Guns of the Mexican revolution: revolutions devour their own, and nowhere was that more true than in Mexico. Being a leader tended to be very bad for your health.
In 1914, with the revolutionary forces the Ejercito de Constitucion (Constitutionalist Army) closing in on Mexico City, Mexican dictator Gen. Victoriano Huerta saw the handwriting on the wall and fled the country. Venustiano Carranza was appointed primer jefe (First Chief) by his fellow revolutionaries--Francisco "Pancho" Villa, Alvaro Obregon and Emiliano Zapata--until elections could be held. Carranza instituted a program of land reform, established an independent judiciary and called for a new constitution.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In fact, Carranza's grand schemes accomplished little. This was because most of the government bureaucracy, army officers; state and local officials were left over from the Huerta administration and did whatever they could to frustrate the new-leader's plans to change Mexican society. Thus, he found himself opposed by all sides with conservatives claiming his reforms were too radical, while Zapata and Villa--and their followers--said they were insufficient.
Mexican armies, of all persuasions, included, large numbers of-camp followers. Often the wives of both common soldiers and officers--and their children--would accompany husbands on campaign. Others were washerwomen, prostitutes and widows who did whatever chores they could to survive.
They cooked, cleaned, mended clothing and equipment, served as battlefield nurses, tended the wounded, buried the dead and, on more than one occasion, took an active part in combat. Known as soldaderas or adelitas, photos of these female warriors show them as heavily armed as their male counterparts and just as fierce looking--if not more so!
HANDGUNS OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
In the 1870s, the Mexican army adopted the S&W No. 3 Russian revolver as its standard sidearm. In addition to numbers purchased from S&W, they also contracted with Basque gunmakers in northern Spain for copies of this popular handgun.
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As was to be expected, American revolvers predominated in the Mexican army. Officers were expected to purchase their own sidearms and thus an assortment ended up seeing service. Large numbers of Colt Single Action Army (SAA) revolvers were purchased by the army, various Federal agencies and state governments with little attention being paid to standardization of models or calibers.
In the late-1870s, the Mexican authorities placed an order with Remington for the Model 1875 Revolver. These solid-frame, rod-ejecting revolvers were similar in-concept to the Colt SAA and were, chambered for the .45 Colt cartridge.
With the introduction of double-action revolvers, various Mexican government agencies placed orders for Colt's M1878 Double Action Revolver.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, additional double-action revolvers were purchased including the Colt New Army & Navy in .38 and .41 cal. and the S&W M1899 Hand Ejector Military & Police.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
With the introduction of practical semiauto pistols, Mexican officers began purchasing this new breed of handgun, of both American and European design. Included-among these were the Mauser C96 Selbstlade Pistole, various Browning-designed pistols made by Fabrique Nationale in Belgium, Colt M1900/1903 .38 and M1905 .45 cal. pistols and even the tiny, Spanish-made 5mm Charola y Anitua, which proved popular with high-ranking army officers.
Photographs from this period show that, unlike Federal enlisted personnel, large numbers of revolutionary soldiers carried handguns. As had been the case with rifles, American-made weapons predominated, with large-caliber Colt and Smith & Wesson revolvers the obvious favorites, although small, top break revolvers from S&W, Harrington & Richardson and Iver Johnson were also much in evidence, especially with the soldaderas bonitas.
When U.S. forces intervened in Veracruz and northern Mexico, their standard sidearm was the recently adopted M1911 Pistol.
While most Americans carried the M1911 pistol, some National Guard units were still armed with older Colt M1896, 1901 and 1903, .38 cal, revolvers. Like their Mexican counterparts, American officers often used privately purchased handguns, including various Colt New Service and S&W Triple Lock revolvers. Capt. (later Gen.) George S. Patton, a member of Gen Pershing's staff, carried an engraved Colt SAA revolver with ivory grips, with which he purportedly, accounted for several villistas.
During this period, Villa's prospects were at their height. Fie had been appointed provisional governor of Chihuahua, his Division del Norte--second only to the Federates (Federal army) in numbers and equipment--included art elite cavalry bodyguard, Los Dorados (the Golden Ones), while banks in Texas were happy to extend loans with which the villistas purchased arms and ammunition from both respectable American dealers and the infamous gun runners of the era.
