Combat· Banana Wars
Battle of Guayacanas
The second of the two pitched fights on Pendleton's march to Santiago.
A few days after forcing the trenches at Las Trencheras, the Marine column met determined resistance again on 3 July 1916 at Guayacanas, where Dominican insurgents held entrenched positions along the road and opened a heavy fire on the advancing Marines. The fighting turned on the American automatic weapons: First Sergeant Roswell Winans worked his balky machine gun in the open under fire, standing exposed to keep it in action against the enemy works, conduct for which he received the Medal of Honor. The resistance was broken and the advance went on. Guayacanas, with Las Trencheras before it, was one of the two principal engagements of the march that took Pendleton's command to Santiago and broke the back of organized Dominican resistance, opening the interior to the occupation that would follow.
Podcast episodes on Banana Wars
Record no. 9