Gran Chaco War- Bolivian And Paraguayan Military Forces

[Animal]

I took this pictures in the "Museo de Armas de la Nacion Argentina" in Buenos Aires. They show some of the weapons used by both sides during the war. Those HMG were destroyed during the bolivian retreats, usually using fuel.

The rifle in the middle and the third one are Mauser Vz. 24 (checoslovakian made)

Good pic. That burned gun looks like a Browning while the other 2 machine guns look like Czech ZB's. Am I correct?

I'm assuming there were no uniforms, helmets, personal equipment(belts, cartridge pouches, haversacks, canteens, packs) on display at the museum.

[snniper77]

All i can see from the pics are a machete (heavy knife used in LA) and a cap. However it s been a while since i went to the museum so i dont really remember if there were more things about the war, cause i just took thos pics coz i loved the burned MGs

However if u re very interested i can always call at the museum and ask.....

About the MGs, one is a BRNO (the one in the left) and the othes ir supposed to be a ¿danish vickers? (i m sure its danish coz its what i can read from the sign..)

[snniper77]

some more pics i ve just found...

paraguayan rifles

[Sean RR]

I'm not good on South American uniforms but here's a couple that might be of interest

[Animal]

Once again that's pretty good! I'm guessing from photos that the above figure is Paraguyan, while the bottom one is Bolivian. I guess we can assume that the Paraguayans didn't issue their troops any accoutrements- belts, cartridge pouches, canteens, haversacks, knapsacks, bayonets. It also looks as though neither side issued steel helmets, or if they did, wore them in action.

[Sean RR]

You're right, there seems to be a real lack of equipment on the Paraguayan side. I have seen haversacks and belts but little else. Could be the lack of available material in UK. Bolivians seem better supplied, but still less than you'd want to go to war with.

[Billy]

That's great Sean RR! I had seen some black & white photos of Paraguayan and Bolivian soldiers from the Chaco War but not colour; good work!! It's always nice to see it in colour.

By the way, what colour were the field uniforms of the Chilean advisors? Light grey? I've seen photos of them but only in b & w and I can't tell if it's light grey, or pale grey-green, or tan or what. Plus whatever it is might be faded considerably by the time of the photo.

[Borianm]

New info on logistics and arns&ammo suppliement in Chaco War http://dspace.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/24 ... sion+1.pdf

[alcantur]

BOLIVIAN ARMY
INVENTORY OF WEAPONS/GUNS BETWEEN 1924 AND 1936

Infantry Guns

Rifles

Mauser Rifle Mod. Argentino 1891 cal. 7.65 Mauser (7.65x53mm)
Mauser Rifle 1895 cal. 7.65 mauser (Based on the argentinian Model 1891)
Mauser Rifle Mod. 1895 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Rifle DWM 1891 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Rifle DWM 1907 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Short Mauser Rifle DWM 1907 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Rifle 1908 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Rifle FN 24/30 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Rifle CSZ Brno VZ-23 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Short Mauser Rifle CSZ Brno VZ-24 cal. 7.65 Mauser (Evolution of the VZ-23)
Short Mauser Rifle CSZ Brno VZ-26 cal. 7.65 Mauser (variant of the VZ-24 with most evident change in the curved Bolt handle)
Short Mauser Rifle CSZ Brno VZ-32 cal. 7.65 Mauser (variant of the VZ-26)
Mauser Carabine CSZ Brno VZ-12/33
Mauser Carabine CSZ Brno VZ-16/33
Mauser Rifle CSZ Brno VZ-08/33 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Rifle Werke Standard Modell 1933 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Carabine KAR 98 cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Carabine KAR 98a cal. 7.65 Mauser
Mauser Carabine KAR 98k cal. 7.65 Mauser

The old versions of Mauser rifles were used at the early stages of the conflict, before the arrival of the Czhek CSZ Brno rifles, Belgian FN and later the German Standard Model 33 and the KAR98.

