Battle of Port-au-Prince (1920) 1920
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 15 January 1920 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1920 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Interwar (1919–1938) | derived from year |
| Location | Haiti | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | United States occupation of Haiti | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 18.5330, -72.3330 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Port-au-Prince, or "la débâcle", took place on January 15, 1920 when Haitian rebels, known as Cacos, attacked the capital of Haiti during the Second Caco War and the American occupation of Haiti.
At 4:00 a.m., "more than 300" Caco rebels, many wearing stolen uniforms of the Haitian gendarmes, commanded by Benoît Batraville, attacked the city. The Cacos moved into Port-au-Prince in columns, "with flags and conch horns blowing", only to be gunned down by Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and Lewis gun fire. It turns out that the city's garrison of US Marines and Haitian gendarmes were ready for the assault, since a citizen who heard the Cacos 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 slums and set a block on fire, which lit up "the entire surrounding countryside".
One of the defenders' patrols, a detachment of ten US 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. Thomas loaded his detachment of marines into a truck to engage the incoming force of Caco insurgents.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Port-au-Prince (1920) (revision 1370586476), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Port-au-Prince (1919) 1919 · 0 km
- Siege of Port-au-Prince (1793) 1793 · 1 km
- Battle of Port-Républicain 1794 · 1 km
- Siege of Port-au-Prince (1803) 1803 · 1 km
- Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets 1792 · 12 km
- Battle of the Acul 1794 · 32 km
Other battles of the United States occupation of Haiti
All 3 battles of the United States occupation of Haiti →
Browse more: battles in Haiti · North America · Interwar battles