Battle of Perez Dasmariñas
| Battle of Perez Dasmariñas Cavite Offensive of 1897 | |||||||||
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| Part of the Philippine Revolution | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Katipunan |
.svg.png){kind=small} Spanish Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Emilio Aguinaldo Crispulo Aguinaldo† Flaviano Yengko† Placido Campos Marcela Marcelo†[1] |
Jose de Lachambre Antonio Zabala†[2]:103 | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 60,000+ men |
23,000 infanterias and cazadores 100+ guns and mortars | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ~10,000 | ~3,000 | ||||||||
| 20,000 civilian deaths[3] | |||||||||
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The Battle of Perez Dasmariñas occurred during the Cavite Offensive of 1897, an all-out attack commanded by Maj. Gen. Jose de Lachambre to recapture Cavite in the Philippines since their loss at the twin battles of Binakayan and Dalahican and to crush the Katipunan insurrection, led by Emilio Aguinaldo in the province. Both the battle and the offensive was a success for the Spanish, and the retreat to Montalban occurred several weeks after the battle. The battle had been too much a hardship for both the Filipino revolutionaries and the Perez Dasmariñas town, because they each suffered destruction in the face of the massive Spanish assault.
Background
Humiliated after the loss of the twin battles of Binakayan and Dalahican the last year, Gov. Gen. Ramón Blanco y Erenas took extreme caution of Aguinaldo's presence in Cavite as this meant that as long as he was not captured the revolution continues throughout Luzon.
Prelude
Just a few months before, new fresh conscripts arrived from Spain, and the new Spanish governor-general, Camillo de Polavieja, ordered Maj. Gen. Jose de Lachambre to conduct an offensive that will crush the revolution and reclaim Cavite for the Spanish Crown. The latter did as ordered, began the offensive on February 15 at Pamplona and Bayungyungan towns of Cavite and Batangas, respectively. The Spaniards recaptured Silang on 19 February 1897, despite tenacious Filipino resistance clinging there.[2]:100 The revolutionaries had to retreat to Perez Dasmariñas in disorganized manner.
Skirmishers under the command of Maj. Jose Ignacio "Intsik" Paua continuously engaged and harassed Spanish frontline cazadores keeping the enemy off-balance. The Spaniards took heavy losses upon taking Silang, however. With their enemy calling off the pursuit for a while, the Katipuneros in Perez Dasmariñas had the chance to recuperate and reorganize. Imus, the seat of Aguinaldo's revolutionary government, was the Spaniards' primary aim, but they have to take the town of Perez Dasmariñas first if they are to take the former. In defending the town and Imus, the Katipuneros desperately mobilized all available men for the upcoming battle, arming every Caviteño in the town and its surrounding villages.
Battle
Having just won the battle of Zapote, Aguinaldo turned his attention at the new Spanish threat determined to recapture most of Cavite. Eight days later, after they took control of Silang town, the battle-hardened Spaniards resumed their assault and marched towards Perez Dasmariñas on 27 February.[2]:102 The Katipuneros intercepted the advancing Spaniards in Pasong Santol, a zigzag trail between Imus and Perez Dasmariñas. From March 7 to 24, a stalemated battle between the revolutionary army of Crispulo Aguinaldo, while taking over General Emilio Aguinaldo’s leadership in battle, and the Spanish forces, led by José de Lachambre, occurred in this trail. The Filipinos' resistance was tenacious as ever, refusing to give ground but the far more disciplined Spaniards advanced steadily. Emilio Aguinaldo realizing the size of the enemy and the danger of the situation, sent Magdalo troops to reinforce the threatened salient but Supremo Andres Bonifacio summoned Magdiwang troops under Artemio Ricarte to intercept the Magdalo troops to Pasong Santol thus preventing help to the revolutionary soldiers, citing he needed the soldiers elsewhere. The Spaniards pressed the offensive achieving tactical superiority which led to the massacre of the Filipino soldiers, including Aguinaldo's brother. The Spaniards only captured this salient after Crispulo was killed during the battle, and the rebels promptly broke off the engagement and reorganized inside the town.
The remaining Katipuneros, now leaderless, prepared to meet the invaders head-on within the town of Perez Dasmariñas itself. As the Spaniards entered the town, bloody urban combat ensued. But they managed to crush the rebels' resistance in the town. The remainder of the revolutionary army was scattered upon their retreat which turned into a rout, but some of the remaining units managed to get back to Imus, where the revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo was based.
Outcome
With the battle came to an end as a disaster for the Filipino revolutionaries, it signaled the advent of Spanish recapture of Cavite province. Commanders like Crispulo Aguinaldo, Emilio's brother, Flaviano Yengko, and others were killed from the skirmish that occurred at Pasong Santol including an estimated 10,000 soldiers. Twenty thousand Filipino civilians lost their lives when the Spaniards have broken through the lines at Pasong Santol. About 3,000 losses were inflicted against the Spanish. A Spanish general was also killed in the encounter, but it was no consolation for General Mariano Trias who blamed the fall of Salitran on Bonifacio’s order to have Magdiwang Gen. Artemio Ricarte intercept the Magdalo reinforcements for Pasong Santol thus losing the largest battle of the revolution. Other high ranking revolutionaries, in anger, even recommended that the traitors be arrested. It was also in the fighting in Pasong Santol that Bonfiacio called for a meeting on March 22 in Tejeros to discuss the strengthening of the Magdiwang territory at the expense of the then ongoing decisive battle, but Aguinaldo did not attend. He was fighting at the Pasong Santol front. Emilio Aguinaldo, along the remainder of the revolutionary army and his staff, began the arduous retreat march towards Montalban several weeks later. Aguinaldo will later sign the Pact of Biak-na-Bato on December 15 the same year.
Sources
The continuing Cavite offensive
References
- ↑ http://kahimyang.info/kauswagan/articles/1471/today-in-philippine-history-march-21-1897-marcela-marcelo-died-in-the-battle-of-pasong-santol
- 1 2 3 Alvarez, S.V., 1992, Recalling the Revolution, Madison: Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, ISBN 9781881261056
- ↑ "Battle of San Juan Del Monte". Retrieved 11 November 2011.