Submachineguns

Bergmann MP18-I Schmeisser cal. 9mm
Bergmann MP28 II cal. 9mm
Bergmann MP34/1 cal. 9mm
Bergmann M20 cal. 7.65mm
ERMA EMP/ ERMA MP-34/35 cal. 9mm
Suomi M26 cal. 7.61mm
Suomi M31 cal. 9mm
Steyr Solothurn S1-100 cal. 9mm
CSZ Brno ZK-383 cal. 9mm
Vollmer 1930 cal. 9mm

Pistols

Luger P08
Colt
Walther PP
Browning 1911
Mauser C-96

Machineguns

HMG Vickers mod. 1914 cal. 1 inch (25.4mm)
HMG Maxim-Nordenfelt 4 barrels cal. 1 inch
HMG Colt/Browning Mod. 1895 cal. .303 (7.7mm)
HMG CSZ Lehky Kulomet ZB-53 cal. 7.92x57mm (8mm Mauser)
MMG Maxim 08 cal. .303 (7.70x56mm)
MMG Vickers Type C cal. 7.65x53mm
MMG Vickers Type E cal. 7.65x53mm
MMG Vickers Type F cal. 7.65x53mm
MMG Vickers Type C-T cal. 7.65x53mm
LMG CSZ Brno ZB-26 cal. 8mm Mauser
LMG CSZ Lehky Kulomet ZB-30 cal. 8mm Mauser
LMG Vickers-Berthier cal. 7.65mm
LMG Madsen M1903 cal. 7.92mm
LMG Lewis M-1 cal. .303

Artillery

Mortars

Stokes-Brandt 81mm
AAC 47mm
AAC 105mm

Cannons And Howitzers

Schneider MPC 2 cal. 75mm
Schneider LD cal. 75mm
OerlikonTwintube cal. 20mm
SEMAG-Becker AA cal. 20mm
antitank cannon cal. 20mm
Mountain Krupp 60mm
Mountain Krupp L.13 cal. 75mm
Vickers Mk.MM cal. 75mm
Vickers Mk.KK cal. 75mm
Vickers Mk.E cal. 65mm
Vickers Howitzer Mk.C cal. 105mm
Mountain Vickers Howitzer Mk.B cal. 105mm

Armored cars and Tanks

Tanks

Vickers 6 Ton Mk.E Type A; 2 AP Vickers .303 (Captured by Paraguay)
Vickers 6 Ton Mk.E Type B; 1 short cannon cal. 47mm and coaxial LMG Vickers .303 (One captured by Paraguay, One destroyed)
Renault FT-17; 1 short cannon 37mm (1 test unit not deployed at Chaco area)

Tankettes

Carden Lloyd Mk.IV; 1 MMG Vickers .303 (last reported in use at Nanawa battle)
Fiat CV-3/33-II Ansaldo; 1 LMG 6.5mm (not deployed at Chaco area)

[Coconuts]

Alcantur,

That looks like one of the best lists of Bolivian equipment around the time of the Chaco War I have seen. I am just wondering what the source is? Is there a similar list for Paraguay?

Many thanks.

[alcantur]

Hi coconut,

This list has been ellaborated by myself. It is the result of a 3 month research. I gathered the info from the web and bolivian sources, confirmed it with Bolivian military personnel and former Chaco War soldiers (the few ones that are still alive), visiting an armory kept at Viacha's military unit with guns and weapons of that time, visiting the Bolivian Military Museum at La Paz city and reviewing data from the military inventory kept at the Ministry of Defense.

Some of the mauser rifles and LMG are still being used by the ceremonial units of the Bolivan Army and at the military instruction centers like the 'Escuela Militar de Ejercito', 'Colegio Militar de Aviacion', 'Liceo Militar' and 'Escuela de Sargentos', or are being used for the training of the conscripts of the pre-military service. Some of the ZB-26 LMG with the bolivian seal has appeared on the hands of drug lords in Brazil or some of the local aymara militias (ponchos rojos); mostly because many weapons disappeared from military units or were distributed to civilian militias during the Revolution of 1952. The 1" Vickers HMG was not listed before, but at least 3 of them with the anti-aircraft frame are still in use for training at the Colegio Militar de Ejercito.

