Constitutionalists Conventionists The Battle of Celaya, 6–15 April 1915, was part of a series of military engagements in the Bajío during the Mexican Revolution between the winners, who had allied against the regime of Gen. Victoriano Huerta (February 1913-July 1914) and then fought each other for control of Mexico.

Obregón chose the site of battle, arrived in advance to prepare it and kept to his defensive strategy, knowing Villa's propensity for blind cavalry charges over an open field.

Obregón was able to utilize many tactical innovations from the Western Front in the First World War—namely trenches, barbed wire and machine guns—in the defense.

Kloss’ military advice and remarkable insight into the nature of Villa's style of war would prove decisive at Celaya.

Angeles' initial absence due to an injury while riding his horse would prove critical at the beginning of the Battle of Celaya.

Villa himself was an excellent horseman from his early days as a bandit and tended to favor his cavalry and rely upon its speed to quickly maneuver around an enemy force.

Obregón was a skilled military commander and understood that if Villa could be lured into a decisive battle, his forces could be completely destroyed.

Villa had consulted with his chief military adviser, Felipe Angeles, who attempted to convince him to avoid a major set-piece battle.

Obregón's men made excellent use of barbed wire and field-expedient obstacles to slow, disrupt and maneuver Villa's forces into the fields of fire prepared for them.

Immediately before the Battle of Celaya, Obregón boasted of his eventual defeat of Villa and even offered to dedicate his inevitable victory to his friends.

[11] As the war of words between the two commanders became more heated, Villa gave the following statement to the newspaper Vida Nueva on the night before the battle began: “This time Obregón will not escape me.

Obregón's strategy was to draw Villa's army away from its lines of communication and supply and choose the place for a major encounter.

As students of modern warfare, Obregón and his military advisers were acutely aware that machine guns, barbed wired and dug-in artillery gave a marked advantage to a defender.

Prior to the battle, Villa had not personally surveyed the battlefield and was confident that his forces would punch through any defenses or his cavalry could outmaneuver them.

Additionally, there were many ditches and small irrigation canals that, when improved, would serve as trenches to provide excellent cover and concealment to Obregón's forces.

Not only did Obregon's forces possess 15 more artillery pieces than Villa, their scarce European-sourced ammunition was vastly more lethal, reliable and had a further effective range.

As Obregón's troops fortified their defensive positions and waited for the Villista main attack, Villa's forces began to move towards Celaya on April 5.

A competent military mind, Obregón immediately realized that this initial tactical error could be the perfect ruse to lure the bulk of Villa's forces into his defensive positions.

Obregon ordered his forces to retreat; the Villistas took the bait and pursued the Constitutionalists back towards their prepared positions at Celaya.

In a stroke of good fortune for Obregón, the Villistas’ supply of ammunition for their small arms had run low after the day's fighting.

This fact, combined with his failure to maintain a reserve force and his playing into the hands of Obregón by engaging on the battleground Obregon had chosen, is a more realistic appraisal of the defeat.

[18] Villa's appeal proved popular with foreigners in Celaya, who feared the damage the Villista artillery would wreak on the city.

In preparation, Obregón ordered his men to place much more barbed wire along potential Villista avenues of approach and cover the obstacles with additional machine-gun fire.

The second battle of Celaya began on April 13, 1915, with a massive frontal assault by the Villista cavalry on the Constitutionalist defensive lines.

We will undertake every effort to save the situation.”[19] After receiving the message, Carranza immediately dispatched a train loaded with munitions to Obregón at Celaya.

As Villa's troops were exhausted after nearly 48 hours of combat, Obregón sprang his reserve cavalry force from the north and counterattacked as he had done in the previous battle.

The Battle of Celaya is referred to by some historians of the period as Pancho Villa's "Waterloo" in the sense that he was dealt a crippling military defeat.

His faithful adviser Gen. Felipe Angeles argued that Villa should return to northern Mexico, where he had allies and could reconstruct the División del Norte.

Villa, displaying supreme confidence in his military judgement, decided to conduct a defensive battle at León similar to what Obregón had done at Celaya.

The battle of Celaya would prove to be Villa's last major contribution in the civil war as he was no longer a powerful leader.