Florida, April 17, 1961, in the early morning of April 17, 1961, the militiaman José Ramón González Suco communicated from Playa Larga that lights and movements were observed in the sea; thus began the mercenary invasion of Playa Girón, named Operation Pluto by its organizers.
The mercenary aggression was led by Brigade 2506 which had similar characteristics to the amphibious assault units of the United States armed forces and comprised some 1500 heavily armed mercenaries, including tanks and field artillery; thirty airplanes and 150 men made up the air force.
The invasion plan had been approved by US President Eisenhower, who on March 17, 1960 ordered to start recruiting mercenaries of Cuban origin to whom he offered to pay them 225 dollars a month, plus an additional 50 for the first child and 25 for the remaining ones; with them 13 training camps were established in Guatemala, Nicaragua, the United States and US military bases in Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone.
Before this aggression all the people mobilized and immediately counterattacked members of the Rebel Army, the Managua tank unit, the workers’, peasants’ and students’ militias, the Police Battalion, members of the School of Militia Officers and the Revolutionary Air Force, who went to their trenches to defend the Socialist Revolution, all under the command of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
On April 17, the fighting began in defense of the patriotic land, of the recently conquered national and social emancipation; that day the Revolutionary Air Force sank two ships and several landing craft, which forced the CIA naval grouping to withdraw out to sea.
On the other hand, the School Battalion of Militia Officers and Column 1 of the Rebel Army, with armored vehicles and artillery, launched a night offensive against Playa Larga, a position they occupied the following morning; because of their courageous performance, April 17 was declared in Cuba as the Day of the Anti-Aircraft Defense and the Revolutionary Air Force.