SPECIFICATIONS
S&W NO. 3 RUSSIAN REVOLVER
CALIBER: 44 Russian
LENGTH: 12 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 6.5 inches
WEIGHT: 26 ounces
CAPACITY: Six rounds
SIGHTS: Front- Blade
Rear- Notch
SPECIFICATIONS
COLT M1878 FRONTIER DOUBLE ACTION REVOLVER
CALIBER: .45 Revolver
OVERALL LENGTH: 11.5 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 6 inches
WEIGHT: 2.25 pounds
CAPACITY: Six rounds
SIGHTS: Front- Blade
Rear- Groove in top strap
GRIPS: Hard Rubber
All factions in the Revolution made use of foreign volunteers, the first being Francisco Madero's los Falange de los Extranjeros. These American, Canadian and European expatriates were a mixture of ardent revolutionaries, adventure seekers and mercenaries, the latter fighting for whichever side would pay them the most.
SPECIFICATIONS
COLT NEW ARMY & NAVY REVOLVER
CALIBER: .38 Long Colt & .41 Long Colt
OVERALL LENGTH: 9.5 & 11.5 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 4 & 6 inches
WEIGHT: 34 ounces
CAPACITY: Six rounds
SIGHTS: Front- Round blade
Rear- Groove in top strap
GRIPS: Smooth walnut
SPECIFICATIONS
S&W M1899 HAND EJECTOR MILITARY & POLICE REVOLVER
CALIBER: .38 Long Colt & .38 Spl.
OVERALL LENGTH: 11.25 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 6.5 inches
WEIGHT: 1.75 OUNCES
CAPACITY: Six rounds
SIGHTS: Front- Round blade
Rear- Groove in top strap
GRIPS: Hard Rubber
Those serving with Villa's forces--La legion de Americanos--were utilized to train his forces in the use of modern weapons, While foreign doctors organized Villa's mobile hospital corps. A former Swedish army officer, Ivor Thord-Gray, created a modern artillery park, an American, Sam-Drebeh, taught Villa's men the tactical uses, of machine guns, while the gringo Tracy Richardson was his explosives expert. (1) Another American soldier-of-fortune, Lester P. Barlow, organized a small flying corps consisting of several Wright Model B biplanes.
In contrast, Zapata once again found himself ostracized by Mexico City. His continuing insistence upon agrarian reform alienated him from the elites, military officers and the Church, while his geographic isolation from the U.S. border prevented him from obtaining badly needed funding and military supplies.
As was now becoming predictable in Revolutionary circles, Carranza soon earned the enmity of his former allies. Villa, Zapata, and other disillusioned revolutionaries joined forces and in early 1915 captured Mexico City, forcing Carranza and Obregon to flee. Zapata returned south while Villa occupied the capital ... that is, until Carranza and Obregon returned with superior forces and forced him to flee back to Chihuahua.
Obregon's forces pursued Villa and--with the help of modern artillery and machine guns, often manned by foreigners--crushed the Division del Norte at the dual battles of Celaya (April 6-7 & 13-15,1915), whereupon Carranza declared himself president--an act quickly recognized by the administration of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson, anxious to see some degree of stability in Mexico, ordered large numbers of troops, under the command of Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing, to seal the border so that no more arms could be shipped to Villa.
Additionally, the Federales were granted the right of hot pursuit of Villa's forces into U.S. territory.
This enraged Villa, who had always considered the U.S. an unofficial ally. He felt betrayed, and with his tacit approval, his troops began attacking American citizens and property. In January 1916, during a train robbery in northern Mexico, a group of villistas executed 18 American passengers. This, and other anti-American actions, soon turned American public opinion against El Tigre del Norte.
While they remained active in a large area south of Mexico City, Zapata's forces were becoming weary and fractured after so many years of ceaseless struggle. With Villa's defeat, Carranza put a bounty on Zapata's head, hoping some disenchanted Zapatista would remove him from the equation.
Villa decided upon a quixotic response to the change in U.S. policy. On 9 March 1916, he ordered 500 men led by one of his most able commanders, Ramon Banda Quesada, to attack the town of Columbus, N.M. and the nearby supply base of the 13th U.S. Cavalry.
