Forgotten and Overlooked History (Russian, tanks, Germans, Germany)
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Another forgotten and overlooked war is the Chaco War fought between Bolivia and Paraguay which Bolivia started. It was the second worst war in South America and third in the Americas. It started in June 1932 to June 1935. 250.000 Bolivian troops against 150.000 Paraguayan troops. Losses were 100,000 of which 57,000 were bolivian while the rest Paraguayan.
Bolivia had triple the population and a bigger economy then Paraguay. They had spent much buying so called modern weapons in europe including Vickers tanks. In the end Bolivia lost due to major logistic problems. And some of the equipment they bought like the tanks were not really of any use in the Chaco. Paraguay did better with the used, cheaper and not has advanced equipment they bought in europe. Both nations economies were wrecked by the war. A war which was a trench type of war.
Near the start of the war the Bolivian military was headed by a German named Hundt who fought a regular style war. The Paraguayans under General Estigarriba fought mostly a guerilla war which was very effective in the Chaco region. Argentina also helped the Paraguayan with supplies. Some Russians and other foreigners especially some famous foreign fliers helped the Paraguayan side. The Bolivians had it worst since they had to ship everything via Peru since they had lost there seacoast to Chile in the War of the Pacific in 1879.
Bolivia went to war since they had lost there Pacific seacoast and were trying to get has much territory on the Paraguay river which empties into the South Atlantic. Also there were rumors of oil. There had been oil found in Bolivias populated areas of the Chaco. Before the war Bolivia and especially before lossing there sea coast on the Pacific, never really cared about the sparesly populated Chaco region which since the time of the Spanish Empire was suppose to be part of Bolivia. Even though they claimed it there were more Paraguayans in the Chaco then Bolivians. Especially, in the Southern part.
Special Note - Some say this war was pushed by Standard Oil and competition Royal Shell oil company who would benefit depending on who won.
Paraguay on there maps had claims to all the Chaco but in reality they only controlled the Southern part. In the end they got 2/3 which while Bolivia got 1/3 and a small corridor with an almost non-existant small port on the Paraguay river called Puerto Busch.
Map of the front:
Has you can see in the above map the mountains stopped the Paraguayan western advance. They were not use to mountain fighting unlike the bolivians who were not use to fighing in Savannahs like the Paraguayans.
Bolivian Vickers tank captured by Paraguayan troops:
This is a video on the war from Paraguayan side. Ayala in the video is the then President of Paraguay. Jose Estigarribia is the Paraguayan General in charge of the military during the war. Video is subtitled in english.
The ships you saw in the video were the two warships ordered by Paraguay from an Italian ship builder before the war started. They took troops and supplies up the Paraguay river. They also brought hurt soldiers back to central Paraguay. One of the ships called "Paraguay C1" is still in service today. The other called "Humaita C2" became a museum.
Special Note - The following River patrol boat called "Capitan Cabral" must have been used in the the Chaco War. It was built in 1907 in the Netherlands and Paraguay got it in 1908. It is made of wood. This wood river patrol boat is still in service today in 2009. The steam powered engines were removed and replace by diesel engines in 1984.
Photo: http://www.histarmar.com.ar/ArmadasE.../CapCabral.jpg
This is a musical video singing to Paraguayan "Regiment 13 Tujuti". It praises the regiments troops and outstanding officer in charge of the Regiment 13 which held back a major Bolivian attack on Fort Nanawa. Video is in Guarani with Spanish subtitles.
