The commander, however, had some qualms as he reviewed his troops on April 12. Many seemed not yet fully recovered from the earlier battle, and Villa overestimated the Constitutionalists’ strength while underestimating his own. He also disregarded the warnings of former Federal Army generals on his staff that Obregon had a strong position and that Villa should develop a better plan and review his resources. He retorted that the longer he delayed, the stronger Obregon would become, saying: ‘Can I lose this battle? Yes, and many more, but with only one victory I can salvage the people’s cause. But I’ll never win if I wait to prevail by superiority of my resources, rather than by the valor and fury of my men, fighting for justice.’

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Early on April 13, Constitutionalist lookouts spotted to the west two mile-wide clouds towering thousands of feet in the still morning air–dust from thousands of Villista cavalry horses. Black smoke in the center revealed trains carrying Division del Norte infantry to Crespo Station, where the Constitutionalists had pulled up the rails. General Obregon circulated among the Sonorans and Yaquis standing to arms along the western front. Instead of his customary khaki field uniform, he wore the broad sombrero, silver-studded trousers, and chamois goatskin jacket of a charro, or Mexican cowboy. Asked later about this eccentricity, he said, ‘Villa gave me the not-very-manly nickname of `el perfumado,’ and to prove him wrong, I had to smell like a goat.’

By midday Villista cavalry could be seen to the north and south. At Crespo Station, the infantry detrained and advanced along the rail line in columns, lead battalions deployed as skirmishers. The artillery, following the cavalry, set up in a wood forty-four hundred yards west of Celaya. By 3 p.m. all units had deployed in lines facing the Constitutionalist western front, with four infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade forming the center.

At 4 p.m. Villa passed among his troops, exuding high-spirited confidence. An hour later, scattered rifle fire broke out when the Division del Norte’s right wing probed the Constitutionalists’ western front below the railroad, which was held by the 2nd Infantry Brigade. By 6 p.m., the fighting became general along the western front, but the Villistas were slowed down by barbed-wire entanglements and machine-gun fire. Then Kloss’ guns opened fire on Villa’s batteries, provoking an artillery duel that continued until dark. By 8 p.m. small-arms fire had become heavy on all fronts except the eastern, with the Constitutionalist machine guns firing steadily. Around 10 p.m., taking advantage of darkness, Villista infantry advanced to within about five hundred yards of the Constitutionalist trenches, and by midnight the Division del Norte’s right and left wings had extended eastward and linked up at the railway bridge over the usually shallow Rio de la Laja. Celaya was surrounded; Villa’s stretched lines, however, were twelve miles long.

By dawn on April 14, Villista infantry had crept within four hundred yards of the enemy’s lines, which they soon began charging. But from their trenches, the defenders had such clear fields of fire across the flat, open terrain, that Villa’s infantry could advance only at the cost of heavy losses, and cavalry assaults were suicidal. Nevertheless, by 5 a.m. pressure along the northern front was threatening to dislodge the 3rd Red Battalion, and Obregon had to commit his and General Hill’s escorts to maintain the line.

Villa kept up intense but uncoordinated local attacks all day. Obregon, meanwhile, formulated a bold counterattack–double envelopments by both his cavalry and his infantry. Castro’s cavalrymen would swing north of town and circle to the west. The two cavalry brigades manning the eastern and southern fronts would then go on the offensive, wheeling far to the west. Both envelopments would extend to penetrate the enemy rear. To prevent the troops facing Obregon’s western front from disengaging to face the charging enemy columns to the north and south, the 2nd Infantry Brigade would make a frontal attack, while the 1st Infantry, to its south, and 3rd Infantry Brigade, along the northern front, wheeled inward to envelope the Villista center. The outer flanks of the pivoting brigades would support the inner flanks of the cavalry columns. As the perimeter units advanced, the sector reserves would fill the vacated trenches.

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