Most Russians do not know anything about the Chaco War, which took place between Paraguay and Bolivia in 1932-1935. This is not surprising, because this military conflict flared up thousands of kilometers from Europe, in another part of the world. Moreover, this war became the bloodiest Latin American war in the 20th century.
The fighting unfolded because of the claims of the parties to part of the Chaco region. The war, which lasted more than three years, claimed the lives of more than 100 thousand people in both warring countries. The cause and catalyst of this war was oil, or rather its reserves. In 1928, there were real assumptions that this area is rich in reserves of black gold. Two of the largest oil corporations entered the struggle for possession of the region: British Shell Oil, which supported Paraguay, and American Standard Oil, which supported Bolivia.
There were other reasons for this military conflict, for example, long-standing territorial disputes between countries that arose on the ruins of the Spanish colonial empire in South America. So the territorial disputes between Bolivia and Paraguay over the Northern Chaco began almost immediately after these states gained independence. One of the reasons for the emergence and development of the conflict situation was the fact that the Spanish colonial administration did not at one time make an exact division of the administrative units - the Viceroyalty of Peru and La Plata. The border in this resource-poor and sparsely populated area was very conditional and the Spaniards themselves did not care much.
Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev, 1900
These events would not have worried us much today, if not for the active participation in them of the officers of the Russian army, who were forced to emigrate from the country after the victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war. Only during the Crimean evacuation on November 13-16, 1920, about 150 thousand people left the country: servicemen of the Russian army of General Wrangel, officers, members of their families, as well as civilians from the Crimean ports. All of them joined the ranks of the White emigration, while many Russian officers were scattered literally all over the world. Some of them ended up in Latin America and in particular in Paraguay. So during the Chak war, Russian General Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev, who became an honorary citizen of the Republic of Paraguay, was the chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Paraguay.
Paraguay became one of the countries that agreed to host refugees from Russia; Russian White emigrants settled here in the early 1920s. The leadership of this country was well aware of the fact that it was hosting representatives of the Russian military school, which was rightly considered one of the best in the world. For example, Major General Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev, who was a member of the Russian diaspora in Paraguay, was almost immediately invited to head the military academy in the country's capital, Asuncion. And a few years later another general from Russia, Nikolai Frantsevich Ern, who later became Lieutenant General of the Army of Paraguay, became a professor at the academy.
It so happened that during the Chaco War, there were 120 German émigré officers among the command of the Bolivian army (among them the commander of the Bolivian army, Hans Kundt, stood out). At the same time, about 80 officers of the former Russian army served in the army of Paraguay, mainly White Guard emigrants, among them were two generals - Ivan Belyaev and Nikolai Ern, as well as 8 colonels, 4 lieutenant colonels, 13 majors and 23 captains. One of them in the course of hostilities commanded a division, 12 - regiments, the rest - battalions, companies and batteries of the Paraguayan army. Both German and Russian officers were at one time participants in the First World War and again became opponents of each other, but this time in Latin America. At the same time, both of them tried to actively use the experience gained by them during the World War in combat operations.
Paraguayan mortars
In October 1924, on the instructions of the Ministry of Defense of Paraguay, Ivan Belyaev went to the Chaco-Boreal region (between the rivers Paraguay and Pilcomayo) to conduct research on little-studied terrain and carry out topographic surveys. The exploration of the Chaco territory in 1925-1932 became a very important contribution of Belyaev and his few companions from Russia to the world ethnographic and cartographic science. In total, he made 13 expeditions here, compiling an extensive scientific study on the geography, climatology, biology, and ethnography of this region. The general studied the way of life, languages and culture, as well as the religions of local Indians, in addition, he compiled dictionaries of local Indian languages. Ivan Timofeevich's research helped to understand the complex ethnolinguistic and tribal structure of the Chaco Indian population. These expeditions were definitely useful in the future during the Chaco War, since the Paraguayan army knew the area better, and the small local Indian population considered themselves more Paraguayans than Bolivians.
The disputed territory of the Chaco, which gave the name to the coming war, was a semi-desert, hilly area in the northwest and swampy area in the southeast. This territory was considered their own by both Bolivia and Paraguay. However, until 1928, when signs of oil were found here, the border in the area was not particularly worried about both countries. In the same year, on 22 August, the first battle took place in the area between a Paraguayan cavalry patrol and a detachment of the Bolivian militia. On December 6, 1928, Bolivian troops were able to capture the Vanguardia fort in Chaco, and in January of the following year, three Bolivian aircraft bombed the fortified point of the Paraguayan army near the town of Baia Negro. After that, sluggish hostilities began in the region, which were accompanied by shootings and clashes between patrols of the two countries.
