WesWorld

Wars of Separatism: The Paraguayan Civil War by A. D Steinbecker, Patagonia Press 1955, pp.92

The height of summer in Paraguay was still burdened with the violence of the civil war which saw no end in sight.
Caacupe remained firmly in government hands despite the siege by rebel forces which now numbered some 4,500 men supported by artillery and six aircraft which shot down two government scouts on the 12th of November. Nearly all the residents had now left heading either west to Asuncion or south towards Argentina and the government forces now included some two battalions and the few tanks they had. The rebels were aiming for a February assault on the town but the constant reinforcement through the Asuncion-Caacupe railway forced them to reconsider their plans. Rebel forces made numerous hit-and-run raids along the railway but failed to cut it.

Further south Caazapa was taken by an encirclement by forces from Villarrica in the Department of Guaira and the forces to the south and east of the town including a regiment of former government forces and the International Regiment composed of French, British, Dutch, Atlantean and Argentine volunteers. The attack began in early November and the fighting lasted three weeks and the ferocity of the fighting and the damaged caused was unequalled in any South American war before or since. The town was levelled to the ground by artillery fire and systematic burning by the government troops. Brigadier A.S. Castillone led the resistance and the troops held out until the very end. Some 8,500 casualties were recorded for both sides and some estimated 3,000 civilians died either from the fighting or execution by the increasingly paranoid Brigadier. Here is one eyewitness report from a rebel soldier Francesco Castillione, "the whole town had been flattened, and nothing stood higher than a man's shoulders except for the stone church and the town hall where the final defenders held out for six days. The new concrete police headquarters had huge holes blown through its walls and the church was a gutted shell. The last battle was ferocious with 75mm guns being fired at point-blank range at the town hall with huge clouds of smoke and raging fires all around, it looked like hell on earth. The remains of bodies lay strewn across the square mingled with masonry and twisted railings and burnt wagons. All the while the enemy fired back with machine guns from the cellars." Today the massive memorial erected when the town was rebuilt in 1935 can be seen in the town square where the final few pockets of troops were blasted out by 75mm guns at point blank range and grenades. Rebel planes provided constant air cover and the Italian ground attack planes were very successful.

The town of Coronel Oviedo in the Department of Caaguazu which was fortified against government attack only two months earlier was attacked by two columns of government cavalry which suffered heavy losses but they captured two field guns and burnt three local grain silos to try and starve the population out of the town. Fighting is not restricted to these areas and clashes have been reported all over southern Paraguay. Guerrilla warfare in the northern regions of San Pedro and Canindeyu continued with some limited success. In the south the rebels fled from the Department of Neembucu after a battalion swept through and encircled and captured around three hundred rebels and this strategic move deprived the rebels of their supply route across the Rio Paraguay. The nearby Departments of Misiones and Itapua remained under rebel control under the Paraguayan Anti-Government Front (UPAF) government headed by Luis Contreras.
The Navy continued transporting refugees across the Rio Paraguay and Rio Parana but failed to fire on rebel positions during the government advance owing to "technical troubles" but they were the last lifeline to the escaping refugees.