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Battle of Miraflores
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. During the battle, 2,000 people were killed and the Peruvian forces defeated. The following day, the capital city of Lima, Peru was captured. The Chilean forces under General Manuel Baquedano marched into Lima triumphant, while Peru's president and his officers fled into the interior, effectively ending the war. During 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 inconditional capitulation and save the chilean army another battle to enter in Lima. For this purpose, General Manuel Baquedano held conversations with Nicolas de Pierola, the dictator of Peru 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
The defenses were arranged in a similar way they did at Chorrillos two days earlier. A 12 km. line extended from the beach at Miraflores until the Surco River, formed by 10 strongholds separated by 900 mts.
This line was divided in three sectors:
On the right flank, under the command of General Andres Caceres, the redoubts N 1, defended by the 2nd battalion commanded by the Provisional Colonel Lecca. Righ next to this forces, the Guardia Chalaca battalion, led by Carlos Arrieta, and the Guarnicion de Marina battalion commanded by Captain Juan Fanning. Right next to it, the 4th battalion was posted in the redoubt N 2, under the order of the Provisional Colonel Ribeyro, this stronghold was by the railroad. The Redoubt N 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 Suarez.
On the left was located the division commanded by Justo Pastor Davila. The 8th battalion was set on redoubt N 5. The 10th battalion was at the redoubt N 6. 12th battalion on redubt N 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 was strong in about 12.000 men and was divided into four divisions:
I Division (Navy Capt. Patricio Lynch)**1st Brigade (Lt. Col. Aristides Martinez)***2 de Linea Inf. Regiment (Lt. Col. Estanislao del Canto)***Talca Inf. Regiment***Atacama Inf. Regiment (Col. Juan Martinez)***Colchagua Inf. Regiment**2nd Brigade (Jose Domingo Amunategui)***4 de Linea Inf. Regiment***Chacabuco Inf. Regiment***Coquimbo Inf. Regiment***Artilleria de Marina Inf. Regiment***Quillota Inf. Battalion***Melipilla Inf. Battalion
II Division (Col. Emilio Sotomayor)**1st Brigade (Col. Jose Francisco Gana)***"Buin" 1 de Linea Inf. Regiment (Lt. Col. Juan Leon Garcia)***Esmeralda Inf. Regiment***Chillan Inf. Regiment**2nd Brigade (Orozimbo Barboza)***Lautaro Inf. Regiment***Curico Inf. Regiment***Victoria Inf. Battalion
III Division (Col. Pedro Lagos)**1st Brigade (Col. Jose Eustaquio Gorosteaga)***Aconcagua Inf. Regiment***Naval Inf. Battalion**2nd Brigade***Santiago Inf. Regiment***Concepcion Inf. Regiment***Valdivia Inf. Battalion***Bulnes Inf. Battalion***Caupolican Inf. Battalion (Lt. Col. Jose Maria del Canto)
Reserve***3 de Linea Inf. Regiment***Valparaiso Inf. Regiment***Zapadores Inf. RegimentArtillery Regiment N1Artillery Regiment N2Cazadores a Caballo Cavalry Regt.Cazadores de Yungay Cavalry Regt.
First Movements
Because of a skirmish between a small groups of chilean and peruvian forces, in the night of the 14th, Colonel Lagos ordered Gorostiaga send out a small force in order to scout the terrain at south of Barranco. As a result of this maneuver, the III Division was placed on the southern edge of the Surco river. On the vanguard were deployed a company of the Santiago Inf. Regt. and 40 soldiers of the Acongagua Inf. Bn. and some artillety pieces, in total were 150 chilean troops at the north of Barranco.
At this time, in the peruvian lines, Gen. Pedro Silva decided to make a 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 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 Artilleria Naval were dispatched to those positions. The regiments Santiago and Naval were disposed to the right and to the left of the railroad connecting Barranco and Miraflores. Now there are 1.100 men at the vanguard.
At 10:00 the reserve was ordered to move in direction to Barranco, so did the regiments 3 de Linea, Valparaiso 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 III Division in line.