Edit: There were movies taken of the war but they are in Spanish. But the following video with only music is the Paraguyan Chaco War Victory Parade in there Capital City in August1935. The Victory Parade starts at 18 seconds on the video to 2:18. The entire video covers 1935 to 1948 which is where you see that auto. The person on the horse which the camara seems to following is the famous General Jose Estigarriba. Paraguay at the start of the war had a very small military. Paraguayans volunteered in great numbers when the war started. YouTube - PARAGUAY DE ANTAÑO- apoyen a eco.tv
With today marking the 70th anniversary of the commencement of World War II, I thought it appropriate to highlight one of the many overlooked and forgotten stories from that war. The roots of the story actually pre-dates the war, going back to the period between 1931-1933. During this time, aviation was experiencing great technological advances and many countries were eagerly embracing them. One such country was Fascist Italy. Under the command of General Italo Balbo, the Italian "Regia Aeronautica" set out on two interncontinental flights that grabbed headlines the world over. The first was a 6,462 mile flight of twelve Savoia Marchetti 55X planes from Italy to Rio de Janeiro in 1931. The second flight was twenty-two seaplanes that traveled from Italy to Chicago for the 1933 World's Fair.
Fast forward to 1940. With the Italians now at war with Britain, it was decided to launch an aggressive air bombing campaign against British targets in the Mediterranean and beyond. Drawing on the intercontinental flight experience of the 1930's, the "Regia Aeronautica" set about planning a mission that, while bold, could easily have ended in disaster. The target they chose; the British oil fields at Manama, Bahrain. Led by Lieutenant-Colonel Ettore Muti, a force of four Savoia Marchetti 82 aircraft took off from their base on Rhodes bound for the Persian Gulf on October 18, 1940. After 9 hours in the air, the planes arrived at their target and dropped a mixture of explosive and incendiary bombs on the brightly lit refinery at Manama. Flames from the burning plant told Colonel Muti that the mission had been successful, and his command turned back first for Italian East Africa, and then eventually on to Rome for a heroes welcome. The entire mission from beginning to end covered nearly 2,500 miles in just over 15 hours.
Overall, the bombing raid did not inflict a huge amount of damage to the refinery, largely because of the small number of planes available for the mission. However the propaganda value and morale boost it provided to Italy was enormous. True, the Italians may not have been the strongest opponent that Britain faced during the war. But the logistics and skill needed to launch the attack on Bahrain clearly demonstrated to the British, and everyone else for that matter, that the Italians were not nearly as incapable as was believed. Unfortunately for Italy, and perhaps more fortunately for Britain and her allies, the Italian military was never able to mount these types of operations on a consistent basis. Thus, stories of defeat are what most people will forever associate with the Italian war effort, while successes like Manama have become but little known footnotes in history.
Tony T,
I wasn't aware of the bombing of Italian Air Force attack on Bahrain oil fields, so some good history learned. That was an incredible distance for piston-driven aircraft to travel in those days. It must have made quite a statement to the British about the Italian air capability.
It's almost a certainty that Italy's industrial capacity and creativity was vastly underestimated. The Italians had some very advanced aircraft and naval vessels. You probably know about this, but I learned from a friend that Ettore Bugatti, born in Milan and known mostly for his superb automobiles, started to build a state-of-the-art plane in Alsace, France, in the late 1930s. The Bugatti 100 was designed by Louis D. de Monge. However, before the plane could be completed WWII started and Bugatti successfully hid the plane from the Nazis throughout the war. It could have been easily converted into a formidable fighter or bomber. A link is as follows:
Tony T,
I wasn't aware of the bombing of Italian Air Force attack on Bahrain oil fields, so some good history learned. That was an incredible distance for piston-driven aircraft to travel in those days. It must have made quite a statement to the British about the Italian air capability.
It's almost a certainty that Italy's industrial capacity and creativity was vastly underestimated. The Italians had some very advanced aircraft and naval vessels. You probably know about this, but I learned from a friend that Ettore Bugatti, born in Milan and known mostly for his superb automobiles, started to build a state-of-the-art plane in Alsace, France, in the late 1930s. The Bugatti 100 was designed by Louis D. de Monge. However, before the plane could be completed WWII started and Bugatti successfully hid the plane from the Nazis throughout the war. It could have been easily converted into a formidable fighter or bomber. A link is as follows:
Thank you for the link. I was not aware that such a plane design even existed so it was interesting to learn a bit about it.
