by Carlos Schmidt, originally published in Nica News 15 (July 1998)

	Augusto César Sandino, the General of Free Men

This July 19 marks the 19th Anniversary of the overthrow of the Somoza dynasty in the insurrection led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN. The Sandinistas take their name from Augusto César Sandino, the "general of free men" as he was called back in the '20s and '30s. His military campaign led to the eventual withdrawal of the Marines, despite the setback at Ocotal described below.

En route to Las Manos, a post on the border with Honduras, one travels through Ocotal (220 km NNE of Managua), the capital of the Department of Nueva Segovia. It's a picturesque town with more than a passing resemblance to towns in northern Mexico.

The early morning silence is broken by the sounds of braying mules and burros, and the smell of pine smoke rises from a thousand fires cooking breakfast. The last major population center on the Pan-American Highway as it heads north to Honduras, Ocotal gives the impression of being a sleepy, peaceful town, just getting back to normal after years of strife. It has not always been so peaceful.

In July 1927, it was the scene of the first, and probably the largest, real military confrontation between the U.S. Marines and the forces of Augusto César Sandino. It changed military doctrine forever and established Sandino as much more than the bandit he was accused of being. It all happened in downtown Ocotal.

In early 1927, the Liberals under José María Moncada waged a series of military actions, trouncing the armed forces of the government of Conservative Emiliano Chamorro. By May, Moncada had defeated most of Chamorro's armies and marched on Managua.

Treaty for Free Elections

	Captian Gillbert Hatfield poses after the battle with his victorious troops in front of the bullet-pocket City Hall in Ocotal.

The Americans, who had traditionally backed the Conservatives, wanted to avoid a total rout, and so they negotiated a cease-fire with Moncada. Under the famous Espino Negro tree in the plaza of Tipitapa, Moncada and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson negotiated an end to the warfare and to the Chamorro regime. Former president Adolfo Díaz would be interim president, Moncada's army would lay down its arms, and free elections, supervised by the U.S. forces, would be held in 1928.

Moncada agreed to the deal and immediately telegraphed his generals, including Sandino, to quit fighting and to disarm. Later that May, Moncada met in Boaco to talk Sandino into disarming -ending the civil war that had devastated Nicaragua since 1926. It was a fateful meeting as Moncada, dressed in flashy civilian garb, confronted Sandino in plain military dress.

Both men took an instant dislike to one another. Sandino refused to disarm immediately, stating that he had to consult his general staff. He left and soon afterwards declared Moncada a traitor. Then he withdrew into the wilds of the hill country of Jinotega and Nueva Segovia.

On July 1, 1927 Sandino took over the San Albino gold mine near El Jícaro in Nueva Segovia, and declared war on the Moncada government. He seized some dynamite found at the mine and had some crude gold pesos minted at the mine, now highly-valued collector's items. Sandino's forces soon swelled to a few hundred men and the decision was made to attack Ocotal.

Located in a cup-shaped valley, Ocotal was defended by a 40-man garrison of Marines billeted in the 2-story city hall on the north side of the town square, exactly where the mayor's office is today. There was also a garrison of 48 Nicaraguan Guardsmen stationed a half block off the town square.

Sandino gathered his forces at the small town of San Fernando, 10 miles to the east. From there began an unforgettable exchange of telegraph messages between Sandino and Captain Gilbert D. Hatfield, the commander of the Marines.

Sandino wrote, "...when you come to my mountains, make your wills beforehand. I remain your most obedient servant, who ardently desires to put you in a handsome tomb with beautiful bouquets of flowers."

Hatfield responded, "Bravo General! If words were bullets and phrases were soldiers, you would be a Field Marshall instead of a mule thief." He suggested that Sandino wire him again "when you have something more than the ravings of a conceited maniac."

Dive Bombing with DeHavilands

At about 1:00 a.m. on July 16, Sandino's army entered the town, unleashing a determined fusillade against the local government office. By dawn the center of town was shot up and one of Sandino's organizers, Rufo Marín, had been mortally wounded near where the government telephone exchange office is located today. A Sandinista machine-gun located in the church bell tower on the east side of the plaza opened fire on the Marine headquarters 100 yards away.

The Sandinistas, most of them campesinos armed only with machetes, shouted "Viva Sandino!" and "Death to the Yankees!" during their attack.

The Marines were surrounded with no hope of immediate reinforcement with which to combat the hundreds of troops storming their barracks.

Around mid-morning, a flight of American DeHavi-land biplanes flew over the embattled garrison and then headed back to Managua to load bombs and augment their numbers.

By mid-afternoon more planes had arrived and began dive-bombing and strafing the Sandinista forces surrounding the building. The Sandinistas broke off the attack and retreated from the town. The battle was over.

The Battle of Ocotal was a first on several accounts. It was the first organized dive-bombing attack in history -occurring long before the Nazi Luftwaffe was popularly, but erroneously, credited with that innovation. It was also the first major battle between the Marines and Sandino's forces and the first of the few that Sandino lost.

Sandino learned from his mistake and seldom ever attacked a strongly fortified Marine position.

The only other time his forces tried to attack entrenched government and Marine forces -at El Sauce (160 km NE of Managua) in December 1932- they were similarly defeated. In small well-planned ambushes and skirmishes, they almost always prevailed.

Today, a visit to the plaza of Ocotal reveals none of the violent history, and few who frequent the plaza have any idea of just how frantic the fighting was on that July morning 70 years ago.

One Ocotal resident, Dr. Emilio Gutíerrez G. -98 years old and residing in the same house he lived in during the attack- recalls that the battle was a very noisy affair and he spent part of the battle laying over the crib of his 5-month old daughter to protect her from stray bullets. He also remembers that the casualties inflicted on both sides were very light, not remotely approaching the casualty figures claimed by the Marines or the Sandinistas.

Leading to a Strategic Withdrawal

	Standard issue gear for U.S. Marines: Stetson hat, saddle, Smith & Weson .45 revolver. The .22 long revolver was the handgun of choice at the time.

Perhaps the most important event in Sandino's military campaign, and one having the greatest strategic effect on the entire war, was not the battle in Ocotal, but rather a small ambush that took place at a little-known bridge called Achuapa, between Ocotal and San Fernando.

It was here that a 10-man Marine patrol was ambushed in 1930. Eight of the patrol were killed.

The Hoover administration had been assured that the area around Ocotal had been pacified, but the ambush showed just how inaccurate their military intelligence was.

President Hoover, perhaps tired of inflated claims of victories over Sandino's forces, decided it was time to end the Marine presence and to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

A highly-intelligent, young army officer from San Marcos who spoke perfect English and knew a thousand jokes
-young Anastasio Somoza García- saw an opportunity and began promoting himself within the elected government of Moncada and later, that of Juan Bautista Sacasa. The rest, as they say, is history.