Combat· Banana Wars
Battle of Veracruz
The largest American action between the Philippine war and the World War, and the Corps' biggest fight of the period.
Ordered ashore by President Wilson amid the crisis with Mexico's Huerta government, a combined force of Marines and Navy bluejackets landed at the port of Veracruz on 21 April 1914 to seize the customhouse, and ended by occupying the whole city against sharp resistance from Mexican cadets, soldiers, and armed civilians. The Marines, advancing through the streets by cutting from house to house with axes rather than charging in the open as the sailors did, took the customhouse, the naval academy district, and the strongpoints in two days of urban fighting. The combined American loss came to some seventeen to twenty-two killed and around seventy wounded; the Marine share was about thirteen killed and forty-one wounded. The action drew an extraordinary number of Medals of Honor and helped bring down Huerta.
Podcast episodes on Banana Wars
Record no. 51