Your point about Italian creativity/design is quite correct, especially when it came to naval ships. The "Littorio" class battleships of the "Regia Marina" were some of the most modern vessels operating in the Mediterranean and possessed an excellent balance of speed, armor, and armament. The "Zara" class heavy cruisers, with their 8 inch guns and thick armor, were more then capable of going toe to toe with similarly armed ships and could shred lighter armed opponents with ease. Many naval historians consider the "Zara" class to be the best heavy cruisers of the World War II era.
Where the Italians were truly lacking was industrial capacity. Mussolini tried to change Italy from an agrarian society to an industrialized one but Italy simply did not have the raw materials and resources needed to accomplish this. For example, during the Fascist period, Italy was never able to produce more then 2.5 million tons of steel per year. During the same general period, Japan was producing 5 million tons, Great Britain 13.4 million tons, and Germany's output was 22.5 million tons annually. This, coupled with heavy reliance on importation of oil and other products needed to wage war, really put Italy at a major disadvantage to her opponents.
All things considered, it is surprising that Italy managed to stay in the game as long as it did.
Thanks for the great layout of the Chaco War. I'm still reading as time permits. There is a lot of material there! My first impression is that the civilian population of both countries, but especially Paraguay, must have suffered greatly in that war. Very sad that people of very similar ethnic origin and impoverished conditions should be fighting each other for what appeared to be a corporate grab for resources. Thanks again for the great effort. Outstanding presentation!
John
Ok, time to stop lurking I've been reading the history forum for too long without actually contributing, I figure it's time to change it. Battle of Westerplatte - this is the first battle of ww2, at least according to the official stance of Polish historians. Whether it was really the first, I don't know. It is quite fascinating nonetheless. Battle of Wizna - this battle is forgotten by most, even Poles. It had to be immortalized by a Swedish metal band Sabaton in their song 40:1 to be recognized by the general public.
And in the end, I wonder how many of you know this man - Otto Skorzeny. Even though he fought for the Nazis, there is a lot more to him than just this. In fact, if he was a soldier for the Allies, I bet several movies about him would have been made already.
One of the most overlooked aspects of history is the fact that blitzkrieg was designed to be a war "on the cheap', designed to minimize losses and costs and appease the public. Many to this date believe most of europe crumbled under a mighty nazi jack boot. Couldn't be further from the truth. By the time Germany did fully mobilize and reached its peak production, the war was already lost.
That's true. When the war was starting, the German army wasn't the almost invincible monster it's portrayed to be. Most tanks they had were light Panzer I and Panzer II. Also i could be wrong on the number, but if I recall correctly, close to 70% of German supplies were carried by horse and carriage. They were picking up momentum, if they had more time, who knows. Panthers and Tigers, while amazing tanks didn't really help, there were too few of them and too late to make a difference.
What's also fascinating is that Germans went a bit too far with their technical innovations. A good example here is the electric motor for the tank towers. Finally the crew could focus on tasks other than manually moving the gun ... until the winter came, and German tank commanders stuck in Russia were horrified to find that their turrets won't move - apparently whoever design this didn't take extremely low temperatures into account ...
Similarly, German tank engines were so advanced, that they were powerful, efficient etc. Yet, when the cold came, it was often the case that they simply wouldn't start, due to the cold. And at the same time, Russians were making bonfires under their tanks to heat the engines enough to start, and it worked!
If I get too much off topic, let me know I tend to ramble a bit sometimes
Yac.
Exactly yac, it always makes me laugh when you hear people speak of the German army as if they were supermen, they were human and made a load of mistakes
And in the end, I wonder how many of you know this man - Otto Skorzeny. Even though he fought for the Nazis, there is a lot more to him than just this. In fact, if he was a soldier for the Allies, I bet several movies about him would have been made already.
I've got a copy of his autobiography. It's extremely short on any details, but what you do have is pretty interesting stuff there. I believe he wrote it after Germany surrendered so any politics is sanitized. I'd be interested in seeing a lot more of what he did.
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I've been reading the history forum for too long without actually contributing, I figure it's time to change it.
There is not enough written about Poland. Here is a link to 2 books by Norman Davies that are on my "to read" list.
