The Battle of El Sauce, or the Battle of Punta de Rieles or Punta Rieles, took place on the 26 December 1932 during the American occupation of Nicaragua of 1926–1933. It was the last major battle of the Sandino Rebellion of 1927–1933. The incident has its origins in Nicaraguan President José María Moncada's plan to commemorate the completion of the León-

El Sauce El Sauce is a municipality in the La Unión department La Unión () is a department of El Salvador. It is located in the eastern part of the country and its capital is La Unión. It covers a total of and has a population of 263,200. The ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

on the 28 December 1932.Musicant, I, The Banana Wars, 1990, New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Rumors spread that

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 planned on crashing the ceremony, so an expedition of eight

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

and 64 Nicaraguan National Guardsmen led by Captain Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller were sent by train towards El Sauce on the 26 December 1932 to secure the area. A Sandinista force led by Juan Pablo Umanzor, meanwhile, was looting a construction company commissary. As the Marines'/National Guard's train passed some ancient

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

, it was fired upon by rebels from both sides of the tracks. Soldiers led by Puller exited the train on the right side, while those following First Lieutenant William A. Lee got out on the left side of the tracks. Lee's men soon took cover in a ditch, while Puller's forces "tried to turn Umanzor's left flank." During the firefight, Corporal

Bennie M. Bunn Bennie Maurice Bunn (November 7, 1907 – July 10, 1943) was a highly decorated United States Marine Corps officer. Early life and "banana wars" Bennie M. Bunn was born in Charles City, Iowa, on November 9, 1907. He graduated from Charles City H ...

grabbed a

Browning automatic rifle The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the . ...

and began driving the Sandinistas back. The battle concluded, after one hour and ten minutes, in a victory for the Marines and National Guard. Thirty-one Sandinista corpses were found after the battle (and 63 live horses were captured), compared to losses of three killed and three wounded for the Guard. Moncada got to participate in ceremony two days later, as planned. He was so pleased with American performance during the battle that he promoted Puller to major and Lee to captain.

References

{{coord missing, Nicaragua History of Nicaragua

1932 in Nicaragua December 1932 events