San Martín: Tactical Genius in Crossing the Mountain Range

San Martin's genius in facing the mountain range

Revista Cumbres
Special collaboration: Esteban Ocampo


On the bicentennial of the impressive crossing of the Andes led by the great American strategist, a review of the planning and logistics devised to overcome the great obstacle.

 

The immensity of the mountain range was the obstacle to overcome.

Last February marked the 200th anniversary of the Crossing of the Andes, which General José de San Martín de Mendoza led to Chile in 1817 with the Liberation Army, in order to fight the royalists in their search for continental independence as part of his Strategic Plan.

The campaign has been highlighted on numerous occasions as one of the most intrepid, bold and strategically brilliant feats of all time.

Aside from the strictly military aspect and its political connotations of the time, it is worth highlighting logistical and planning aspects, strategies that San Martín devised to first battle the immense mountain range in the real conditions of 2 centuries ago.

“Much emphasis is placed on the crossing and the end with the battle of Chacabuco, but we must speak of the crossing as a military campaign, something specifically prepared whose consequence was the liberation of Chile. "Only in this way can the genius of a certain José de San Martín be contemplated" explains historian Esteban Ocampo, one of the members of the campaign who recreated the crossing this year, faithfully respecting the conditions of the time. (See separate)

Six columns

San Martín designed the campaign dividing the Army into six columns on a front of 800 km from the south of La Rioja to the south of Mendoza, where the southernmost group crossed.

Two of these passes were main ones through which the bulk of the Army of 2,500 men circulated. The other passes were auxiliary ones with columns that were not very numerous and with the intention of distracting and dispersing the enemy forces in specific missions -already in Chile- so that they would not have all their power at their disposal in the battle of Chacabuco.

A main column advanced along the Uspallata route under the orders of Colonel Gregorio de Las Heras together with the artillery under the command of Fray Luis Beltrán. The pass, accessible and low, was very used for trade at the time.

The other important column went through San Juan, the Los Patos route through Valle Hermoso which was divided into Ojo de Agua and Paso de Ortiz, where part of the advance party passed, and the Yaretas pass, where San Martín actually crossed.

The secondary routes were Comecaballos in La Rioja with Lt. Col. Zelada; Guana, north of San Juan under orders of Lt. Col. Cabot; Portillo-Piuquenes, through the Tunuyán valley from the Fort of San Carlos under the orders of Captain Lemos; and Planchón, south of Mendoza through the area of ​​the Peteroa volcano in charge of Lt. Col. Freyre.

 

One of the many rivers they had to wade through in the Andean campaign.

Clothing

The traditional uniforms were made of a very particular cotton cloth, a type of fabric that was thermal enough to not be too hot in summer but was warm enough in winter. Under the jacket they wore a high-necked shirt and the officers also wore a vest.

In the case of the Grenadier Regiment they received short red jackets made of sheepskin called “pellizas” that they wore as a coat over the jacket. They also wore black cloth trousers with leather reinforcement. Most of the soldiers wore Cuyo ponchos and cloth cloaks with a warm inner lining.

The trousers had a leather reinforcement to prevent wear from rubbing against the saddle in the case of the riders and on the cuff to protect the clothing from damage from the stirrups.

To keep their feet warm, each soldier used “tamangos,” a kind of sheepskin covering that was placed over their shoes, which were usually made of leather with buckles. In the case of the Infantry, they called a boot a short, mid-calf or even knee-high gaiter that went over the shoes.

For their hands they wore cloth gloves, for their heads they covered the back of their necks and ears with scarves, and on top of that they wore a “head cover,” a cap or hat, a kind of beret that they wore during training in the barracks. In other units they wore caps with sleeves that fell to one of the shoulders.

The regiments wore three uniforms: the barracks uniform, the campaign or combat uniform, and the parade or gala uniform, the latter being the most striking. The one used for crossing was the combat uniform.

At night, very simple reinforced cloth tents were set up in less than 3 minutes. They had four poles and two guy lines, one in front and one behind. Each tent accommodated 2 to 3 soldiers and they used individual saddles, fleeces and blankets as beds, and even the saddle served as a pillow. They covered themselves with the same coat as each other.

