Battle of Celaya

Date	6–15 April 1915
Location	Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico
Result	Decisive Constitutionalist victory

Belligerents

Constitutionalists

Conventionists

Commanders and leaders

Alvaro Obregon

Pancho Villa

Strength

15,000
13 big field guns

22,000

Casualties and losses

695 killed
641 wounded

5,800 killed
6,500 captured
5,000 wounded

The Battle of Celaya, 6–15 April 1915, was part of a series of military engagements in the Bajío during the Mexican Revolution between the winners, who had allied against the regime of Gen. Victoriano Huerta (February 1913 to July 1914) and then fought each other for control of Mexico. The Constitutionalists under Gen. Venustiano Carranza faced off against the Army of the Convention of Aguascalientes. The Convention allied Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Emiliano Zapata, who in practice remained in his stronghold of Morelos. The first battle of Celaya was fought April 6–7, 1915, near Celaya in present-day Guanajuato, Mexico. The second battle of Celaya was fought April 15–16. These encounters between the Constitutionalist Army led by Gen. Álvaro Obregón, Venustiano Carranza's best general, and the army under the command of Pancho Villa were crucial in determining the outcome of the Mexican Revolution.

Obregón chose the site of battle, arrived in advance to prepare it and kept to his defensive strategy, knowing Villa's propensity for blind cavalry charges over an open field. Villa’s defeat was the result of his multiple tactical miscalculations and overconfidence in his much larger, undefeated army's ability to best Obregón’s army under any circumstances. Villa's División del Norte outnumbered Obregón's Constitutionalists 2:1, but Obregón had lured Villa far from his communication and supply lines to a field with existing canals and trenches. Obregón was able to utilize many tactical innovations from the Western Front in the First World War—namely trenches, barbed wire and machine guns—in the defense. Villa continued his use of massed cavalry charges. New logistical and troop movement techniques such as the use of trains were seen.

...
Wikipedia