Battle of Arica

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Battle of Arica
Part of the War of the Pacific

The Battle of Arica by Juan Lepiani depicts Bolognesi's final moments. Oil on canvas, Lima, Peru.
Date June 7, 1880
Location Morro de Arica, Peru
(present-day Chile)
Result Chilean victory
Belligerents
Flag of Chile
Republic of Chile
Flag of Peru
Republic of Perú
Commanders
Flag of Chile Col. Pedro Lagos Flag of Peru Col. Francisco Bolognesi †
Strength
5,000 1,903
Casualties and losses
474 dead or wounded ~1,000 dead or wounded
1 monitor lost
v • d • e
War of the Pacific

The Battle of Arica, also known as Assault and capture of Arica Cape, is a belic action of the War of the Pacific. It was fought on June 7, 1880, between forces of Chile and Peru.

After the Battle of Tacna, and the following Bolivian retirement of the war, Peru had to stand alone for the rest of the conflict. The need of a port near to the location of the army, in order to supply and reinforce the troops and the evacuation of the wounded, made the Chilean command to put it's attention on the remaining Peruvian stronghold in the Tacna Department. Thus, a fraction of the Chilean army, led by Colonel Pedro Lagos, launched a simultaneous assault from both sides, taking the defenses on a bayonet charge, and captured the Morro de Arica (English: Arica Cape) from the defending Peruvian troops under the command of Colonel Francisco Bolognesi in a last attack up the hill. In this fight the Peruvian Commander died along with several officers and more than 1.000 men[1].

The Chilean victory ended the phase of the conflict known as Campaña de Tacna y Arica (English: Campaign of Tacna and Arica), resulting in the occupation of the entire Tarapacá and Tacna provinces. After this action, began a new stage named Campaña de Lima (English: Lima Campaign), which concluded with the fall of the Peruvian capital city, seven months later. The city of Arica never returned to Peruvian hands, being temporarily ceded to Chile after the sign of the Treaty of Ancon, on 1884; the city remained military occupied by Chilean forces until the later sign of the Treaty of Lima in 1929, when it was then ceded permanently to Chilean sovereignity.

Contents

[edit] Prelude

Since the war broke out on 1879, the initial naval stage came to an end with the capture of the Huascar at Angamos, on October of 1879. After this, the subsequent disembarkment at Pisagua on November 2, drove the Allies inland. The Chilean army chained a series of victories at Germania and San Francisco, ended with the Peruvian success at Tarapaca, on November 27. Despite of this late victory, the Allies lost the Tarapaca department, and the popular discontent in the Allied countries led to the deposition of both President Prado in Peru and Hilarion Daza in Bolivia, replaced respectively by Nicolas de Pierola and Gen. Narciso Campero.

[edit] Naval preliminary actions

On 27 February, the Chilean Navy began bombarding the city's ground defenses. These defenses had a range of 3.5 km, providing a large covering zone for the remaining Peruvian ironclad, the Manco Capac. The Chilean warship Huáscar, after it's capture at Angamos, had been sent to reparations and set with two 40 lb Armstrong type, with a firing range between 6 and 7 km. The ironclad was put under the command of Captain Manuel Thompson[1]. The Huáscar arrived in Arica on 25 February in order to take the place of the Cochrane warship in the port blockade. Later the Magallanes, led by Captain Carlos Condell arrived to join the Huáscar in the operation. The Chilean ironclad fought an ongoing and inconclusive duel with the Manco Cápac. Though outclassed, the Peruvian monitor, covered by the land defences, managed to hold the Chilean ships at bay for 4 months. In these events, Thompson died, being replaced by Carlos Condell. On April 9, the Peruvian port of Callao was also put under blockade.

