The Battle of El Bramadero, or the Battle of Bromaderos, took place between the 27 and 28 February 1928 during the American occupation of Nicaragua of 1926–1933 and the Sandino Rebellion. The

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

began on the twenty-seventh when a convoy of thirty-six Marines, one American naval

pharmacist's mate A hospital corpsman (HM r corpsman is an enlisted medical specialist of the United States Navy, who may also serve in a U.S. Marine Corps unit. The corresponding rating within the United States Coast Guard is health services technician (HS ...

, twenty

Nicaraguan Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

"muleros," two Nicaraguan "'Jefe' muleros," and 99

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...

s led by First Lieutenant Edward F. O'Day moving along the Yalí–

Condega Condega () is a Municipalities of Nicaragua, municipality in the Estelí Department, Estelí department of Nicaragua. It was officially incorporated on June 9, 1962. Condega is situated on the Pan-American Highway (Route One) at a distance of 185 ...

trail was ambushed by a force of

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after ...

rebels Rebels may refer to: * Participants in a rebellion * Rebel groups, people who refuse obedience or order * Rebels (American Revolution), patriots who rejected British rule in 1776 Film and television * ''Rebels'' (film) or ''Rebelles'', a 2019 ...

led by Miguel Angel Ortez. The Sandinistas opened fire from all along the mule train's right flank at 1:30 PM, while some other rebels managed to seal off "the trail to the front and rear of the convoy." These Nicaraguan insurrectionists were estimated to be "at least" 600

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

s strong, armed with "a minimum" of four

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s and "a large quantity" of

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s. The Marines fell back to a ridge on the left of the trail, "leaving three of their dead behind." The

guerrillas Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics ...

advanced on the

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position and hacked open the heads of the dead Marines with their

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s. At 8:30, the firing from the Sandinistas decreased as the

insurgents An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irreg ...

began to withdraw, although about 200 of them remained to continue harassing the Marines. Some of the guerrillas spoke "irregular

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" and taunted the Americans with "slurs and insults" during lulls in the fighting. At dawn of the following day, of the 28 February, a force of 88 Marines led by Captain William K. MacNulty arrived on the battlefield to relieve O'Day's men, and they helped drive off the remaining Sandinistas. All in all, the Marines suffered three killed, two died from wounds, and eight non-fatally wounded (in addition, four of their "muleros" were wounded). One-third of their mules were killed, wounded, or captured. Sandinista losses for February 28 were about 10 killed and 30 wounded (this was MacNulty's "conservative estimate"). A "large part" of the rebel force at El Bramadero was recruited from nearby towns and villages, with these part-time guerrillas returning to their homes and regular occupations when fighting ceased, owner of LA PRENSA said he received a number of empty gasoline cans with marines heads inside.

References

{{coord missing, Nicaragua History of Nicaragua El Bramadero El Bramadero El Bramadero El Bramadero 1928 in Nicaragua February 1928 events