After this, the Lynch Division moves towards Barranco. The 1st Brigade begins to move at 13:00. The second one didn't start to move until 14:00. Meanwhile, Gen. Baquedano orders the cavalry to go to Barranco. The II Division continues evolving on the first line with it's 2nd Brigade on the left flank as it follows: on the very left, the Concepcion Inf. Regiment., then successively to the right the infantry battalions Caupolican, Valdivia and the Santiago Inf. Regt. The Aconcagua was not in possition, because the unit was unaware of the tense situation, so Lagos orders the unit to force the march and advance quickly to their positions alongside the 1st Brigade of the Artillery Regt. N1. All this movement took place in front of the Caceres Division on the western side of the front.
The Battle
The Beginning
At 14:00 the battle starts unexpectedly, and the troops on the left side on the chilean forces (about 3.380 troops by that time) were engaged by the Caceres forces (about 5.000). The chilean battleships started the fire on the peruvian positions trying to ease the pressure on the division. Caceres sends the battalions Guardia Chalaca and Guarnicion de Marina against the 3rd Division's 1st Brigade. The force of the peruvian attack make the chilean units to retreat. At this time, the I Division has not reached their possition yet, and the cavalry regiments and the artillery pieces withdraw from the front line.
The Chilean Counter attack
By 15:00 hrs, the first troops of the I Division arrive to their positions to protect the left flank of the III Division. In the meantime, the chilean reserve is sent to the front. The Valparaiso and the Zapadores were directed to reinforce the III Division. The chilean cavalry receive the order to charge, the Carabineros de Yungay to support the 1st Division on the right side of the front, the Cazadores a Caballo to protect the flank of the 2nd Brigade of the III Division. Caceres sends the battalions Concepcion, Libertad and Paucarpata to attack the chilean troops, which were stopped and began to refold again.
Col. Lagos orders the Santiago to attack the side of the peruvian lines on an envolving maneuver, while the battalions Caupolican and Valdivia, with the Concepcion Inf. Regiment to attack frontally. The Santiago brigades attacked from the left and the right sides of the Caceres division, menwhile thre companies of the other three units launched an assault on the trenches, which had to be reinforced with another five companies. 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 Miraflores.
The I Division initiates the fight to the right of the III Division, first the 2 de Linea Regt. and then the regiments Coquimbo, 4 de Linea and Chacabuco. The peruvian offensive over the 1st Brigade decreases as the reinforces started to arrive to this sector.
The 2nd Brigade of the II Division started to march in direction of the left flank of the peruvian lines, supported by the Melipilla Bn. and the Artilleria de Marina troops.
The III Division, backed up by the 3 de Linea attacks with the objective to take the four peruvian redobuts. The peruvian resistance in the right began to fade, but the situation in the center of the line was different. This defenders held their possitions but began to gave to the thrust of the chilean's attack, intensified by the arrival of the regiments Buin and Chillan. When the redoubts were taken, the 8th Bn in redoubt N 5 refolds. With this retreat, the peruvian front started to collapse.
By 18:30, the Santiago Regt. arrived to the train station of Miraflores, meanwhile the cavalry regiments converged to this position. With the battle already decided, Echenique orders the remaining troops not to enter in combat, disolving this forces and sending them home, avoiding the combat to reach the capital's streets. Nevertheless, the positions at San Bartolome and San Cristobal continue to fire upon the chilean troops a while longer. Sadly, Miraflores had the same luck than Chorrillos and burned. By midnight, Rufino Torrico, Mayor of Lima surrenders the city to Gen. Baquedano. Lima had fallen after more than five hours of fierce combats.
The Aftermath and the fall of Lima
The cassualties in both sides were enormous. The chilean army lost between 2.200 and 2.600 men, among them Juan Martinez, Commandant of the Atacama Infantry Regt. The III Division fought in the front line for the entire battle, so had the biggest losses, 1.131 men were dead on wounded. The I Division lost 697 men, and the II Division 347 troops. The chilean reserve lamented the loss of 346 men. The peruvian army had losses estimaded in about 3.200 men (30.4% of their total force), but it's not been confirmed with official reports. After this victory, Lima surrenders and the chilean army entered in the City of the Viceroys on January 17, 1881.
BIbliography
Mellafe, Rafael. La Guerra del Pacifico en Imagenes, Relatos, Testimonios. Centro de Estudios Bicentenario, 2007.
Machuca, Francisco. Las Cuatro Campanas de la Guerra del Pacifico. Santiago, 1928.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Battle of Miraflores