SPECIFICATIONS
COLT M1903 SEMIAUTOMATIC PISTOL
CALIBER: .38 ACP
OVERALL LENGTH: 7.5 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 4.5 inches
WEIGHT: 32 ounces
CAPACITY: Seven-round detachable box
SIGHTS: Front- Blade
Rear- V-notch
GRIPS: Hard rubber
SPECIFICATIONS
AUTOMATIC PISTOL, CALIBER: .45, MODEL OF 1911
CALIBER: .45 ACP
OVERALL LENGTH: 8.6 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 5 inches
WEIGHT: 38 ounces
CAPACITY: Seven-round detachable box
SIGHTS: Front- Blade
Rear- U-notch
GRIPS: Checkered walnut
Attacking at night, the villistas managed to overrun part of the town and army base, but the American soldiers quickly reorganized and counterattacked. Realizing they could not hold out against regular troops, who were now making good use of their M1909 Benet-Mercie machine guns, the raiders set fire to parts of Columbus and beat feet for the border, taking with them captured horses, mules, rifles, ammunition and other contraband.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
U.S. cavalry under Maj. Frank Tompkins mounted a determined pursuit that inflicted additional casualties upon the raiders and recaptured some of the loot. Casualties totaled 10 U.S. soldiers, eight civilians and 80 villistas killed (mostly by machine gun fire), with numbers more taken prisoner.
MACHINE GUNS OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
It was not until the mass bloodletting of the Great War that the true tactical practicality of the machine gun was realized. They were looked upon with suspicion by many military experts, and by the time of the Revolution, the Mexican army had only purchased small numbers of them. The first in service was the Browning-designed Colt M1895 Automatic Machine Gun.
This was an air cooled, gas operated, belt fed machine whose well-known sobriquet the "Potato Digger" was the result of a reciprocating lever under the barrel that, would gouge a hole in the dirt if the gun was mounted too low to the ground. It not only saw service with the Mexican army, but by the U.S. naval forces and Marines who occupied Veracruz.
The next machine gun purchased by Mexico was the Hotchkiss. Based upon a gun invented by an Austrian, Baron Adolph von Odelek, as improved by an American engineer, Laurence Benet, it was manufactured in France by the Societe de la Fabrication des Armes Feu Portatives Hotchiss et Companie.
A large air-cooled weapon, it was fed using metal strips holding 30 cartridges. Air cooling was one of the Hotchkiss' biggest advantages, as it was often difficult to provide sufficient water for cooling guns in the arid regions of northern Mexico.
SPECIFICATIONS
COLT MODEL 1895 AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN
CALIBER: 7x57 (Mexican) and .30 Model of 1906 (U.S.)
OVERALL LENGTH: 41 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 28 inches
WEIGHT: Gun: 35 pounds; Tripod: 56 pounds
FEED SYSTEM: 250-round fabric belt
SIGHTS: Front- Hooded blade
Rear- Aperture adjustable by leaf from 200 to 2000 yards
RATE OF FIRE 450 rounds per minute
SPECIFICATIONS
HOTCHKISS MO. 1910 MACHINE GUN
CALIBER: 7mm Cartucho para Mauser
OVERALL LENGTH: 50 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 30.5 inches
WEIGHT: Gun: 52 pounds; Tripod: 54 pounds
FEED SYSTEM: 30-round metal strips
SIGHTS: Front- Blade
Rear- V-notch adjustable by tangent from 200 to 2000 meters
RATE OF FIRE: 600 rounds per minute
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
While heavy, the Hotchkiss proved extremely rugged and would see extensive service by French and American forces during World War I.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Realizing the need for a lighter automatic weapon, the Mexicans purchased Madsen light machine guns from the Danish company, Dansk Rekylriffel Syndikat. These were recoil operated, box magazine-fed guns that were fitted with a shoulder stock and a bipod.
The U.S. Army was probably the most hesitant of the major armed forces when it came to machine guns. While the U.S. Navy had adopted the M1895 Colt in 1896, at the time of the Spanish-American War (1898), the Army still fielded the crank-operated Gatling Gun. After extensive trials--and much soul-searching--in 1904, the Army adopted the Maxim machine gun.
A recoil operated, water cooled weapon, the U.S. Army insisted on several modifications (over engineering?) which increased its weight above those of similar guns used by the German and British armies. The first 90 guns were built by Vickers in England, while Colt manufactured an additional 197 pieces. Because so much of the action by the Punitive Expedition (see below) involved mounted troops, the heavy Model 1904 only saw only limited service in Mexico.
Realizing the Model 1904 was too heavy to accompany cavalry and rapidly-moving infantry, the Army adopted a light machine gun--known in U.S. service then as a "Machine Rifle"--designed by the aforementioned Hotchkiss Company.
