Battle of Miraflores

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Miraflores
partof=the War of the Pacific


caption=
date=January 15, 1881
place= Miraflores District, Peru
result= "Decisive Chilean victory"
combatant1=flag|Chile
combatant2=flag|Peru|1825
commander1=flagicon|Chile Manuel Baquedano
flagicon|Chile Patricio Lynch
flagicon|Chile Emilio Sotomayor Baeza
flagicon|Chile Pedro Lagos
commander2=flagicon|Peru|1825 Nicolás de Piérola
flagicon|Peru|1825 Andrés Avelino Cáceres
flagicon|Peru|1825 Belisario Suárez
flagicon|Peru|1825 Justo Pastor Dávila
strength1=~ 10,000 - 13,000 soldiers
88 cannons
strength2=~ 10,500 - 11.000 soldiers
casualties1= 2,124 casualties
casualties2= 3,000 casualties

The Battle of Miraflores occurred on January 15, 1881 in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru. It was an important battle during the War of the Pacific that was fought between Chile and the forces of Peru. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano defeated the army commanded by Nicolas de Pierola guarding the second defensive line of the Peruvian capital city. Two days later, Lima, the capital city of Peru was occupied by Chilean troops. Gen. Baquedano's forces marched into Lima triumphant, while Peru's president and his officers fled into the interior, leaving the country without any government. Although the fall of Lima, the war continued between the occupation army and the troops of Andres Caceres for another three years. During the occupation of Lima, Peru's National Library was set on flames, while a number of other monuments were ransacked by Chilean forces and taken as war trophies.

During the battle, Peruvian naval officer Captain Juan Fanning became a national hero for leading a spectacular infantry charge of marines that nearly outflanked the enemy. Fanning's brigade caused some Chilean casualties until running out of ammunition, then continued to fight with knife and bayonet until Fanning was mortally wounded. 400 of Fanning's 524 men were killed during the charge.

Prelude

After the Chilean victory at Chorrillos, a truce were declared between both sides meanwhile peace conversations took place. The Chilean objective was to obtain an unconditional capitulation and save the Chilean army another battle before entering in Lima. For this purpose, General Baquedano held conversations with Nicolás de Piérola, the dictator of Perú and the mediation of Spencer St John of England, Jorge Tezanos Pinto of El Salvador and M. de Vorges of France. Sadly, this conversations failed.

Peruvian defenses

During the peace conversations, Pierola arranged his army in a second defensive line at Miraflores. The defenses of this line were arranged in a similar way to those at Chorrillos two days earlier. A 12 km. line extended from the beach at Miraflores until the Surco River, formed by 10 strongholds about 900m apart.

This line was divided in three sectorscite web |url= http://www.unjbg.edu.pe/basadre/ |title= La verdadera epopeya |author= Basadre, Jorge |year= 2000 |accessdate= 2008] :

* On the right flank, under the command of General Andrés Cáceres, Redoubt Nº 1 was defended by the "2nd" Battalion commanded by the Provisional Colonel Lecca. Right next to this forces, the "Guardia Chalaca" Battalion, led by Carlos Arrieta, and the "Guarnición de Marina" Battalion commanded by Captain Juan Fanning. Right next to it, the "4th" battalion was posted in the Redoubt Nº 2, under the order of the Provisional Colonel Ribeyro, this stronghold was by the railroad. The Redoubt Nº 3 was defended by "6th" Battalion commanded by Provisional Col. de la Colina.

* On the center of the line was the division commanded by Belisario Suárez.

* On the left was located the division commanded by Justo Pastor Dávila. The 8th battalion was set on Redoubt Nº 5. The "10th" battalion was at the Redoubt Nº 6. "12th" Battalion on Redoubt Nº 7, "14th" Battalion on the Camacho bridge, and on the right of this last unit, the "16th" Battalion. In total, the Peruvian forces had 10.500 men between the regular army and the reserve.

The Chilean Forces

The Army of Chile had a strength estimated about 12.000 men and was divided into three divisions and one reserve as it followscite web |url= http://www.geocities.com/naval_1879/batallas/Miraflores.htm |title= Batalla de Miraflores | year= 2001 | author= Ojeda, Jorge | accessdate= 2008] :

* The 1st Division of Navy Capt. Patricio Lynch had two brigades, the 1st Brigade of Col Juan Martínez formed by the "2nd Line", "Talca", "Atacama", "Colchagua" infantry regiments. The 2nd Brigade of Col. José Dgo. Amunátegui had the "4th Line", "Chacabuco", "Coquimbo", "Artillería de Marina" infantry regiments and the "Quillota" and "Melipilla" infantry battalions.

