812.00Sonora/968
The Ambassador in Mexico (Morrow) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 28.]
Sir: Now that the revolution which began on March 3, last, has been finally put down with the surrender of nearly all of the rebel forces, and the escape of the principal rebel leaders to United States territory, it seems appropriate for the purposes of record to give a brief recapitulation of the military operations, which were reported in the Embassy’s telegrams and despatches to the Department from day to day at the time they occurred. I understand that Colonel Gordon Johnston, Military Attaché to this Embassy, is preparing a more exhaustive and scientific report of the military operations, containing information of special interest to the War Department.
[Page 419]The revolution of March 3 was not unexpected by the Government. As reported in the Embassy’s telegrams, No. 27 dated February 19, 1929, 11 a.m., and No. 30 of February 21, 1929, 2 p.m.,76 it was known that General Francisco R. Manzo, Governor Fausto Topete and Ricardo Topete, all warm partisans of General Obregón, who felt that they had not received proper consideration by the Provisional Government, were fomenting trouble in Sonora. I am told that General Manzo was ordered to come to Mexico and report, which he refused to do, and that an effort to remove some of the troops under his command was blocked by him. General Aguirre of Veracruz was also suspected by some of disloyalty. He was in Mexico the last day of February but returned to Veracruz on March 1. General Calles had complete faith in General Aguirre and was surprised at his defection.
General Calles was appointed Secretary of War on March 4, in place of General Amaro, who was on leave undergoing medical treatment of an injury to his eye which unfitted him for military service. From the time of his appointment General Calles assumed direct charge of all military operations.
It was considered likely from the first that General José Escobar, commanding the Laguna District with headquarters at Torreon, would join the revolution. Doubt was expressed as to the loyalty of General Figueroa, commanding the Jalisco District, and General Urbalejo, commanding in Durango. The former remained loyal. General Urbalejo went with the rebels, but owing to the defection of a part of his own men, did not play an important role. From the beginning the Government counted upon the loyalty of General Jesús M. Almazán, Commander in Coahuila and Nuevo León; and General Abelardo Rodriguez, Governor of the Northern District of Lower California. There were rumors that General Almazán’s loyalty was doubtful, but these appear to have been without foundation. Immediately upon the outbreak of the revolution, General Almazán came to Mexico City (just avoiding capture by the rebels at Saltillo) and held conferences with the President and General Calles, after which he returned immediately to take command of the loyal troops in the North. General Fereira had been removed from the command of troops in the State of Chihuahua shortly before the rebellion broke out. He was arrested at the time of the revolt and has since been dismissed from the army. Governor Marcelo Caraveo of the State of Chihuahua after some hesitation finally joined the revolution on March 5th. He was in a difficult position with rebel forces both north and south of Chihuahua. The loyalty of General Ríos Zertuche of the State of Mexico and General Fox of the State of Oaxaca was [Page 420] also suspected and apparently with some reason. Neither of them rebelled but both of them were later dropped from the army. After the first few days there were no further important defections from the Government, although rebel forces came over to the Government side from time to time, throughout the campaign.
In the Embassy’s despatch of March 18, 1929, No. 1505,77 I reported the figures given me by the Minister of Finance showing the troops actually stationed in the rebel districts as shown by the payrolls. These showed 54 Generals, 309 Field Officers, 1313 Officers and 16,954 troops in rebel territory. Our first reports to the Department gave General Manzo in Sonora 4,400 troops; General Aguirre in Veracruz a little over 2000 men; General Escobar at Torreon about 2,500 men. We credited the rebels with having 10,000 troops in all, a figure which I still feel was approximately correct as of that date.