Best known as the M1909 Benet-Mercie, it was a complicated, air-cooled weapon that was fed by metal strips, was mounted on a flimsy bipod and butt monopod and featured a quick-change barrel to increase its rate of fire. Springfield Armory and Colt produced a total of 670 guns for the Army.
The M1909 was not especially reliable, being susceptible to dirt and fouling, suffered from frequent parts breakages, feeding problems, and was not popular with the troops to whom it was issued. Despite the Benet-Mercie's many shortcomings, their skillful use by American soldiers is credited with driving off Villa's forces during the Columbus raid. (2)
U.S. troops made use of one other machine gun during the Punitive Expedition. Invented by the American Dr. Samuel McClean, and improved by U.S. Army Col. Isaac N. Lewis, it was a lightweight, air-cooled weapon that could be carried and operated by one man. Its distinguishing features were a wooden buttstock, flat pan magazine and a full-length barrel jacket, which contained aluminum fins that surrounded the barrel.
Expanding powder gases at the muzzle were supposed to induce a flow of air from the rear of the jacket and over the aluminum fins to cool the barrel. This didn't necessarily work in practice.
Reportedly, personal animosities between Gen. William Crozier, Chief of the Army Bureau of Ordnance, and Col. Lewis prevented the army from adopting the Lewis. (3) Lewis traveled to Belgium and set up a corporation to produce his gun for sale in Europe.
With the outbreak of World War I, the English firm of BSA obtained rights to manufacture the Lewis Gun for British troops. In addition, Savage Arms produced the Lewis Gun for sale to a number of Allied armies, notably Belgium.
Desperate for machine guns, in 1916 the U.S. Army purchased 350 British-pattern Lewis' guns from Savage for training purposes, some of which were used by the Mexican Punitive Expedition.
American soil had not been invaded since 1814, and public outrage pushed the Wilson administration to take action. On 15 March 1916, Pershing's troops--the so-called Mexican Punitive Expedition--crossed the border with orders to capture and/or destroy Villa.
The Expedition was a curious combination of the old and new. In addition to large numbers of horse cavalry, including the Buffalo Soldiers of the famed U.S. 10th Cavalry and Apache Scouts, the Expedition fielded--in many cases for the first time by American troops--such modern devices as trucks, automobiles, motorcycles, radios and airplanes.
Gen. Obregon entered negotiations with Pershing aimed at getting the Americans to withdraw, but they failed as Washington insisted upon reciprocal rights of hot pursuit of Villa's forces, which the Mexicans refused. In response, Carranza ordered a buildup of Mexican forces south of a buffer zone from the advancing Americans. With three different armed groups in the region, incidents became more and more common.
On 21 June, 1916, two troops of the 10th Cavalry searching for villistas were confronted by an estimated 500 Federales outside the town of Carrizal. The American commander insisted upon the right to advance, which was denied by the Mexican commander and fighting soon broke out.
After a fierce firelight, the outnumbered Buffalo Soldiers were forced to surrender. U.S. losses were 2 officers and 14 men killed and 23 captured, while the Mexicans lost their commanding officer, Gen. Felix Gomez, 11 officers, 33 enlisted personnel killed and 53 wounded.
The battle at Carrizal, and other skirmishes between U.S. forces and those of Villa and Carranza, led to President Wilson ordering large numbers of National Guard units to Texas. In October, Villa--whom the Americans never came close to capturing--issued a manifesto calling upon the nation to unite and expel the invasores yanquis, the expropriation of all foreign-owned mines, ranches and railroads and outlawing foreigners (a.k.a. Americans) from owning land in Mexico.
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SPECIFICATIONS
MADSEN MO. 1911 LIGHT MACHINE GUN
CALIBER: 7mm Cartucho para Mauser
OVERALL LENGTH: 45 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 23 inches
WEIGHT: 20 pounds
FEED SYSTEM: 30- & 40-round box
SIGHTS: Front- Inverted V-blade
Rear- V-notch adjustable by tangent from 100 to 2000 meters
RATE OF FIRE: 450 rounds per minute
SPECIFICATIONS
U.S. MACHINE GUN, CALIBER: .30, MODEL 1904
CALIBER: .30 Model 1906
OVERALL LENGTH: 44.2 inches
WEIGHT: Gun: 61.5 pounds; Tripod: 78 pounds
FEED SYSTEM: 250-round fabric belt
SIGHTS: Front- Hooded blade
Rear- U-notch adjustable by leaf from 200 to 2000 yards
RATE OF FIRE: 450 rounds per minute
Realizing the futility of chasing Villa any longer, and with war, in Europe looming, President Wilson ordered all U.S. troop out of Mexico and by the first week of February 1917, the last U.S. soldier crossed the border back into Texas.
