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The column to take Ojinaga consisted of 500 men in the Villa brigade, under the command of Jose Rodriguez; 550 men from the Gonzales Ortega brigade, under the command of Toribio Ortega; 450 men from the Morelos brigade, under Faustino Borunda; 400 men from the Cuauhtemoc Brigade, under Trinidad Rodriguez, then a lieutenant colonel; 300 from the Contreras Brigade, under Luis Diaz Cuder. Also, there were two batteries of 75 and 80-millimeter cannon under the command of Martiniano Servin and a machine-gun regiment under Margarito Gomez.
They left Chihuahua on December 22, 1913, with munitions and equipment of all kinds. In San Sostenes they found a great deal of railroad material, arms, ammunition, and clothing which the enemy had abandoned. Four days later they were at the ranch La Mula. Two days later they were in Mulato. The next day the fought with Caraveo and Flores Alatorre, who were defeated and forced to flee. Caraveo was wounded, and 260 prisoners were taken. They got four machine guns and ten mules loaded with ammunition. Three days later, on January 1, 1914, they made contact with the enemy at Ojinaga. This time the enemy attacked, dismantled a piece of artillery, caused many casualties, and forced a retreat. The next day the battle continued, and the enemy killed 200 men. On the third day enemy cavalry came out, supported by artillery. There was a furious encounter resulting in great bloodshed, and although the enemy withdrew, driven back by Servin's cannon and the action of our troops, Ortega ceased fire during the combat, and 80 of our men were killed and 130 taken prisoner. Señor! Our forces saw the enemy withdraw without loss or damage, and the 130 prisoners were shot in Ojinaga.
Our action was paralyzed in spite of Natera's effort and ability. The trouble came of disputes and quarrels among brigade leaders, who were angry with Toribio because he was apparently unwilling to win under Natera. So, on the second day, in the heaviest of fighting, our forces retired to rest; and two days later there weariness and discontent increased; and a day later, Martin Lopez and Carlos Almeida wanted to return to Chihuahua and Jose and Trinidad Rodriguez wanted to withdraw to Jimenez. Failure demoralized them, and it was only because Servin would not follow them that that they decided either to wait one more day longer and take Servin by force or to keep fighting until the end if Natera would shoot Toribio, whom they held responsible. |
