Word: bolivians
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Fort Saavedra stands in the midst of a muddy plain surrounded by dense woods. It lies not in that part of the Gran Chaco which is in dispute, but in land which until six months ago was recognized as Bolivian. Round that fort for 31 days, 20,000 men have been fighting one of the greatest battles South America has seen for 50 years, in a war that has never been declared. It has been a close fight. The defending Bolivians have more men, heavier artillery, more munitions. The attacking Paraguayans have fresh water and more food-a tremendous advantage...
Reporters last week noted tremendous artillery fire. Two Paraguayan attacks were beaten back. A Bolivian plane fought a Paraguayan plane (no decision) to the immense enjoyment of ground troops on both sides. Travelers reported boatloads of wounded passing up the Paraguay River to Asuncion. There were the usual complaints of bombing field hospitals, but strangely, war correspondents noted no atrocity stories, possibly because most of the soldiers of both armies are Indians, not quite sure what is an atrocity and what is fair fighting...
Last week marked an anniversary. For exactly five months Bolivian and Paraguayan soldiers have been fighting and dying in the steaming swamps of the Gran Chaco without an official declaration of war. Trustworthy reports from the front have been rare, one fact apparent: Slowly Paraguayans have been pushing Bolivians back...
...Bolivia's deputies out of the Congress building and hung a "To Let" sign on the door. The Government was forced to send to Berlin for the man Bolivia exiled in 1930?General Hans Kundt, late of the Imperial German Army, for many years commander-in-chief of the Bolivian Army. In New York last week on his way to La Paz, General Kundt did not deny that he has been recalled to assume charge of the Bolivian army, parried questions by talking about a scheme to settle German, Austrian and Polish emigrants in the Upper Amazon...
...Asuncion, capital of Paraguay, officials admitted that Bolivian resistance in the Gran Chaco has recently grown stiffer but claimed that Fort Saavedra, in the strategic sector of the Chaco, would fall within a fortnight. Paraguay's Minister of War, Pastor Benitez. declared that half the officers and staff officers of Bolivia have been either killed, wounded or captured in the past four months. Bolivia's war department retorted that 2,000 Paraguayans had been killed in the first seven days of the attack on Fort Saavedra...