SPECIFICATIONS
U.S. AUTOMATIC MACHINE RIFLE, CALIBER: .30, MODEL 1909
CALIBER: .30 Caliber: M1906
OVERALL LENGTH: 48.5 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 25 inches
WEIGHT: 27.6 pounds
FEED SYSTEM: 30-round metal
SIGHTS: Front- Hooded blade
Rear- Aperture adjustable by leaf from 200 to 2000 yards *
RATE OF FIRE: 400 rounds per minute
* --some M1909s were equipped with the Warner & Swasey M1908 telescopic sight.
SPECIFICATIONS
GUN, MACHINE, LEWIS 0.303 INCHES, MART I
CALIBER: .303 Mk. VII
OVERALL LENGTH: 50.5 inches
BARREL LENGTH: 26.25 inches
WEIGHT: 28.5 pounds
FEED SYSTEM: 47-round pan magazine
SIGHTS: Front- Blade
Rear- Aperture adjustable by leaf from 100 to 2000 yards
RATE OF FIRE: 550 rounds per minute
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In 1917, after losing an arm in combat against villista forces, Gen. Obregon retired, leaving Carranza without an effective chief of staff. Carranza wished to crush Zapata's forces, which were a much closer threat to Mexico City than those of Villa. On 10 April 1919, Zapata agreed to meet with a supposedly disenchanted Federal officer who wished to join his rebellion.
When, he arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan in Chinameca, he was ambushed and killed. Bereft of Zapata's leadership, the Ejercito Eibertador del Sur slowly disintegrated.
The following year, Carranza was deposed and killed during a military coup led by his onetime ally, Alvaro Obregon. He was succeeded for a short time by Aldofo de la Huerta, who was defeated subsequently in the election of 1920 by Obregon.
Despite his theatrical 1916 manifesto, Villa's fortunes continued to decline, and his last military action was an unsuccessful raid against Ciudad Juarez in 1919, where his revolutionary career had begun eight years before. In early 1920, he entered into negotiations with then President de la Huerta, who granted him amnesty and--to sweeten the deal--the government provided him with a hacienda and allowed him to maintain a personal bodyguard of 50.
Villa apparently realized this was the best he could hope for and peacefully retired. Three years later, while driving in his car through the Chihuahuan town of Parral, el Tigre del Norte was ambushed and killed. While no one was ever charged with his murder, Villa had made enough enemies in his lifetime that the list of suspects must have been rather lengthy!
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Presidente Obregon instituted a program of agrarian reform, curtailed the influence of the Church and mended relations with los Estados Unidos. But bloodshed continued through the Cristero Wars of 1926-29, and it was not until 1934 that all armed, revolutionary activity ended.
Alvaro Obregon was reelected in 1928, but was assassinated shortly afterwards by a religious fanatic who was angered by his government's attacks upon the Church. Apparently some things never change?
Thanks to the following for providing information and photos used to prepare this article: John Wall, Dan Reynolds, Randall Bessler, Monty Mendenhall, Bob Caulfield, George Layman, Bob Hunnicutt, Robert Ball, Roy Marcot, Georgina Scarlata (my Spanish language expert), the Robert Runyon Collection of the University of Texas and Rock Island Auction Company.
(1) In the 1966 film "The Professionals," actors Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster's characters were loosely based upon these soldiers of fortune.
(2) When American newspapers heard that American soldiers had some difficulty operating the M1909 during Villa's nighttime raid, they dubbed it the "Daylight Gun."
(3) The Belgian Rattlesnake. The Lewis Automatic Machine Gun. Collector Grade Publications, 1998, pp. 59-61 & 122-127.
By Paul Scarlata | Photos by James Walters
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| Title Annotation: | PART TWO - PISTOLS AND MACHINE GUNS |
|---|---|
| Author: | Scarlata, Paul |
| Publication: | Shotgun News |
| Geographic Code: | 1MEX |
| Date: | Oct 20, 2010 |
| Words: | 3483 |
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