 On April 17 , 1961 , 1 @,@ 400 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion . Guevara did not play a key role in the fighting , as one day before the invasion a warship carrying Marines faked an invasion off the West Coast of Pinar del Río and drew forces commanded by Guevara to that region . However , historians give him a share of credit for the victory as he was director of instruction for Cuba 's armed forces at the time . Author Tad Szulc in his explanation of the Cuban victory , assigns Guevara partial credit , stating : " The revolutionaries won because Che Guevara , as the head of the Instruction Department of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in charge of the militia training program , had done so well in preparing 200 @,@ 000 men and women for war . " It was also during this deployment that he suffered a bullet grazing to the cheek when his pistol fell out of its holster and accidentally discharged . 
