Nicaragua, US military intervention in (1926-33) (see also Iran-Contra affair). American military involvement in Nicaragua dates back to a civil war in 1910-12, when 2, 300 US sailors and Marines were landed to protect American lives and property, and to decide the outcome against the revolutionaries. A 100-man Marine ‘embassy guard’ remained in Managua until 1925.
In 1926 another revolution provoked American fears of communist influence. By accepting the unpopular government's invitation to intervene on its behalf, they made themselves the target of a patriotic reaction led by Sandino, one of the rebel officers. In July 1927 he directed an assault on a US Marine and Nicaraguan guard post at Ocotal, which was only defeated by the first dive-bombing attack in aviation history. A peak of 5, 000 US sailors and Marines were involved in the ensuing guerrilla war, the last being withdrawn in 1933.
They left behind a well-equipped National Guard under ‘Tacho’ Somoza, a loathsome man of no military ability who used his good command of English to curry favour with American officers and diplomats. It was of him that Franklin Roosevelt commented, ‘he may be an SOB, but he's our SOB’. In 1934 Somoza assassinated Sandino after tricking him to come to Managua for peace talks, and from 1936 he and his sons ruled, brutally and venally, until ‘Tachito’ was overthrown by latter-day Sandinistas in 1979, to be assassinated in Paraguay the following year.
During the campaign, famed US Marine ‘Chesty’ Puller won two Navy Crosses when commanding a company of the National Guard. Unlike the rest of the Guard and the occupying forces, which were committed to garrison duties, Puller patrolled guerrilla territory aggressively, earning the nickname ‘El Tigre’ (The Tiger) and a price reluctantly put on his head by Sandino, who admired him as a fellow warrior.
— Hugh Bicheno