By March 5th the military campaign had opened and the lines had formed. General Escobar was advancing from Torreon on Monterrey. Railway traffic between Mexico City and the border went only to San Luis Potosi on the Laredo line, and to Cañitas on the El Paso Line. On the road to Veracruz traffic did not move beyond Puebla. The states of Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango were definitely rebel territory. Traffic with the border was quickly resumed via San Luis Potosi and Tampico, and General Almazan left Mexico City with four regiments via that route for Montemorelos, where the troops were mobilizing, to attack Escobar. General M. Acosta in command of loyal troops left for Esperanza to attack General Aguirre in Veracruz. General Escobar reached Monterrey on March 4th, where he attacked a much smaller body of loyal troops under General Zurrioga (who refused to join the rebels) and defeated them, capturing the city. General Zurrioga was killed in the engagement.
On March 6th, General Escobar evacuated Monterrey, retreating to Saltillo and thence to Torreon. General Almazan with 14 regiments (including five loyal regiments from Nuevo León) immediately occupied the town and took up the pursuit of General Escobar’s forces.
A concentration of 8,000 federal troops was also made at Irapuato, a railway center in Guanajuato, and this reserve depot was maintained throughout the campaign, men being withdrawn from there for service with the advance columns, and replaced by new reserves.
On March 6th heavy street fighting broke out in Veracruz between elements of General Aguirre’s command, two regiments of which wished to remain loyal, and attacked the remaining three which with General Aguirre had joined the revolution. The federal troops were then at Orizaba. Following this defection among his own men, [Page 421] and the street fighting, which seems to have been a draw, General Aguirre apparently realized that he could not hope to hold Veracruz in the face of the advancing federals, and after making an offer of surrender on condition that amnesty would be granted to himself and his officers, which was refused, he evacuated Veracruz on March 6, going south with about two regiments which remained loyal to him. The federal forces advancing from Orizaba under General Acosta reoccupied Veracruz on March 7, without further fighting and immediately sent a column of 2,000 men in pursuit of Aguirre; while another column of loyal forces advanced north from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to head him off. General Aguirre’s remaining forces rapidly disintegrated and when captured by the Federals on March 20 he was all alone. He was promptly tried by court martial and executed on March 21.
The reoccupation of Veracruz on March 6 terminated the rebellion in this section of the country and the greater part of the Federal forces were shortly transferred from there to the concentration base at Irapuato where they were available for service in the North. Damage to the Mexican Railway during this Veracruz campaign was very slight, and rail communication between Mexico City and Veracruz was resumed on March 8.
On March 8 (See Embassy’s telegram No. 82, March 8, 1929, 10 p.m.)78 General Calles left Mexico City to assume personal charge of the military operations in Durango, Chihuahua and Coahuila. In the campaign which followed and resulted in such a disastrous defeat for the rebels, General Calles was primarily responsible for the strategy adopted. General Almazan deserves the chief credit for the tactics employed in the operations north of Torreon.
Briefly, the plan of campaign was as follows: With General Escobar holding Torreon with about 4,000 men; General Almazan was to advance from Saltillo on the main railway line, while another federal column under General Ortiz advanced parallel to him on the line through San Pedro. Another column under the personal command of General Calles was to advance via Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Cañitas (then held by the rebel General Urbalejo) Sombrerete and Durango, on Torreon following the railroad all the way.
By these manoeuvers General Escobar was unable to advance from Torreon into federal territory along any one of the four railroad lines without a battle. Only the line of retreat to Jimenez and Chihuahua was left open, and it was hoped that this line might be cut before he could escape.
In the meanwhile operations in Sinaloa, where the rebels were advancing from Sonora on Mazatlan, were to be postponed for the [Page 422] time being; General Carrillo with 1,800 men being ordered to remain in Mazatlan and hold it at all costs. This city is considered as practically impregnable if well defended.
On March 9 the railway was cut by federal cavalry above Cañitas, thus hemming in General Urbalejo, who retreated to the mountains to the east with his cavalry, although most of his infantry deserted him at this time and went over to the federals. Urbalejo made his way to the main body of rebels and was with them during the rest of the campaign.
General Cedillo, with 4,000 men moved from San Luis Potosi to Saltillo, from where he joined General Almazan who came up with about 3,000 men, from Monterrey; they reoccupied Saltillo on March 12; the rebel rear guard of about 700 men escaping to Torreon.
