The usual image of General Francisco Villa, held even by historians of the Mexican Revolution, is that of an audacious guerrilla fighter. Little attention has been paid to his activities as a commander in “conventional warfare” or to his military achievements at the height of his reputation and power, when he commanded an army of thousands.

This book, written by two Villista veterans, should do much to correct the impression that the “Centaur of the North” was only a guerrilla fighter. The authors make it clear that in the campaigns which led to the overthrow of Huerta, Villa handled masses of men as expertly as his “professional” enemies. He fully understood the delegation of responsibility and authority; he used his staff to the fullest; and he realized and took account of the limitations imposed by logistics. The book traces Villa’s early career briefly, from his first participation in the Revolution to his escape from prison. The formation of the Division of the North is described, and Villa’s major battles up to the time of his break with Carranza are discussed in detail. In fact the description of some engagements particularly the eighteen-day second battle of Torreón, is so detailed as to risk losing the reader. The authors quote freely from the scanty records of Villa’s Federal enemies, and from Martín Luis Guzmán’s well-known Memoirs of Pancho Villa. Unfortunately it is not always clear which passages were written by the Aguirre Benavides and which by Guzmán.

In the reviewer’s opinion, the book’s greatest weakness is that the authors’ have such a fervid admiration for Villa that they cannot view him or his actions critically. He was always right; he never made an error in judgment. This, however, is a fault which they share with other historians and biographers writing about persons whom they admire deeply.

Las grandes batallas de la División del Norte is primarily a military history It is not a history of the Mexican Revolution, nor is it a biographical study of Pancho Villa. Nevertheless, it reveals an aspect of the Revolution which social and political historians tend to overlook—the fact that the Mexican Revolution involved hard fighting by armies that were organized and that fought along conventional lines. The book reveals also that Villa, in addition to being a skillful guerrilla, was an extremely competent field commander of large forces.