Part Two
On 10 June, the CG of Fort Huachuca received new orders. The 111th MI Brigade was to attack and take Yuma, which had fallen to Second Mexican Army less than a week before. 6th US Army anticipated that this threat to the Mexican lines of communication into California would blunt the Mexican drive up the coast and into the Central Valley, giving other US forces time to redeploy to meet the threat. Thomason requested authorization to take AZSTAG 3rd Brigade, then operating in Tucson and Cochise County, under command while the 111th struck west. The Joint Chiefs contacted Governor Symington in Phoenix with the firm request that the two battalions of 3rd Brigade be placed at Huachuca’s disposal to secure Arizona against the threat from the south. Despite the growing unrest in Phoenix, Symington authorized “temporary deputization” of the troops of 3rd Brigade.
The AZSTAG troops replaced the troops of the 111th Brigade at the strong points overlooking Nogales, Naco, and Douglas. The State Guard commander noted with anxiety that he was replacing the 111th battalions with formations half their size and with a fraction of the firepower. Pickets were established along the border in an effort to control infiltration.
The 111th Brigade moved west along Interstate 8 to Yuma two days later. They were met east of the city by a small number of Marines who had withdrawn to the hills overlooking Yuma after being pushed out of the city. The Marines reported that most of the Mexican units had crossed the Colorado River and moved into California. Only a small garrison remained. The lead elements of the 111th promptly assaulted Yuma, led by Marines familiar with the territory. Inspired by the heroics of a handful of junior officers and NCOs (many of whom became casualties), the 111th recaptured Yuma and the Marine Corps Air Station in a two-day fight. The presence of a number of Ridgway light tanks proved decisive.
Further east, the departure of the 111th Brigade had not gone unnoticed. Hermosillo Brigade, which was initially assigned as a follow-on formation for Second Mexican Army, was instead sent to Nogales to support Nogales Brigade in a renewed offensive against Fort Huachuca and Tucson. In California, Second Armored Cavalry Regiment and Ensenada Brigade were turned around to secure the rear area. Having concluded that 111th Brigade offered a genuine threat to his lines of communication, CINC Second Mexican Army moved what he judged to be sufficient forces into place to overwhelm the 111th and capture Fort Huachuca and Yuma in a timely fashion.
Once the 111th Brigade had consolidated its position at Yuma, the commander, a full colonel named Williams, decided to push a raiding party along the Colorado River to San Luis Colorado to blow the highway bridges there. The delay while the 111th reorganized itself in Yuma was critical. Motorized troops of Ensenada Brigade quickly arrived from California to reinforce the small garrison. Williams’ attack ran into a hasty Mexican defense three miles north of the target. While the 111th Brigade probed for a bypass for a flanking attack, Second Armored Cavalry Regiment arrived on the right bank of the Colorado opposite Yuma. On the advice of his chief engineer, a veteran from Europe who had lost an arm in combat, Williams had arranged for the Yuma bridges to be rigged for demolition. With the appearance of the Mexican armor on the California side of the river, Williams dropped the Colorado River spans.
While 111th Brigade was fighting at Yuma, Hermosillo and Nogales Brigades launched a renewed offensive west of Fort Huachuca. Now possessed of decisive fire superiority, the Mexican forces launched a two-pronged infantry assault on the American strong point north of Nogales. 105mm howitzers pounded the understrength troops of 3rd AZSTAG Brigade, who could not reply with their medium mortars. The infantry assault carried the strong point in twelve hours.
Even before the dismount attack was complete, Mexican engineers breached the American obstacles along Interstate 19 west of the main defensive position. Motorized units of Hermosillo Brigade rolled north. Their objective was to cut Interstate 10 west of Tucson, which would cut the lifeline between Huachuca and the 111th. Once the American strong point had been mopped up, Nogales Brigade pushed up Highway 82 to launch a holding attack against the remaining American forces at Fort Huachuca. Once 111th Brigade was either defeated outright or withered on the vine at Yuma, Hermosillo Brigade and Nogales Brigade would concentrate on Fort Huachuca and end the threat to the right flank of Second Mexican Army.
Once the attack at Nogales began, Williams realized immediately what the Mexicans were attempting. His Operations Officer (S-3), who was a veteran of the fighting in the Gulf, recommended immediate withdrawal and quickly formulated a plan to bloody the nose of Ensenada Brigade to keep them from pursuing 111th Brigade down Interstate 8 as the American forces withdrew to Tucson. Williams agreed.
In an effort to coordinate with the attacks at Nogales, Ensenada Brigade launched its own drive towards Yuma. The Americans fell back in apparent disorder. Mexican scouts reported that supporting units were already east out of Yuma. Under pressure from CINC Second Mexican Army to finish the job quickly, the commander of Ensenada Brigade pushed his forward battalion forward against the better judgment of the battalion commander. The first echelon of the battalion drove into a hastily-created fire sack near the ruins of Yuma MCAS. The Americans blocked the follow-on forces briefly with judicious placement of demolitions and 105mm fire. Inside the fire sack, the Mexicans were treated to all of the anti-armor fire the former MI troops could give. Those who did not surrender or escape on foot were wiped out in less than fifteen minutes.
Here the American decision to transport their few Ridgway light tanks on flatbed trucks paid an expected dividend. Though under pressure from the remainder of Ensenada Brigade, the Americans nevertheless doggedly loaded a number of the least-damaged Lynx armored cars and VAB armored personnel carriers onto flatbed trucks or towed them behind standard tow trucks. It was a major coup.
Once clear of the city, Williams allowed his S-3 to organize a rear guard of Ridgways and infantry in APC. The initial pursuit by Ensenada Brigade ran into the rear guard on upward-sloping ground east of the Yuma city limits, where the superior range of the platoon of Ridgways proved decisive. The American rear guard was defending at a draw where Interstate 8 passed through a line of small, sharp hills east of the city. After losing several AFV, the Mexicans withdrew. Once darkness fell, they moved infantry forward, using the terrain to cover their movements so they could launch a flanking attack on the Americans. By the time the infantry arrived, the Americans had withdrawn.
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