Wars do not end wars anymore than an extraordinary large conflagration does away with the fire hazard.
(Henry Ford)
The annihilation of the 1st Armored Brigade in Mexico City became a big media event in the USA and was primped like a second Battle of the Alamo. The McAdoo administration, although well aware that only some units of the brigade had offered fierce resistance while others had quickly surrendered or simply had failed to rally, used this hype to bring another army and air force enhancement bill through congress.
The presence of strong army and air force units in the border areas did effectively cut off the Disgruntled Grunts from their supply of drugs – and thus substantially threatened their way of life. However, some clever guys soon figured out that what was growing in the Sierra Madre Occidental might also flourish in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the Ranges of California. Thus, while Omar Bradley and Alvin York still were nurturing dipsomaniac ideas of a future grunt republic in the Sierra Madre and were making plans how to follow up behind the advance of the army, several gangs were already starting farming marijuana and poppy in the Californian hills.
Despite the fact that the US Air Force was still routinely bombing Mexico City each night, President Lázaro Cárdenas and his government moved into the Mexican capital. Faced with the prospect of a humanitarian catastrophe caused by his displaced compatriots, Cárdenas asked for international aid – and tasked General Plutarco Elías Calles, who had created and was currently directing the Mexican military training organisation, with establishing a system that distributed, housed and nourished the displaced persons. With the aid of the Cruz Roja Mexicana, the Mexican Red Cross, Calles immediately went to work. International aid – if it were to arrive at all – would take too much time; a Mexican solution to this Mexican problem was the only thing that could help right now.
Conventional attacks on the US forces in San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas only led to disproportionate losses because the US artillery shelled the attackers with a mixture of phosgene and explosives. Thus, order was given to stall all combat operations until the gas masks arrived with the European convoys had been distributed and the men been instructed in their use. – Only the guerrillas of El Moreno, who operated in the US occupied zone, were allowed to continue their activities.
Fra Miguel, who led the operations opposite the Yanquis in Sonora and Chihuahua, reported that the Gringos here had also started using poison gas when dealing with local resistance. When faced with armed residents resisting expulsion, the US infantry now regularly retreated out of range and the artillery shelled the town or village with poison gas. He had issued a warning not to offer armed resistance but this was not heeded by great many of the local people. While certainly easing the humanitarian stress on the Mexican side, the Yanquis probably were creating an epidemics problem – a multitude of corpses and dead animals left rotting was a certain invitation for diseases. On the other hand, he could not evacuate the population as that would mean doing the job for the Gringos.
The Cuadrilla Europea had taken up guarding Veracruz against US bombing raids. As a number of searchlights had arrived with the second convoy, they were experimenting with a night fighting system that illuminated the bombers for the fighters. Because the German armed forces had refused to supply Fumeo devices, this was a clumsy process – and much was left to sheer luck; but nevertheless, one or two bombing aircraft were falling victim to the system each night. Unfortunately, there were neither sufficient searchlights nor fighting aircraft available to establish a similar system in Ciudad de México; and President Cárdenas had decided that for the time being Veracruz had absolute priority.
News that BB-59 USS Florida and BB-60 USS Utah had been commissioned and that four more fast battleships were nearing completion were, however, alarming. If this construction tempo continued, the US Navy would numerically draw level with the combined Italo-German battle fleet by the end of the year. Then, sending convoys to Veracruz would most probably become impossible again. Right now, superiority in strike capability still compensated US superiority in numbers of cruisers, destroyers and other small vessels deployed.
For President Cárdenas the question how to arrive at negotiations with the McAdoo administration was of paramount importance. Even with European aid, Mexico was not capable of defeating the US; some kind of compromise had to be found. With the Tuxpam oil fields out of operation, there was nothing that was worth the American sacrifice in Mexico. – With the latest convoy, several gentlemen of the German EVEG had arrived and had had a look at the newly discovered Poza Rica oil field near Veracruz. Señor Emil Georg von Stauß, the head of this delegation, had made an office call with Cárdenas – and offered the services of his company to broker a peace agreement. One was very interested in rebuilding the Tuxpam oil fields and ready to offer excellent conditions to Mexico – but that required peace between the US and Mexico.