación”, Bs. As., edición del 17 de junio de 1955.
