Libertad o Muerte! Pt. XXXV - 1857
After the peruvians had been defeated at La Paz General Mitre marched his troops towards Puno to finally execute the plan he had proposed to Urquiza in the first days of the conflicht. On June 24th they reached the enemy lines. The enemy troops were recently reinforced and not yet well organized and their moral had also taken a hit due to the defeat at La Paz. Nevertheless they set up a well planned defense of the town of Puno. Well aware that their withdrawal would mean the encirclement of the 6th Corps at Arica they fought like lions to hold their position. As the last remnants surrendered on August 10th the whole division had been reduced to 642 men. They literally had fought to the very last man.
The first part of Mitre's grand plan had worked extraordinary well. Not only was the encirclement of the 6th Corps at Puno now only a matter of time but with a whole peruvian division gone they could now only field seven divisions agains the eleven platinean ones. Furthermore due to the annihilation of the 1st Corps counterattacks against the platinean positions at Puno became very unlikely.
At Puno General Mitre encricled the whole 1st Corps which was rertreating from the 3rd Battle of La Paz. On August 10th the last peruvians surrendered to the Army of La Plata.
While Mitre was on the advance in the south the Gauchos were advancing north to retake the platinean province of Misión Calvinas. They found the province undefended but a few days later the 3rd Corps, retreating from Ixiamas, arrived. The battered peruvian troops were no match for the platinean horsemen and couldn't withstand their first charge. Though the bloodtoll was very low the 3rd Corps retreated almost immediately towards Puerto Maldonado.
At Calvinas the Gauchos, commanded by General Díaz intercepted the retreating 3rd Corps and drove them of towards Puerto Maldonado thus disrupting the whole peruvian frontline.
After the Gauchos had fully occupied Calvinas province they marched on to Puerto Hearth (see Map:
Troop Movements Mid-July 1857 ), while the battle for Arica still raged on. The Gauchos took control of Puerto Hearth province absolutely unopposed. But the peruvian high command reacted soon and sent two corps to repel the Gauchos. As reaction the 'Army of Paraguay' commanded by General Mora was dispatched to support the gauchos. At the same time Mitre's force and the Royal Guard marched on Arica. (see Map:
Troop Movements Mid-September 1857 )
The 2nd Battle for Puerto Hearth seemed to become a slaughter for the Gauchos who were severly disadvantaged by the hilly countryside, the thick vegetation and the tropic climate which made organized cavalry charges impossible. But word made it to the platinean cavalry force that General Mora and his 'Army of Paraguay' were on their way to relief them. Thus the Gauchos held out till Mora's troops finally arrived on September 25th. From then on the nature of the battle changed. While the peruvians were common to fight the mounted Gauchos in a terrain completely insufficient for cavalry maneuvres they were completely unprepared for the skirmish warfare out of the thicket of the jungle which the battle hardened 'paraguayians' launched upon them. Mora's troops took the initiative immediately and assaulted the widespread peruvians on every occassion using ambushes on scouting parties and rearguards as well as raiding the supply lines and peruvian camps. On October 3rd the peruvians finally retreated towards Puerto Maldonado again. Only 400 out of the 4,000 fallen platinean soldiers belonged to Mora's forces while inflicting almost two thirds of the peruvian casualties. The small scale warfare used in the 2nd Battle for Puerto Hearth had proven to be very effective. As the combat reports reached the platinean Headquarter at Puno Mitre ordered the Gauchos to circumvent the enemy lines, by riding through Olivenca, and occupy Iquitos to open up a second front int the very north of Peru. Mora's forces on the other hand, which had been so successfull in the thick jungle, were ordered to dug-in in preparation of future peruvian attacks.
Near Puerto Hearth the Gauchos were attacked by 3rd and 4th Corps while marching towards Esperanza. In the following battle the gauchos suffered tremendous losses and the battle would have been lost wouldn't it be for the 'Ejército del Paraguay' under Gen. Mora who rushed towards Puerto Hearth and turned the tide of the battle.
In early September Puno had been secured and without any peruvian troops in the adjacent provinces of Arequipa and Chalbuanca, Mitre played around with the idea to occupy Chalbuanca, thus securing two more provinces for the platinean war effort. But he finally decided to use the opportunity to start a coordinated attack together with the royal guards against the encircled 6th Corps in Arica. On September 25th the battle for Arica began with General Díaz commanding the entirety of platinean forces against General Escobar's troops which had entrenched in Fort San Sebastian. The platinean troops were still lacking sufficient artillery pieces to overcome such defences efficiently and thus had a hard time to breach the fort's defenses. In fact the battle became a siege that lasted for nearly two months in which the platinean troops took in tough fights position for position and battery for battery. In early november the peruvian troops had retreated to the fort's citadel. Thereby losing losing the arsenal and the hospital. The wounded peruvian soldiers were taken to platinean hospitals. Despite the heavy fighting in the following days humanity was victorious and Mitre accepted the request of General Escobar to take care of those peruvian soldiers who had been wounded since the retreat to the citadel. One weak later they finally hoisted the white flag. Only 400 defenders survived and marched into captivity. with the annihilation of the 6th Corps the peruvian army had lost two divisions in a few month thus reducing the troops at it's disposal by critical 25%.
