The Battle of Port-au-Prince, or "la débâcle", took place on January 15, 1920 when

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

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 ...

, known as cacos, attacked the

capital of Haiti Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

during the Second Caco War and the

American occupation of Haiti The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of ...

. At 4:00 a.m., "more than 300" caco rebels, many wearing the stolen

uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...

of the Haitian

gendarmes Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

, commanded by Benoît Batraville, attacked the city. The rebels moved into Port-au-Prince in columns, "with

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

s and conch horns blowing," only to be gunned down by

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

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

fire. It turns out that the city's garrison of American Marines and Haitian gendarmes were ready for the assault, since a citizen who heard the rebels coming informed the former. The cacos were forced to break ranks and seek shelter in buildings, where they proceeded to snipe from windows and from around corners. One caco group attacked the city's

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

s and set a block on fire, which lit up "the entire surrounding countryside." One of the defenders'

patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area. Etymology Fro ...

s, a detachment of ten U.S. marines led by Lieutenant Gerald Thomas, met a caco force on the waterfront that was headed for the National Bank. Near the Iron Market, "a large number" of rebels was spotted coming down the street. Lieutenant Gerald Thomas loaded his detachment of marines into a truck to engage the incoming force of caco insurgents. The truck carrying the American marines moved past the arcades and iron-grilled buildings of the city's central marketplace. After seeing the flashes of rifles up the street. Lieutenant Gerald Thomas ordered his marines off the truck and into the arcade on the right side of the street. The marine patrol jogged by bounds from pillar to pillar. Lieutenant Gerald Thomas spotted the head of a column of cacos emerge from a side street and ordered his marines who were hidden by the darkness of the arcade into a hasty

ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...

. When the haitian caco rebels closed to fifty yards or less, Thomas and his fellow marines executed their ambush and opened fire with eight springfield rifles and two BARs decimating the column of caco rebels and conflicting heavy casualties. The surviving Cacos broke off the action within ten minutes and fled the city. However, Lieutenant Gerald Thomas saw that seven of his fellow American marines in return were hit, two seriously wounded. Lieutenant Gerald Thomas sent the two seriously wounded back to headquarters in the truck and led the remaining seven Marines to a sugar company compound. One of the seriously wounded who later died of his injuries was Private Lencil Combs."In Many a Strife: General Gerald C. Thomas and the U. S. Marine Corps, 1917-1956" by Allan R. Millett chapter VIII. "Fully a fifth" of the caco attackers were killed, according to one estimate. Another source puts the number of rebel dead at 66, plus "many more" wounded and captured. One of the dead was Solomon Janvier, a Port-au-Prince resident and one of the leaders of the attack. The surviving cacos would remember 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 ...

as "la débâcle." With the arrival of daylight, "patrols moved east and north of the city," killing "more than fifty" additional rebels.

References

{{reflist Republic of Haiti (1859–1957) Port-au-Prince (1920) Port-au-Prince (1920) Port-au-Prince (1920) Port-au-Prince 1920 1920 in Haiti Port-au-Prince 1920 January 1920 events 20th century in Port-au-Prince History of Port-au-Prince