[edit] Preliminary land movements and engagements

On March 8, an Chilean expeditionary force was sent to Mollendo, in order to avoid the communications between this port with Arequipa, where 4.000 Peruvian soldiers were posted. On the 22nd, and with Gen. Manuel Baquedano as the new Commander in Chief of the Chilean Expedicionary Army, the Chileans obtained the victory at Los Ángeles hill. After winning this battle, the Chilean force marched to a gathering point at the Sama river valley. From this redezvous point, the Chilean infantry marched to Tacna on a perilous march. During this march, the Chilean Minister Rafael Sotomayor died at Las Yaras, being replaced in his commission by José Fco. Vergara. 11.000 Chileans led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano defeated conclusively an Allied army of 10.000 men commanded by Gen. Narciso Campero in the outskirts of Tacna, on May 26. After this decisive defeat, Bolivia retired to the Andes, and never took part of the war again. From now on, Peru had to fight alone.

So, after reorganizing the troops, the Chilean command decided to take the port of Arica. Having the entire army in Tacna, the port was already isolated by land. The Peruvian garrison was already enduring a naval blockade since February, stopping the supplies to reach the garrison at there, and later attack the city by land. On the 28, 50 Carabineros de Yungay commanded by Captain Dinator had a skirmish with the Lluta Cavalry Squadron. On June 1, Chilean troops led by Cmdnt. Rafael Vargas captured Engineer Teodoro Elmore, taking knowledge of the location of the landmines scattered in the entire city. 4.500 men were dispatched from Tacna to Arica by train, arriving the surroundings of the Peruvian city by early days of June.

[edit] The contenders

[edit] Peru

[edit] Peruvian situation

After the loss at Tacna, the Peruvian garrison at Arica saw the celebration in the Chilean vessels blockading the port. Several telegraphs sent to Tacna had no answer. Bolognesi had still the hope that the Allied army at Tacna had not been obbliterated, and a portion of it would come to reinforce his position. After Tacna, Montero had decided to withdraw the forces guarding Arica, knowing that the port was already lost. Pierola's deputy Del Solar sent Col. Pacheco Cespedes to Arica in order to communicate the decision taken to abandon the city, but he never arrived to its destination, due to the Chilean troops movement in the area[2].

After the Chilean forces started to evolve to Arica, Bolognesi's troops were completely isolated. A cavalry vangard captured the engineer Teodoro Elmore who was mining the northern edge of Lluta river, with the intention of blow them up when the Chilean army were passing through. With his capture, the Chilean army knew the position of the mine fields and made it safely to Arica surroundings.

[edit] Peruvian forces

The Peruvian garrison at the port consisted of 1,903 men - 29 Chiefs, 223 officers and 1,651 soldiers. The defensive batteries at the cape were divided into three groups: East, North and South. As the northern group were known the batteries at the town level: Santa Rosa (1 Vavasseur cannon with a 5 km range), San José (1 Vavasseur and a Pairot with also a 5 km range), and Dos de Mayo (1 Vavasseur). This group of cannons were led by Medardo Cornejo. The east group had seven Voruz cannons, protected by a sand trench; commanded by Juan Aillón and finally the southern group, led by Juan Guillermo Moore had eight cannons (6 Voruz, one Pairot and one Vavasseur), adding up a total of nineteen cannons[2].

The infantry posted here were the 7th and 8th divisions. The 7th Division has three battalions: Artesanos de Tacna, Granaderos de Tacna and Cazadores de Piérola; the 8th had two units: the Tarapacá and Iquique battalions. The soldiers had mostly Chassepots rifles, providing lesser firepower than the Chilean weapons[3].

[edit] Chile

[edit] Chilean situation

After suffering heavy losses at the battle at Tacna, the Chilean command realized the need of a port in the area to resupply the troops and to evacuate the wounded. 4.500 men were sent to Arica, meanwhile another 9.000 were posted at Tacna and it's surroundings, forming a barrier impossible to brake for the forces of the Leiva's Second Southern Army of 2.000 soldiers, which even adding the remaining forces of Montero wouldn't reach 6.000 men, having no artillery support whatsoever.

