Part Three
The rest of the brigade, in the meantime, rolled east during daylight hours. Hermosillo Brigade had pushed north a reinforced company to hold the junction of I-8 and I-10 at Casa Grande, fifty miles northwest of Tucson. The advanced elements of 111th Brigade, forewarned that the Mexican Army was in Casa Grande, made contact with the Mexicans in the early afternoon. The Mexican company, faced with overwhelming force, attempted to withdraw. However, in a move that was to set the pattern for the rest of the larger battle, a small detachment of motorcycle scouts (led, perhaps not coincidentally, by a 10th Mountain Division veteran who had been badly wounded in Norway and who had spent several months recuperating at a hospital in Sierra Vista) with LAWs and claymore mines, had already bypassed Casa Grande by riding through dusty, abandoned agricultural land to set up an anti-armor ambush alongside I-10 in Arizona City. When the Mexican rifle company rolled down the highway in its mix of VAB and trucks, the motorcycle scouts initiated a deadly ambush. Undamaged vehicles simply rolled through the ambush, since the scouts had not been able to block the road in the available time and with the available resources. Nevertheless, the ambush claimed one VAB, two trucks, and number of dead and injured among the trucks that continued to move. It was a heartening victory.
By early evening, the 111th had made contact with a battalion-strong blocking position of Hermosillo Brigade at Casa Adobes on the northwest edge of metropolitan Tucson. The Mexicans had selected good firing positions to cover the road, which was blocked by rubble and damaged cars, and to defend the roadblock all around. The Americans were forewarned by friendly civilians and did not drive into the Mexican fields of fire.
At this point, the Mexicans might have dealt the 111th a decisive defeat, but Mexican strength was divided. Hermosillo Brigadewas operating according to plan: one battalion had established a strong blocking position at the western end of the I-10 path through Tucson in order to keep American logistical support from reaching the 111th or units sliced from the 111th from reaching Tucson (especially Davis-Monthan AFB) or Fort Huachuca. Two batttalions assigned to assault and destroy the Americans at Davis-Monthan AFB, where the personnel of 355th Wing had been joined by a number of reservists and police in establishing a logistical and operations base for managing and defending Tucson. Most of the armor was deployed against Davis-Monthan.
Further south, Nogales Brigade had been deployed against Fort Huachuca. The post’s principal defenders were absent, but the post was not without the means of defending itself. Since January, work crews had been constructing a thin network of fortified firing positions. Open ground on the north and east sides of post was broken with anti-tank ditches and long lines of wire. The few mines that were available had been placed to canalize movement near the main access roads. Minor (unpaved) roads crossing the defensive perimeter of the post had been cut in most locations. Aware of the basic defensive plan of the post, the commander of Nogales Brigade chose to move up Highway 82, then south along Highway 83 to strike at the west gate of the post. He had brought bulldozers to clear a lane through the obstacles with the intent of covering the bulldozers with fire from artillery, mortars, and direct fire. The attackers reached the west gate without incident, but they had been observed moving along their march route. Waiting for them at the west gate was a scratch team of Military Police, signal troops, and State Guardsmen.
The Mexicans initiated a good attack, covered by bombardment from their 105mm howitzers, light mortars, and machine gun fire. The Americans had no artillery available, having sent their own 105mm guns and all of their mortars with 111th Brigade. However, the MPs had available a handful of Mk-19 automatic grenade launchers mounted on Hum-Vee carriers. The MPs sited these on reverse slopes behind and to either side of the west gate. They lacked the range to attack the Mexican guns, but with forward observer support they could bring down indirect fire on the Mexican obstacle breaching operation. This the MPs did, quickly disabling most of the Mexican bulldozers and their crews.
The Mexican artillery chief, correctly assessing the nature of the MP-led defense, attempted to suppress the American grenade launchers by directing fire against the most likely enemy firing positions. The Americans responded by shifting positions in staggered rotation. Mexican fire knocked out two of the three MP gun trucks, but they were unable to completely suppress the American defensive indirect fire.
In an attempt to stick to the original plan, the Mexicans made a large-scale dismounted engineer attack against the west gate. The engineer attack bogged down with heavy losses just short of its objective. Despite considerable losses to Mexican artillery fire, American riflemen covering the gate obstacle from positions along ridges to either side held their ground and compelled the surviving Mexican engineers to withdraw.
Changing tactics, the Mexican commander ordered dismounted attacks to flank the west gate to either side. Open xeriphytic forest, characterized by moderately-spaced mesquite trees and tall grass, covered both slopes of the ridgeline through which the west gate road cut. A number of shallow draws promised cover. The attacks went in, each with a company in the lead and the remainder of their battalions in follow-on. On the American left, the dismount attack stalled when it ran into American pickets set out to guard against just such a possibility. The draws here were blocked with concertina wire, which forced the attackers to move onto the spurs leading up to the ridge. State Guardsmen with high-powered hunting rifles and well-chosen positions forced the Mexican infantry back down into the draws and pinned them there. On their other flank, though, the Mexicans found a gap in the defenders’ observation, pierced a flimsy barbed wire fence, crossed the ridgeline, and swung south to roll up the American flank. The Americans withdrew in some disorder, having taken heavy casualties.
Thomason’s deputy, BG Smith, took command of the defensive operation. By this time, it was obvious that virtually the entire combat strength of Nogales Brigade had been committed to the attack at the west gate. Smith led a small task force of reinforcements, including troops from 304th MI Battalion, USAR truck drivers, AZ ARNG engineers, headquarters troops, and civilian volunteers, to establish a new defensive position closer to post. No sooner had they arrived, dripping with sweat under the setting sun, and started to dig in than they heard the ugly sound of machine gun fire from the road to the west. Having broken through the last of the barrier at the west gate, the Mexicans pushed several VAB and Lynx through. They caught a number of fleeing Americans on the road and machine-gunned them. Most of the rest scattered.
The Mexican armor pushed rapidly towards post. At the new defensive position, within artillery range of the main post, the Mexicans were halted by a hastily-emplaced road block. Inside the post perimeter, however, there were numerous bypasses available. Throughout the southern part of the post, where the north slope of the Huachucas rose above valley, every large spur had an unpaved road leading towards the top of the range. Many of these roads were connected at some point—some near the base of the spurs, others near the top or at saddles. Even more accessible were unpaved roads cutting through the arroyos leading off the base of the mountains. The Mexican armor turned off the main road and rolled along an unimproved dirt road leading to Libby Army Airfield, which was located on the north side of the main post.
The Mexican AFV, numbering about a dozen Lynxes and VAB, rolled unchallenged onto the airfield. They felt so confident of victory at this point that they declined to destroy facilities and vehicles (including aircraft) they felt they might be able to use later. Instead, leaving a mixed platoon of Lynxes and VAB to secure the field, the remainder of the Mexican armor set off through the main post to take from the rear the new American position along the western approach to post. Once the rest of the brigade’s infantry arrived at the blocking position, Nogales Brigade could finish the fight and take the rest of the post in an orderly fashion.
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