* The 2nd Division of Col. Emilio Sotomayor, with two brigades, the 1st Brigade of Col. José Fco. Gana, composed by the "Buin" 1st Line", "Esmeralda" and "Chillán" infantry regiments. The 2nd Brigade of Lt. Col. Orozimbo Barboza was formed by the "Lautaro" and "Curicó" infantry regiments, and the "Victoria" Infantry Battalion.

* The 3rd Division of Col. Pedro Lagos structured in two brigades also, the 1st Brigade of Col. Martiniano Urriola, composed by the "Aconcagua" Inf. Regiment and the "Naval" Inf. Battalion. The 2nd Brigade of Col. Francisco Barceló formed by the "Santiago" and "Concepción" infantry regiments, plus the "Valdivia", "Bulnes" and "Caupolicán" infantry battalions.

* The reserve, made of the "3rd Line", "Valparaíso" and "Zapadores" infantry regiments.

The artillery consisted in the regiments "Nº1" and "Nº2". The cavalry had two regiments also, the "Cazadores a Caballo" and the "Cazadores de Yungay".

First Movements

Because of a skirmish between a small groups of Chilean and Peruvian forces, in the night of the 14th, Colonel Lagos ordered his Chief of Staff Jose Eustaquio Gorostiaga to send out a small force in order to scout the terrain at the south of Barranco. As a result of this maneuver, the 3rd Division was placed on the southern edge of the Surco river. On the vanguard were deployed a company of the "Santiago" Inf. Regiment and 40 soldiers of the "Acongagua" Inf. Bn. and some artillery pieces, in total were 150 Chilean troops at the north of Barranco. The Lagos' division was stationed on the vanguard considering this unit didn't had as many losses as the other two divisions at Chorrillos.

At this time, in the Peruvian lines, Gen. Pedro Silva decided to make a formal review of his troops in order to rise their morale, which was very low due to the impact of the defeat at Chorrillos two days ago. This movement in the defensive lines made the Chilean officers became suspicious and strengthen their advanced troops (at 400 meters of the Peruvian lines at the northern side of the Surco river). So at 09:30 hrs, 3 companies of the "Santiago" and another 4 companies of the "Artillería Naval" were dispatched to those positions. The "Santiago" and "Naval" regiments were disposed to the right and to the left of the railroad connecting Barranco and Miraflores. Now there were 1.100 men at the Chilean vanguard.

At 10:00 the reserve was ordered to move in direction to Barranco, so did their regiments "3rd Line", "Valparaíso" and "Zapadores" arriving at 11:00 to their destination.

At 10:45 Gorosteaga, who was concerned about the vicinity of the Peruvian forces at the other side of the river, and informs this to Col. Lagos who orders to put the entire division in line.

After this, the Lynch's Division moved towards Barranco. The 1st Brigade began to move at 13:00. The 2nd didn't start to move until 14:00. Meanwhile, Gen. Baquedano ordered the cavalry to go to Barranco. Lagos's division continues evolving on the first line with its 2nd Brigade on the left flank as it follows: on the very left, the "Concepción" Regiment, then successively to the right the "Caupolicán", "Valdivia" battalions and the "Santiago" Regiment. The "Aconcagua" Regiment was not in position, because the unit was unaware of the tense situation, so Lagos issued an order to the unit, commanding to force the march and advance quickly to their positions alongside the 1st Brigade of the Artillery Regt. Nº1. All this movement took place in front of the Cáceres' Division on the front western side.

The Battle

The Beginning

At 14:00 the battle started unexpectedlycite book | title= La Guerra del Pacífico | author= Bulnes, Gonzalo | publisher= Editorial del Pacífico | year= 1955] , and the troops on the left side on the Chilean forces (about 3.380 troops by that time) were engaged by the Cáceres' forces (about 5.000 men). The Chilean battleships started the fire on the Peruvian positions trying to ease the pressure on the division, meanwhile Cáceres sent the "Guardia Chalaca" and "Guarnición de Marina" battalions against Barcelo's Brigade, whilst the Urriola's Brigade deployed it's troops in disorder due to the sudden battle start. The strength of the Peruvian attack forced the Chilean units to retreat. At this time, Lynch's Division has not reached their position yet, thus the cavalry regiments and the artillery pieces withdraw from the front lineOfficial report of Lt. Col Emeterio Letelier] .

