The Mexican revolution, like a lot of other conflicts, was a struggle for survival on the part of the participants - with foraging for food being as important as winning battles in determining who would live to fight another day or survive to see the end of the conflict.

An army on the move was really a people on the move - including women and children. Although these were understood to have the role, largely, of mere camp followers - in the assessment of many - they were in reality the quartermaster corps, since it was they who fed the troops and cared for them. Many soldiers were just children when they took up arms, and a lot of them died in front of firing squads at a tender age, after surrendering to opposing armies instead of dying fighting.

When a man died in battle, his woman could take up his arms and become a soldier herself. One woman officer, General Petra Herrera, had an all woman troop. They would shoot any men they caught sneaking into their camp at night.

Whereas some some officers were sympathetic to the plight of the female members of the army unit - "soldaderas" as they were called - Villa was not. He is reported to have murdered a group of them after one of them tried to assassinate him and none of their number would tell him who was responsible for the attempt.

Feeding captured soldiers was out the question. They were either expected to join the side of the army which captured them or else they were just shot - or hanged if bullets were scarce. Officers were usually not given the option of joining up. Villa's own officers were also likely to be shot for any perceived insubordination or failure to perform their duty in an adequate fashion.