The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1051 - 784: Verdun Meat Grinder South America Edition_3

Chapter 1051: Chapter 784: Verdun Meat Grinder South America Edition_3

This was good news for Paraguay. After all, Paraguay was a country with limited land and an even smaller population; its territory simply could not bear the devastation of war.

Now that the flames of war had shifted to Bolivian territory, it could at least ensure that Paraguay’s territory was not violated, and the losses in the war would be greatly reduced.

But from then on, Paraguay’s offensive was not so smooth. From July 8th onwards, both parties’ offensives turned into a long war of attrition and a tug-of-war.

The war also became extremely fierce, with casualty numbers for both parties reaching nearly hundreds each day, at least several dozen soldiers dying in battle every day, and a continuous flow of injured soldiers.

On July 22, 1931, the Paraguayan army targeted Savidra for its offensive. This was because there was an open area known as the 7000-meter strip in front of Savidra, which became the main battlefield for this defensive and offensive battle.

At that time, the Bolivian army was commanded by the French Commander Louis William Dedevi, a rather traditional and old-fashioned Commander.

This battle for defense and offense was extremely important for both Bolivia and Paraguay. To win this war, both parties deployed substantial military forces.

Bolivia deployed about 13,000 soldiers, of which over half were new recruits recently added to the forces.

On the Paraguayan side, adhering to the principle that the attacking side in a defensive and offensive battle should have more numbers than the defending side, the Paraguayan military force was close to 20,000 people.

In this open area known as the 7000-meter strip, both armies engaged in a brutal and bloody struggle.

Although the Bolivian army had dug trenches in advance, most of their army consisted of new recruits, and the highest Commander was French, which created certain obstacles in military operations due to the language barrier.

It was different on the Paraguayan side. Colonel José Félix Estigarribia, who had previously led the military to reclaim Pitiantuta, had been promoted smoothly to Colonel and appointed as the Commander of the Savidra offensive.

While José Félix Estigarribia also had assistance from officers from Australasia, the command of the Paraguayan army remained in José’s hands.

The advantage of this arrangement was firstly, the language was more coherent, and soldiers could better understand the orders given by their Commander.

Secondly, having José command Paraguayan soldiers resulted in a higher level of trust between them. Compared to being commanded by an officer from Australasia, those from Paraguay would inherently trust their own people more.

In history, the Battle of Savidra was known as the South American version of the meat grinder of Verdun.

From such a moniker, one could infer the extreme cruelty of the Battle of Savidra that it could even be compared to Verdun.

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The reality was indeed so. The total military forces involved exceeded 30,000, although the scale was not large.

But as both sides were located in an open area with almost no cover except for the hastily dug trenches at night.

Because of this, the battle for defense and offense was extremely brutal, and the number of soldiers on both sides lasted only three days.

In the end, the Paraguayan army suffered over 5,000 deaths and nearly 10,000 injuries, winning this extremely cruel defensive and offensive battle.

On the Bolivian side, the 13,000-strong military force was almost completely annihilated. Of these, about 10,000 were casualties, and the remaining 3,000 were all captured by Paraguay.

Bolivia’s loss in this war, besides the previously mentioned issues of language barriers between Commander and soldiers, lay in another problem: the French Commander’s overestimation of the Bolivian army’s combat capabilities.

If the Bolivian military force had been entirely well-trained Regular Army, perhaps they could have stood a chance against the Paraguayan army, and the French Commander’s orders might not have been mistaken.

But the issue was that at the time, half of the Bolivian military consisted of new recruits, who had only undergone around two weeks of Military Training so far.

To expect these soldiers to exhibit their due combat capabilities was less realistic than hoping for the Paraguayan soldiers to make mistakes in battle.

War is so cruel. Even though the French officer had no other faults, it was his misjudgment of the Bolivian army’s combat capability.

Based on such a mistake, on the Front line, the Paraguayan army gained an advantage and successfully breached the Bolivian lines.