In late September the Royal Guards and the 'Army of La Plata' began their attack on Peru's southernmost fortified position near the town of Arica. Tenthousand peruvians fought to the last drop of blood against the overwhelming paltinean forces. But it finally had to surrender on November 12th it marked the turn of the war.
In the north the peruvian army tried to gain back the initiative by attacking and hopefully driving the paltinean forces out of Puerto Hearth. But Mora's forces who had earlier prevailed in the art of jungle warfare had prepared thereselves very well to defend the province at all costs, literally using every obstacle to improve the defenses and to give the attackers a very tough time. As the peruvian troops arrived on November 12th they faced an enemy who knew the area like the back of his own hand. The battle raged on for ten long and bloody days in which the peruvian attackers lost more then ten times as much men as the defending platineans.
While the Gauchos rode like hell to reach Iquitos the remaining troops of the 'Army of Paraguay' had to withstand an attack by 20,000 peruvian soldiers. A task they could easily accomplish due to their surpreme defensive positions.
After the fall of Fort San Sebastian and the town of Arica. The 'Ejército de la Plata' and the Royal Guards were boarding ships to make landfall in Arequipa and Chalbuanca. At the same time the 'Legión Extranjera' and the 'Ejército de los Andes' were marching to attack the peruvian forces near Cuzco to deny the peruvian army any possibility to counter the platinean offensive in southern Peru. Meanwhile the Gauchos were occupying Iquitos province and the 'Ejército del Paraguay' is holding its position against two peruvian corps.
Facing the loss of two division, which equaled 25% of their fighting force, the loss of four provinces over the course of the last four month and the massiv offensive operations launched by the platinean high command the peruvian leaders had two choices. On the one hand they had the option to continue the war which became a more desperate matter with every day which could lead to the loss of even more divisions and more provinces. On the other hand they had the option to offer a peace treaty to the platinean king with only minimal territorial losses. On November 22nd they chose to offer peace. Days later the perliminary peace of Arica was signed in which Peru seceded control over the disputed provinces of Arica and Puerto Maldonado to the platinean crown.
The final troop movements of the Atacama War. On the same day both sides signed the preliminary peace of Arica.
In the last stages of the war no major naval engagements occured due to the fact that the 'Valedora' was the only peruvian vessel still afloat. Nevertheless the navy played a major role for the platinean war effort. The two fleets under Admirals Thorne and Encalada blockaded all major peruvian ports, thus interdicting peruvian trade, hunted the 'Valedora' up and down the peruvian coastline and bombarded a series of peruvian towns along the coast. Especially the bombardement of the peruvian positions near Puno and Arica was the key for the advance and victory of the ground forces. In the last days of the war a young captain by the name of Seguí distinguished himself in battle as he pursuit the 'Valedora' for several days. The 'Valedora' had run out of coal to fuel its steam engine and was now relying on its sails solely to gain and remain speed. But due to it's heavier construction it was no longer able to outrun the two sleek platinean frigates commanded by Seguí. Captain Seguí ordered to capture the 'Valedora' as they finally approached her in the first hours after sunset on November 22nd. The 'Theseus' was maneuvered into position and the platinean sailors stormed the 'Valedora'. The peruvian soldiers fought for every foot in vicious hand to hand combat were knives and sabres hold bloody harvest among the sailors and soldiers of both vessels. After a three hour long struggle the 'Valedora' was taken and towed to the port of Arica. Though the 'Valedora' was given back to the peruvians according to the preliminary peace of Arica Captain Seguí was promoted to Admiral.
Legend: Anchors mark minor naval engagements. Blasts mark bombardement of peruvian ports.
In the last phase of the war it came to no major naval engagements but the platinean navy played an important role by blockading and bombarding peruvian ports as well give fire support to the platinean offensive in southern peru. In a series of minor naval enggements the peruvian Raider 'Valedora' was chased up and down the peruvian coastline.
While the war against Peru draw the attention of most platineans, developements at home went almost unnoticed. For example a group of montevidean scientist, which were examing the human mind, came up with a theory they called 'associationism'. Unfortenately except, for the scientists themselves, could associate anything with it.
In August Associationism became well known among all platinean universities.
In November 1857 the Santa Fé Glassworks finally opened it's gates and made Platinea from a glass importing nation to glass exporting nation. Especially the breweries and wineries in Montevideo and Buenos Aires were pleased about that as they no longer had to purchase expensive european glass. While the Glassworks were build more and more people moved to Santa Fé to gain a job at the factory and it proved there were more applicants than jobs. To make the most gains out of the rich woodlands a group of lumberjacks, backed by a huge credit, founded the Cordoba Lumber Company and began with the construction of a lumber mill nea Cordoba.
After the construction of the Santa Fé Glassworks was finished. The Cordoba Lumber Company began to set up a lumber mill.