BOOTLESS SOLDIERS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1933, Page 19 (Supplement)

BOOTLESS SOLDIERS

GUERILLA CAMPAIGNING. Insight into some of the causes of the present war between Bolivia and Paraguay was gained by Mr. H. P. Phillips, formerly an officer in the Coldstream Guards, but now posted on the Teserve list, who arrived at Wellington on holiday visit by the liner Maunganui on Monday morning. From what he saw, Mr. Phillips said that the real cause of the dispute appeared to be that Bolivia, an inland republic, wanted to get her petrol to the sea by means of the River Parana, which flowed through Argentine. Paraguay, also an inland State, backed up by Argentine, was trying to prevent this, because Argentine had an axe to brind, in that she had oil to sell also.

‘‘From a military point of view, the War —if it could be called a war at all —was extremely badly organised, Mr. Phillips continued. Most of the troops wore no boots, although he believed that all were game little fighters. The great difficulty was the impossible nature of the country iri which hostilities were being conducted. For the most part, operations had taken place in extremely swampy land, with exceedingly thick undergrowth. Lacking modem military equipment, neither side made much headway, with the result that there was a kind of guerilla warfare carried on at irregular intervals. The side that would win would be the one that could last out the longest in the matter of money, which meant, in other Words, the side that had the greatest quantity of equipment available. There appeared to be a lot of. American aeroplanes used in the contest. After leaving England, Mr. Phillips, in company with a friend, Mr. C. J. Evelyn, went to Buenos Aires, where Mr. Phillips has interests in connection with city real estate. Then both travellers, by train and aeroplane, visited many of the South American republics, ultimately reaching Panama. They went into the interior of Brazil, and were greatly impressed with the famous Ignazy Falls, a fall of water comparable with Niagara. They saw Inca ruins at La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, and then flew from a place called Raquepa to Lima, the capital of Peru. Mr. Phillips said that his whole impression of South America was that the place was in the most rickety position possible. Conditions in Bolivia were simply shocking. From Panama the pair proceeded by the French liner, Ville de Verdun, to Tahiti, where Mr. Phillips declared he had the best month’s holiday, mainly fishing, that he had ever had. A week in New Zealand, then the pair will be off to Sydney, East Indies and will return to England. ,