April 6, 1915 · Guanajuato, Central Mexico Theater
April 6, 1915
Fought in two engagements (April 6–7 and April 13–15, 1915), the Battle of Celaya was the decisive military confrontation of the Mexican Revolution. Obregón, who had studied reports from the Western Front, dug trenches, strung barbed wire, and positioned machine guns in fortified emplacements around Celaya. Villa attacked with the mass cavalry charges that had overwhelmed every previous opponent. The machine guns slaughtered the horsemen; in the second engagement alone, Villa lost 4,000 killed, 5,000 prisoners, and all his artillery. Obregón lost his right arm to a grenade in a subsequent engagement but survived.
Commanders