The Chilean Counter attack

By 15:00, the first troops of the 1st Division arrive to their positions to protect the left flank of the Lagos' Division. In the meantime, the Chilean reserve is sent to the front. The "Valparaíso" and the "Zapadores" regiments were directed to reinforce the 3rd Division. The Chilean cavalry receive the order to charge, the "Carabineros de Yungay" to support the Lynch's Division on the right side of the front, the "Cazadores a Caballo" to protect the flank of the Urriola's Brigade. Cáceres sent the "Concepción", "Libertad" and "Paucarpata" battalions to attack the Chilean troops, which were stopped and began to refold again.

Col. Lagos orders the "Santiago" Regiment to attack the side of the Peruvian lines in a pincer maneuver, while the battalions "Caupolicán" and "Valdivia", with the "Concepción" Regiment to attack frontally. The "Santiago" battalions performed the attack from the left and the right sides of the Cáceres' division; meanwhile, three companies of the other three units launched an assault on the trenches, which had to be reinforced with another five. This forces succeeded in their attempt to reach the other side of the river and take the defenses in this sector, breaking the Peruvian lines in direction to MirafloresCol. Pedro Lagos' official report, Commander of the Chilean army's III Division] .

The Chilean 1st Division initiated the fight on the right of Lagos' Division, deploying first the "2nd Line" Regt. and then the "Coquimbo", "4th Line" and "Chacabuco" regiments. The Peruvian offensive over Barceló's Brigade decreased as the reinforces began to arrive to the sector. Right behind the division came Orozimbo Barboza's Brigade which strengthened the preceding troops and helped to contain the Peruvian offensive.

Barcelo's brigade, now under the command of Col. Demofilo Fuenzalida, backed up by the "3rd Line" Regt. assaulted the four redoubts on the Peruvian right wing, gunned with thirty cannons and ten machine guns. The Peruvian resistance in the right began to fade, but the situation in the center of the line was very different. These defenders held their positions but began to gave to the thrust of the Chilean's attack, intensified by the arrival of the "Buin" and "Chillán" regiments. When the redoubts were taken, the 8th Bn in redoubt Nº 5 refolds. With this retreat, the entire Peruvian front started to collapse.

By 18:30, the "Santiago" Regt. arrived to the Miraflores train station, meanwhile the cavalry regiments converged to this position. With the battle already decided, Echeñique orders the remaining troops not to enter in combat, dissolving this forces and sending them home, avoiding the combat to reach the capital's streets. Nevertheless, the positions at San Bartolomé and San Cristóbal continued to fire upon the Chilean troops a while longer. Sadly, Miraflores had the same luck than Chorrillos and was burned to the ground. By midnight, Rufino Torrico, Mayor of Lima surrenders the city to Gen. Baquedano. Lima had fallen after more than five hours of fierce combats and almost two years of war.

Aftermath

Military and political consequences

The casualties in both sides were enormous. The Chilean army lost between 2.200 and 2.600 men, among them Juan Martínez, Commandant of the "Atacama" Infantry Regt. Lagos' 3rd Division fought in the front line the entire battle, so had the biggest losses, 1.131 men were dead on wounded. The 1st Division lost 697 men, and the 2nd Division 347 soldiers. The Chilean reserve suffered the loss of 346 men.

The Peruvian army had losses estimated in about 3.200 men (30.4% of their total force), but it's not been confirmed with official reports. After this victory, Lima surrendered and the Chilean army entered in the "City of the Viceroys" on January 17, 1881. Also, Nicolas de Pierola left the city in direction to the Andes, as many of his officers did. Among this officers was Col. Andres Cacerescite book | title= La Guerra del Pacífico en imágenes, relatos, testimonios |author= Mellafe, Rafael; Pelayo, Mauricio | publisher= Centro de Estudios Bicentenario | year= 2004] , who led the resistance in the mountains against the Chilean occupation army. Another four year of war were necessary until the decisive Chilean victory at Huamachuco, on 1883.

References

BIbliography

* Mellafe, Rafael. "La Guerra del Pacífico en Imágenes, Relatos, Testimonios." Centro de Estudios Bicentenario, 2007.
* Machuca, Francisco. "Las Cuatro Campañas de la Guerra del Pacífico." Santiago, 1928.
* Bulnes, Gonzalo. "La Guerra del Pacífico." Editorial del Pacífico, 1955.