 
San Martín's first great challenge was to overcome nature.

Food

As the main food to face the crossing of the high peaks, each soldier carried a piece of charqui that they ground and cooked quickly in a kind of Valdivian broth with lots of onion and garlic for altitude sickness. They were meals in the style of carbonada or succulent stew that provided a significant amount of protein with the simplicity of preparing it in a few minutes to immediately recover strength.

The Army also carried 700 cattle on the hoof that they slaughtered as the columns advanced. Thus, fresh meat was available as a roast or stew.

Bread, flour biscuits, vegetables, nuts and a daily ration of liquor completed the diet to avoid the effects of altitude and cold, since that was what the campaign's food plan was about, which also resulted in simple and quick food to prepare.

Logistics

Each column on its march itinerary had a detailed description of each day: the points they had to join, the length in leagues, the availability of water, grass and firewood, the type of terrain and forest. This information was useful for the guides to regulate the march and thus reach the planned points.

The instructions began with the following text: “You will advance according to prudence, your experience and the intelligence you have to comply with these orders.”

Communications through messengers were also very important. It is known that San Martín sent constant messages to Las Heras to speed up or slow down the march depending on the tactics. In the diary of Bernardo O’Higgins, the vanguard of the Los Patos route, these communications are recorded, which he sent to San Martín in the rearguard.

The central concept of the plan to cross the Andes was to minimize any problem, error or imponderable when facing the mountain. In 1816, the Great General confessed in a letter to Tomás Guido that what kept him awake at night was not the opposition, what the enemy might be preparing on the other side, but being able to cross this mountain range with 5,000 men and then give battle.

The precise and coordinated arrival of the columns on February 8, 1817, to Santa Rosa de los Andes was the result of precision in communications and efficiency in planning. This made the achievement possible and led to the military triumph of Chacabuco. Crossing the mountain range having fulfilled the objectives designed was half the battle won.

 

The group that designed and carried out a historical recreation of the San Martin crossing.

A faithful recreation

A group of people who make up the Historical Cavalry Squadron crossed the Andes last February, emulating and paying homage to the liberating feat and in exactly the same conditions as the Army formed and led by General José de San Martín in 1817 did 200 years ago.

Without any technological aid, dressed in the same clothing and sleeping in period tents, on February 3, 2017 (what a date) six “reenactors,” a cameraman, and three guides who traveled through the Argentine side took the initial step from the San Juan town of Tamberías to realize a dream and a feat that they have been planning since the end of 2015.

The preparation included a lot of personal training, constant medical checkups, horseback riding practice, all to be able to face eight to ten hours of mounted marching every day at altitudes above 3,500 meters.

They used clothes made with the same fabrics used in the San Martin Army, the same tents, blankets, utensils such as lanterns, candles, sabers, all derived from a deep historical investigation to reproduce the feat faithfully.

The saddles served as beds at night, and the same poncho as a coat was a blanket to try to sleep in the middle of the relentless cold of the mountain range.

Pablo Zamprogno, Esteban Ocampo and his son Martín (10), Javier Madariaga, Guadalupe Strada and Daniel Gwaszdac are the members of the Reenactors Group of the Historical Cavalry Squadron. The itinerary was approximately the one taken by the column led by Lt. Col. Juan Manuel Cabot in 1817, through the North of the province of San Juan known as Guana Pass. After six days of travel through La Vega Grande, Los Azules, Los Esteros de la Mula and La Cuesta, they arrived at “Paso del Gordito” where Chilean authorities from Monte Patria and Ovalle welcomed them to cross the border. Then came Las Ramadas, Tulahuen, Huana, Monte Patria, Ovalle, Barraza and finally Coquimbo and La Serena, the final objective of the great enterprise, always received by the towns with great joy and emotional recognition.

The objective of the initiative was to experience the crossing of the Andes as San Martin's soldiers experienced it 200 years ago. The result, in the evaluation made by its protagonists, was highly satisfactory and a reason for greater admiration for those men who accompanied the Liberator in 1817.