General Calles with Lopez’ column of about 5,000 reached Durango on March 15; General Ortiz reached San Pedro, and General Cedillo reached Viesca the same day. There were about 8,000 men in these last two columns.
On the night of March 17 the rebels evacuated Torreon, getting away safely, although an unsuccessful attempt was made by a Federal cavalry column to cut the railway line from Torreon to Jimenez at Escalon. The three main bodies of federals were still from 60 to 100 kilometers from Torreon, which the advance forces reached on March 18; General Calles arriving the next day after repairs had been completed on the railway between Yerbanis and Torreon which had been badly damaged. Escobar retreated rapidly to Jimenez, destroying the railroad as he went.
At this time the rebels held all the ports of entry in Chihuahua and Sonora except Naco, which was held by 900 troops who remained loyal to the Government, and although constantly threatened with attack by superior forces of rebels, held this port for the Government throughout the campaign.
By March 22 a force of rebels whose number was not accurately known had reached Mazatlan and made a short attack on the city without success; Generals Manzo, Cruz and Iturbe apparently led the rebel column in Sinaloa. They do not appear to have had over 1,500 men.
After the reoccupation of Torreon, General Calles divided his forces into three armies of which the first under General Almazan comprising 7,000 men undertook the pursuit of Escobar; the second, under General Cardenas, comprising 9,000 men, part of whom were drawn from the depot at Irapuato, was sent via Durango, Irapuato and Guadalajara to the relief of Mazatlan and to drive the rebels out of Sinaloa, and advance on Sonora; the third, under General Cedillo, with 7,000 men, was, until needed elsewhere, to be stationed in the [Page 423] Jalisco, Durango, Zacatecas, Guanajuato region to protect the railways and put down banditry; General Figueroa, with 8,000 troops, which had never been withdrawn from Jalisco, were to cooperate. Another 1,000 troops in Guanajuato and 800 in Michoacan were to be used for the same purposes.
A vigorous attack on Mazatlan developed on March 23–25, which was wholly unsuccessful and the rebels retreated north to Culiacan, having suffered considerable losses. Cárdenas reached Mazatlan on March 29 and immediately took up the pursuit of the rebels with about 6,000 men.
After a difficult advance over the desert between Escalon and Jimenez, which was made partly by train and partly by motor truck, and a minor engagement at Corralitos on March 30, the federal column, under General Almazan, reached Jimenez on April 1. Here General Escobar had made a stand with all the forces he had brought from Torreon, together with the remnants of Urbalejo’s forces and all that could be gathered by Caraveo in Chihuahua.
After a battle lasting from April 1 to April 3 the federals were completely victorious. By cutting the railway line at Reforma, north of Jimenez, they prevented the escape of much of Escobar’s infantry, although Escobar himself escaped to Chihuahua (it is said by aeroplane) and some of his infantry and most of his cavalry also made good their retreat. In this battle the rebels are estimated to have had 6,000 men, and according to the official figures given out by the government, in the fighting from March 30 at Corralitos, to April 3 at Reforma, the rebel dead were 1,136, and the rebel prisoners, which included the wounded, were 2,058. (See Embassy’s despatch No. 1557 of April 11.)79
Following the battle at Jimenez, the rebels retreated rapidly, making only brief stops at Chihuahua and Juarez, whence they proceeded over the Mexican Northwestern Railway to Casas Grandes and thence via Pulpito Pass to Agua Prieta, arriving on April 13. They left Agua Prieta on April 15th for Southern Chihuahua, where it was announced that they would join with the rebel forces who had retreated from Sinaloa in making a joint “southward drive”. The forces who participated in this retreat appear to have numbered between 1,500 and 2,000 men. Escobar does not seem to have been with them much of the time.