Some of the weapon types (rifle models mostly) were not officially listed but they do exist. As an instance, I do own one of the CSZ Brno Vz.26 short mauser rifles with the bolivian seal on it (in perfect operational conditions and including the bayonet), but that rifle type is not in the inventory officially kept in Bolivian Army, it seems that it has been listed as the standard Vz.24 as it happened with the earlyer Vz.23's that I've seen kept in storage at Viacha's armory. A friend of mine owns a cavalry carabine version of the CSZ Brno Vz.12/33 that is also not listed in the official inventory, but the bolivian seal on the gun confirms it has been supplied to Bolivian Army, It may have been listed as the Vz.16/33. The ZB-26 and ZB-30 are both listed in the official inventory as just a 'Brno LMG', but samples of both are on display in the military museum. One of the less know guns in use during the Chaco War was the Nordenfeldt 4-barrel machine gun, that dated from the Pacific War (1879), but was still in use in 1933 as an anti-aircraft gun, there is even a photo of the gun in use during the defense of Villamontes (1935).

[Coconuts]

Alcantur,

I can see that the list comes with very strong authorities behind it, and is therefore even more valuable. It is the kind of list I have been seeking for a long time concerning the equipment of the Bolivian Army (there is what seems like a good list of Paraguayan weapons in the book 'La Defensa del Chaco', but I am guessing you know about this one), therefore many thanks for posting it. The link in the post above leads to what looks like an interesting article on a similar theme, because it draws on material in the Vickers Armstrong archives here in the UK about what weapons Vickers sent to Bolivia and some problems the Bolivian Army reported with them.

Being in the UK it is quite hard to research aspects of Bolivian military history, apart from via books and the very few related archives present here. The Vickers armaments factory where some of the Bolivian weapons were made is quite near to the town where I live, and several relatives worked there before WW2, but I only found some pictures of Bolivian weapons in archives in this region because most of the materials seem to have been sent to the South of the UK.

It is also interesting to hear that the rifles and other small arms have continued to provide useful service to the Bolivian Army for so long! I had heard that some Bolivian weapons that had been taken by Paraguay were sold to Spain in a consignment in 1936 by the Paraguayan President Rafael Franco, so Bolivian weapons have sometimes turned up in Spanish inventories. There is an intriguing story in a book by lt. Cnl. Alfredo Campos of the Uruguayan Army about the time he spent as a member of the Neutral Commission supervising the cease fire after the war that describes the way in which parties of officers went to the Indian villages in the Chaco to try and persuade the Indians to give up all the arms they had collected from the battlefields (including lmgs, smgs etc.).

Do you know if any books have been printed in Bolivia recently that deal with the weapons, equipment, uniforms or other military aspects of the Chaco War?

[alcantur]

Hi
unfortunatelly, i haven't found anything new published, but i'll be visiting a couple of Military Historians next month and if there is something new i might get it.

[nuyt]

Very good list of equipment!

I noticed this:

SEMAG-Becker AA cal. 20mm
antitank cannon cal. 20mm

Is there any info of what the second one was?

Kind regards,
Nuyt

[alcantur]

unfortunatelly I don't have more details about that gun, it is listed by bolivian armory inventory as a single cannon antitank gun of 20mm. Only a few were used, I've only seen pieces of one of them, making it hard to identify.

They were probably manufactured by Becker (tankabwehrkanone Becker MII. 20mm), CSZ or Solothurn (a predecessor of the S-18 is the most probable candidate).

The main difference between the 20mm AA and the 20mm AT guns is that the AA were twin-cannon guns, while AT were single-cannon units. Apparently Becker guns were basically the same, but cannons were shorter for the AT units.

By some pictures taken by Paraguayan officiers, it seems like bolivians (and paraguayans after capturing them), used the 20mm guns in both main roles, as AA and AT, only difference was the gun mounting unit.