S. AMERICAN WAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 November 1934, Page 7

S. AMERICAN WAR

BOLIVIA CLAIMS VICTORY LARGE AREA REGAINED [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN.—-COPYBIGHT.] BUENOS AIRES, November 13. A new ' Bolivian offensive in the Chaco-Boreal region, resulted in the recapture of approximately sixteen hundred square miles in the nqrtb.west portion of the disputed area, according to reports reaching here today. The Bolivian drive has virtually wiped out Paraguay’s conquests which were made in the course of General St. Igarribiae’s daring advance towards the Parapiti River and the Bolivian oilfields in the month of August. Any new developments in the fighting, »in which the dispatches indicated there are twenty thousand men on each side engaged, will depend on whether heavy rains, which are now due, come soon, and also whether the Bolivians are satisfied with having averted . Paraguay’s threat against towns along the Parapiti River; and will, therefore, abandon their operations until after the rainy season is over. ' A crowd of twenty thousand people, singing patriotic songs, jammed -the streets of La Paz in celebration of the Bolivian victory. The Ministry of War announced that the victory had smashed Paraguay’s right wing in the northern Chaco, had also threatened the centre; and had pushed the enemy back 25 miles. The capture of a fort on November 7 and of the Irindague fortifications has left Bolivia confronting tlie major Paraguayan strongholds at Picuiba, and one of the most important battles of this long war is expected to be fought there, either within the next few days, or immediately after the rainy season. Since Picuiba controls a network of roads and the water supply in the north-west Chaco, its loss or retention will determine whether Paraguay withdraws towards the central Chaco, or retains the advanced outposts which she has captured.