Soon, the League of Nations, which included almost all the states of Latin America, intervened in the beginning conflict, which made it possible to achieve a ceasefire. On September 16, 1929, Bolivia and Paraguay signed an armistice agreement between the countries, and in April 1930 restored bilateral diplomatic relations, in the same year, on July 23, the Bolivian military left Fort Vanguardia, withdrawing troops from it. However, these events were only a prelude to the conflict, fueled by the prospects of oil production in the region. Both sides, having formally returned to peaceful relations, began to actively prepare for war, purchasing weapons and military equipment.
Bolivian Armed Forces' Cardin-Lloyd wedge
From the end of 1931, Bolivia and Paraguay began to actively rearm their armies. After the civil war of 1922-1923, military reform was carried out in Paraguay. In the course of it, a regular army of 4 thousand people was created in the country, another 20 thousand people could be quickly mobilized if necessary. In addition, the system of training army personnel was revised, two military academies were created in the country. During the ten pre-war years, Paraguay carried out fairly large-scale purchases of weapons. In Spain, first 10 thousand, and then another 7 thousand Mauser rifles were purchased, light machine guns Madsen were purchased in Denmark, in the USA - large-caliber 12, 7-mm machine guns Browning М1921, in France - 8 mountain 105-mm guns Schneider model 1927, as well as 24 mountain 75-mm guns. Before the start of the war, Paraguay acquired 24 Stokes-Brandt mortars of 81 mm caliber. At the same time, one of the most expensive purchases that the Paraguayan military allowed themselves was two gunboats - "Paraguay" and "Umaita" with a displacement of 845 tons each. The gunboats bought in Italy in 1930 were armed with two 120mm and three 76mm guns, as well as two 40mm automatic antiaircraft guns. For a poor country, such military spending was a very heavy burden.
Bolivia, which had a significantly larger population (3, 5 times) and a more developed economy, and hence financial capabilities, could buy much more weapons. For example, in 1926, the country signed a major contract with the British firm Vickers for the supply of 36,000 rifles, 250 heavy and 500 light machine guns, 196 guns of various calibers, and other weapons. This contract was terminated at the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929, so it was only partially fulfilled. Despite this, Bolivia had a regular army of 6 thousand people and had about 39 thousand Mauser rifles, 750 machine guns, 64 modern guns and even 5 tanks. In the UK, Vickers 6-ton tanks were purchased in a two-turret configuration with machine-gun armament and Carden-Lloyd tankettes. In addition, by the beginning of the war, the Bolivian army had a large number of combat aircraft, which, however, did not play a decisive role in the hostilities.
In order to achieve at least some parity in future battles, Colonel Jose Felix Estigarribia, who was the commander of the Paraguayan army, had to appoint Russian General Ivan Timofeevich Belyaev as chief of the general staff. In addition, many key posts in the Paraguayan army were occupied by Russian officers, they became commanders of regiments, battalions, chiefs of staff of Paraguayan formations. Paraguay made up for the smaller army and weapons with well-trained Russian officers at its disposal.
Paraguayan soldiers, 1932
At the same time, by order of the President of Bolivia, Daniel Domingo of Salamanca Urey, in 1932 the Bolivian army was led by the German general Hans Kundt, who was an old acquaintance of Russian officers in the fields of the First World War. As a military adviser to the Bolivian General Staff in 1911, with the outbreak of the war in Europe, Kundt was recalled to the Eastern Front. After participating in the so-called Kapp coup in 1920, he was forced to flee from Germany to Bolivia with a group of like-minded officers. He and Belyaev had at their disposal a sufficient number of officers tested in battles, however, the theater of operations in Latin America was significantly different from the European one, which was clearly manifested after the start of active hostilities.
By 1932, Bolivia had accumulated sufficient military forces and on June 15, its troops attacked the Paraguayan forts in Chaco without declaring war (it is curious that the war was officially declared only on May 10, 1933). According to General Kundt's plans, his army was supposed to reach the Paraguay River as a result of an offensive operation, cutting off the enemy's rear communications. The army of Paraguay had not yet been mobilized by that time, but the country managed to hold a mass conscription within a few weeks, bringing the number of troops to 60 thousand people. At the same time, recruits-peasants had to not only be taught military science and the use of weapons, but also to wear shoes. The recruits comprehended the basics of military science quite successfully, but with shoes there was a real problem. Since childhood, Paraguayan peasants, accustomed to walking barefoot, could not get used to army boots, the shoes literally crippled their legs. For this reason, the Paraguayan army had entire units that fought exclusively barefoot.
