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Since the outbreak of war the US had learned much about conducting amphibious landings. From crossing the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence, Hispaniola, & the rest of the landings in the Caribbean Campaign think tanks back in the states had gained an idea of what was needed in these landings. For the invasion of Veracruz a new vessel was used. Gasoline powered, the craft was flat bottomed with a flat 1in. steel plated font that could be quickly raised & lowered while the rest was quarter inch steel, & held 20 fully equipped soldiers & two crew members. The new landing craft, dubbed the Landing Craft Model 1 or LC1, were designed to take the invading troops nearly all the way to the beach, offload them, & then travel back to the awaiting transports to ferry a new group. The US Navy had 50 in service & Veracruz was to be their military debut.
Being such an important port, Veracruz had a garrison of 20,000 Mexican troops. However, aside for a single shelling over a year before nothing had occurred & many of the cities big artillery pieces & modern machine guns had been taken throughout the war to be used on the front. Despite these setbacks, the soldier reacted well to the invasion taking their positions along the beach. Using the machine guns that they still had (along with several Gatling Guns brought out of retirement), mortars, & light artillery the Mexican defenders made life hell for the invading Marines. During the first two hours of the invasion the Mexican troops managed to sink 19 landing vessels including 8 LC1's. The loss of the LC1's showed the Navy that all of the vessel, not just the front, should be armored in later models. For nearly two hours the majority of the Marines were pinned down on the beach by Mexican fire. However by 0845 the Marines were piercing holes through Mexico's front line. By 1000 Mexican forces were finally forced from the beachfront. Over the next week US forces fought the Mexicans in & around Veracruz before they would finally withdraw.
While the Mexicans put up a fierce fight at Veracruz, by March over 150,000 US troops were ashore under General Pershing with a further 75,000 to arrive shortly. With so much of their focus to the north the Mexican Army had fewer than 200,000 troops anywhere near the capital & they were being gathered as quickly as possible at Puebla under the young but fierce General José Doroteo Arango Arámbula. By the time even half of the troops were gathered Pershing's army would be over halfway their.
In southeast Mexico there was a region that had been a thorn in Mexico City's side for decades. The Yucatan Peninsula had seceded once already during the Time of Troubles & unrest & rebellious attitudes had been simmering ever since. Almost since the war with Mexico's beginning US agents had been at work in the Yucatan trying to reach an agreement with the anti-Mexican leaders for them to rise against Mexico & assist the Americans in victory. While progress had been decent the Yucatan people lacked any modern weaponry in which to fight a war. To fix that problem the US Navy had been smuggling arms to the peninsula since early 1911. By 1912 the Yucatan rebels were ready for an open revolt & were just waiting for the right moment. That moment came when the Americans invaded Veracruz. On March 17 the Yucatan declared its independence from Mexico. Thousands of Yucatani rebels quickly descended upon the Mexican garrisons in the region & overrunning them. By April nearly all of the peninsula was under their control & the rebels had spilled over into Tabasco. The rebellion however was the least of the problems in Mexico.
On March 31 the Battle of Puebla began between Pershing's & Arámbula's forces. Mexican forces at Puebla fought harder than in any battle before as to many losing here meant losing the capital. It was not enough however & by late April the front line had been pushed into the city itself & the American advance was slowly gaining speed. With the battle for Mexico now so close to the capital President Medina chose to make a trip to Puebla to show his support to the Mexican troops fighting there. On April 22 at 2230 his motorcade was nearing the city when three machine guns opened up on it in an ambush. Within a few seconds it was all over with nearly everyone, including the president, dead.
From the shadows General Arámbula had been watching the scene unfold as his personal guards & staff had cut down the provident & his aids. Though the president was dead the coup started by Arámbula & a few other like minded generals was just beginning. Soon gunfire would be heard from within the capital & elsewhere along the Mexican lines. The Army had had enough of the ruling political party that had been in power for decades & for better or for worse a change was coming.
American Front end of April 1912