The rebels were pursued by General Almazán as fast as the repairs which it was necessary to make to the railroads would permit. He reached Chihuahua on April 10, Juarez on April 14 and Casas Grandes on April 17, leaving there on April 22 for the trip over Pulpito Pass. It is reported that General Caraveo with about 400 [Page 424] men remained in the Pass to oppose General Almazán’s advance and that some of the roads in the Pass were torn up. General Almazán did not reach Agua Prieta until May 2, after the surrender of the rebel forces there.
After the battle of Jimenez, General Calles proceeded immediately with 1,000 additional troops to the Sinaloa front arriving at Mazatlan on April 9, and took up the pursuit of the rebels with a mobile force of 8,000 men available after garrisoning the towns and protecting the railroad along his lines of communication. He reached San Blas on April 17, where he was delayed for two days while repairs were made to the long bridge of the Southern Pacific Railway crossing the Fuerte River. The rebel forces, after their failure to take Mazatlán, had retreated rapidly to San Blas, where they at first threatened to make a stand; but on the approach of General Calles’ column they retreated without a battle to Masiaca, while other troops from the north went south as far as Navajoa. At this time there were indications that a final and decisive battle would be fought between Masiaca and Navajoa, and that the rebels numbering perhaps 2,500 men had made preparations for defence.
During the latter part of the campaign, however, the federals made extensive and effective use of their aeroplane forces. The rebels were bombed repeatedly from San Blas to Navajoa and Cajeme, and from the accounts which have reached the Embassy, they were utterly demoralized by this form of attack. It was probably the first time that aeroplane bombardment was made use of in a Mexican revolution, and during the last days of the rebellion it apparently had a pronounced effect. When the federal cavalry and infantry reached Masiaca on April 25th, they found that most of the rebels had dispersed and the rest were ready to surrender. (See Consul Blocker’s despatch No. 399 of May 8.)80
On April 26th General Abelardo Rodriguez, who had crossed from Lower California to Sasabe with a small column, and who also had a squadron of aeroplanes, succeeded in cutting the railroad half way between Nogales and Hermosillo, and his planes were active in bombing rebel trains.
At about the same time the federal gunboats Bravo, Progreso and Acapulco shelled the rebel positions near Empalme, outside of Guaymas, and the federals landed forces from these vessels and occupied Guaymas on April 28, driving inland the few remaining rebels who did not surrender.
By April 28 General Almazan had come through Pulpito Pass and was extending his right flank to cut off the retreat of the rebels at Agua Prieta. Small groups of rebels were surrendering daily to [Page 425] the federal forces and offers of surrender were received from several of the military leaders. General Manzo had already crossed to the United States on April 13 and General Urbalejo on April 20. Following the rout of the rebels by the federal aeroplanes in Southern Sonora, many of the leaders, including the two Topetes and General Borquez went to Nogales, from whence they crossed into the United States.
On April 30, about 650 rebels in Nogales, deserted by their leaders who had crossed the border, surrendered under an agreement made through the Mexican Consul in Nogales, which gave the rank and file two months’ pay and reinstatement in the federal army; and also reinstated the officers of the lower grades. On May 1 the rebel forces at Agua Prieta, numbering 1,200 men, also surrendered, the lives of all being guaranteed. (See despatch No. 4 of May 2 from the Consul at Agua Prieta and despatch No. 549 of May 3 from the Consul at Nogales,81 for an interesting account of the events in connection with the surrender). By this time General Calles and his column had reached Cajeme from whence, on May 2, he was able to proceed to Hermosillo, and then to Nogales.
General Escobar is believed to have crossed the frontier on May 3, and, with the exception of Generals Caraveo and Cruz and Yucupicio (a Yaqui General who had commanded the rebel troops in front of Naco throughout the campaign), all the rebel Generals and most of the political leaders had fled to the United States by that date. The three generals just mentioned appear to have taken to the mountains with small bands of followers, presumably with the intention of carrying on a campaign of banditry.
The revolution being ended, General Calles, after holding conference with the restored Federal authorities in the reoccupied territory, returned to Mexico City, arriving on May 12th. General Calles resigned as Secretary of War on May 20th, as reported in my despatch No. 1637 of today.82
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