Story about the Battle of Puebla
May 5, 1862: the day Mexico defeated the French army
More than a century and a half ago, in the vicinity of the Mexican city of Puebla, a confrontation took place between the local troops and the invading army of the Second French Empire, in a battle that reminded many of the glorious military feats of Greco-Roman antiquity. We refer to the Battle of Puebla, a brief halt in the capture of Mexico by the Europeans, in what is known today as the Second French Intervention in Mexico.
The opposing forces could not be more disparate. In one corner, led by Ignacio Zaragoza, a 33-year-old soldier, were the 4,500 men of the Mexican army; in the other, under the command of the Count of Lorencez and a relative of Empress Carlota, Charles Ferdinand Latrille, were the 6,500 of the disciplined and better equipped French imperial army.
The first, equipped in the south and east of the outskirts of the city, in the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe; and the seconds advancing on them from the nearby Hacienda la Rementería. It is partly the disparity of armies that made the Mexican victory so glorious and unexpected.
The French advance had been lashed out by Mexican cavalry guerrillas along the way. Around 9 in the morning, they could already be seen on the horizon, but the battle had its formal start a couple of hours later, to the ringing of the city bells and a first cannon shot from Fort Guadalupe.
The first hours of battle
Ignoring the recommendations of his allies (the Mexican conservatives who longed for the return of a monarchy) and trusting in the numerical superiority of his side, the French commander directed his troops, divided into two columns, directly towards the forts. In the space between them, they ran into the 6th Battalion of the Puebla State National Guard, commanded by Colonel Juan Nepomuceno Méndez, and there the first exchange of shots took place.
While the Mexicans reorganized their strategy, forming an angle between Fort Guadalupe and Plaza San Román, the French installed their batteries in front of the fort, returning the enemy fire received. Then, the Oaxacan troops commanded by Porfirio Díaz moved to close the right flank of the battlefield, suddenly leaving the French in a dead end.
The French Zouaves, their elite infantry, then tried to take Fort Guadalupe, without success. They were met at bayonet point by the Mexican riflemen and had to withdraw after a couple of attempts. Meanwhile, something similar was happening between Guadalupe and Loreto, where the French column was resisted by the Creole front and decimated by a cavalry counterattack, which entered firing their carbines and wielding their greatswords.
Three hours of battle had elapsed, but the French defeat was already beginning to loom on the horizon. Prey to a growing desperation to deal a decisive blow to the enemy, Lorencez was encouraged to a new assault towards Fort Guadalupe, in charge of the same Zouaves and the Cazadores de Vincennes; and at the same time sent a second column of his forces to attack the Mexican lines from the right.
This second front was received by the Sappers of San Luis Potosí, under the command of General Lamadrid, and a fierce hand-to-hand fight began instantly between both sides. The French and Mexicans took successive turns to take a house on the slopes of the hill, until victory favored the defenders: a Mexican corporal mixed in with the enemy troops and managed to capture the banner of the Zouaves, dealing a tremendous emotional blow to the troops. invasive.
The rain that announces victory
Late in the afternoon, rain swept the battlefield, making the advance of the French even more difficult. The last French attempt to conquer key pieces in the territory corresponded, again, to the Zouaves. Determined to conquer a 68-pound cannon installed in Loreto, from where it wreaked havoc among the invading troops, they made a desperate infantry charge, which was about to succeed. But at the last minute, the Mexican artilleryman managed to hold his position.
On the other side, Porfirio Díaz’s troops came to the aid of the riflemen from San Luis de Potosí, about to be surrounded and riddled with bullets by the second French front, and stopped the invaders’ advance dead, through a bloody hand-to-hand combat by the Oaxacan lancers. Repelled again and totally demoralized, the French then began their withdrawal, dispersing towards the Los Álamos hacienda, from where they withdrew towards Amozoc.
By 6 p.m., the battle was over. The victory favored the Mexican defenders, whose casualties were 83 dead, 132 wounded, and 12 missing, compared to almost 200 dead, 304 wounded, and 127 captured on the French side. It was a very severe lesson for the Europeans, although in the long term it did not prevent either the invasion of Mexico or the installation of the Second Mexican Empire. But the importance of this heroic deed is still celebrated today, every May 5 in the Mexican territory.
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