Due to the surprise attack and superiority in the size of the Bolivian army at the beginning of the war, it was possible to penetrate the territory of Paraguay, but the areas occupied by Bolivia were almost deserted, and they had to be defended from Paraguayan troops. In all likelihood, the Bolivian command did not even imagine before the start of the war all the problems that would arise with the supply of troops on enemy territory. The nearest railway station in Bolivia - Villa Montes - was located 322 kilometers from the Paraguayan border. From the front line itself to the border there were another 150-200 kilometers. Thus, the soldiers of the Bolivian army (mainly mestizos and Indians, accustomed to the cool mountain climate), in order to get to the front line, had to walk in the heat over a fairly dry area of about 500 kilometers. Any reinforcements after such a march needed rest.
Hans Kundt
Unlike the Bolivian army, the Paraguayan soldiers had an established supply. The necessary ammunition, equipment and reinforcements were delivered along the Paraguay River to the port of Puerto Casado, after which they went along the narrow-gauge railway to Isla Poi (200 kilometers), from where only 29 kilometers were left to the front line. Thanks to this, the advantage of the Bolivian army in numbers and weapons was reduced to naught. To supply their troops, the Bolivian military often had to use transport aircraft, which was both expensive and imposed serious restrictions on the volume of cargo delivered. There were practically no roads in Chaco, and the lack of forage and the deadly heat did not allow the efficient use of animal-drawn transport. For the same reasons, the cavalry of the two countries almost did not participate in the Chak War. On top of that, the local population of the disputed area - the Guarani Indians - was mostly sympathetic to the Paraguayan side. The war, which was already fierce enough, took the lives of the soldiers of the warring parties not only in battle, many died due to illness and terrible living conditions in the positions.
In the first phase of the war, hostilities often consisted of indiscriminate skirmishes in the jungle and battles for individual fortified points. The front line gradually began to form. Both sides of the conflict built timber and earth fortifications on the territories they controlled, proudly calling them forts. The Paraguayans added to this a fairly large network of minefields. Both armies tried, whenever possible, to bury themselves in the ground and entangle their positions with barbed wire - in short, sometimes it all resembled the First World War, so the German officers serving in the Bolivian army felt in their native element.
At the same time, discoveries that were unpleasant for the Bolivian military were clearly manifested. It turned out that the technical superiority of their army plays almost no role in the war. Tanks and wedges were often stuck in swamps, or even completely idle due to lack of fuel and ammunition or improper operation and breakdowns, and artillery often could not find targets in the jungle. Aviation also proved to be almost completely useless. The scattered actions of Bolivian aviation in the jungle, most often, consisted of throwing bombs into the void. General Kundt did not trust the air reconnaissance officers, and at the headquarters of the Bolivian army there was no person who could organize massive air raids on the communications of the defending garrisons of the Paraguayan army.
Bolivian machine gunner
One of the first major battles of the Chaco War with the participation of Russian and German officers was the battle for the Boqueron fortress, which was held by the Bolivians. On September 29, 1932, after a long siege, the fortress fell. On January 20, 1933, Kundt threw the main forces of the Bolivian army to storm the city of Nanava, but the Russian generals Ern and Belyaev were able to unravel the enemy's tactics and defeated the advancing Bolivian units, after which Kundt was dismissed. And in 1934, in the battle of El Carmen, German military advisers completely abandoned their subordinates to the mercy of fate, fleeing the battlefield.
By the beginning of 1935, the sides had exhausted each other so much and suffered such serious losses that the armies of the two countries could no longer carry out major offensive operations. Ultimately, active hostilities ended in March, and in mid-1935, with the mediation of Argentina, the parties concluded a truce. During the war, Bolivia achieved for itself only a narrow corridor along the Paraguay River, which allowed it in the future to build a port on the river and open shipping. At the same time, Paraguay, in whose army the guiding and leading role of the Russian military school was felt, was able to annex three quarters of the disputed territory of Chaco-Boreal.
Today we can say with confidence that the participation of Russian officers in the Chak War helped turn tens of thousands of mobilized illiterate Paraguayan peasants into a real army that was able to defend their country. The Paraguayans did not remain ungrateful towards the heroes of this war - after its end and to this day, the Russian community occupies an important place in the life of this state, and many streets of Asuncion and even entire settlements in Paraguay were named after distinguished Russian officers.
Captured Bolivian Vickers tank
The bitter irony of fate was that oil on the disputed territory, for which the parties shed so much blood, was never found, and even the port on the Paraguay River, built to transport it, turned out to be unnecessary - Bolivian oil was exported via an oil pipeline through Brazil. Oil in the area was only discovered in 2012. The fact that oil was found on the territory of the Chaco semi-desert was announced by the President of Paraguay Federico Franco on November 26, 2012. According to geologists, the oil found is of good quality, and its reserves are sufficient. Thus, Paraguay was able to capitalize on its military victory in the bloodiest war in Latin America of the 20th century only in the 21st century, more than 75 years after the end of the conflict.