[edit] Chilean forces

After Tacna, the Chilean army kept it's position at the outskirts of the city for a few days. This positioning didn't allow the Peruvians to reinforce the garrison at Arica or communicate the order to leave the port. Leaving here the most damaged units, Gen. Baquedano decided to send a fraction of the army under the command of Colonel Pedro Lagos, formed by the "Buin" 1st Line Regt of Col. Luis José Ortíz, the 3rd Line Regt. led by Col. Ricardo Castro and Sargeant Major Juan José San Martín's 4th Line Regt, the Bulnes Battalion, the Carabineros de Yungay Cavalry Regt and four artillery batteries; taking under consideration the low cassualties sostained by this units in the previous battle[1]. The infantry had been equipped with the Comblain and Gras rifles. The Chileans massed up 5.000 soldiers with the late arrival of the Lautaro Battalion[3].

[edit] The battle

[edit] Chilean battleplans

After the Battle of Tacna, Col. Pedro Lagos had been given orders by the Chilean high command and by General Manuel Baquedano to take the Peruvian port of Arica at any cost. He was left to decide on his own the way to do it, so Lagos decided on a frontal assault with only 4,000 infantry, divided into three groups.

“ This attack will not be made trotting, lads. Has to be performed on the run. The enemy must be surprised and forced to surrender before the powerful mines at the Cape explode... ”

—Colonel Pedro Lagos[4]

The targets were the 3 main defenses of the city: the East fort, the Ciudadela (Citadel) fort and finally the Cape fort. The Ciudadela fort was to be taken by the 3rd Line Regiment with the "Buin" 1st Line Regt. in reserve. The East fort would be attacked by the 4th Line Regiment. Col. Lagos was initially reluctant to attack Arica directly fearing excessive bloodshed, thus he asked for the surrender of his opponent an Francisco Bolognesi, an italo-Peruvian veteran brougth out of retierment when the war broke out. Lagos' pleas fell on deaf ears when Bolognesi replied that he would not surrender until he had fired his last shot. Subsequently both sides perpared for battle.

[edit] Peruvian battleplans

The Peruvian force obviously hadn't much choice but to wait for the attack on their defenses. Acknowledging that the garrison had no choice but to make the impending Chilean victory as hard as they could.

“ ...we thought in any way in order to make the victory as difficult as we could. We had the expectation of forcing them to have the laurels of victory among fields of bodies, oceans of blood... ”

—Jose Sanchez Largomarsino, Commander of the Manco Capac ironclad[5]

The entire city was mined in order to inflict as many cassualties as these gadgets could explode while the Chilean army was passing through. The engineer Elmore made a study of the terrain determining the soil resistance in order to make 3 galleries where the land mines were planted.

“ ...five series on the right flank; seven on the left flank; four on the center. Each series had ten charges, each charge of ten kgs. of dinamite. In the city were several distributed by section. Under the park were the Bulnes Battalion stood for so long existed an extense one having 30 quintals of dinamite. This was ment to blow up the entire city... ”

—Engeneer Teodoro Elmore[5]

[edit] The assault

Using the darkness of the night, the 3rd Line and 4th Line regiments marched towards the Azapa valley and to their objectives. The Peruvian sentries on the Ciudadela fort saw the Chilean deployment and started to fire at the soldiers moving to them. The 3rd Line Regt. ran to the fort and took it on a hand to hand combat. The defenders were very quickly defeated and vanquished. The use of land mines made the assaulting force furious and took no prisoners. Only the action of the officers prevented a total annihilation of the Peruvian troops.

“ ... I'd rather not to remember. They abuse of their numbers, playing with their corvos and bayonets; they blind themselves as raging bulls; I have no words... ”

—Juan Sanchez, gunner of the East fort[5]

On the East fort happened exactly the same thing, this stronghold was taken by the 4th Line Regt., also outnumbering and obbliterating the defending troops on a frontal charge. The remaining defenders then retreated to their main defense up the cape, fighting back and trying to reorganize their lines. At this point, Colonel Lagos idea was to wait for reinforcements of the Buin Regiment before finally storming the Cape fort.

Nevertheless, an unidentified soldier shouted "¡Al morro muchachos!" ("To the Cape, boys!"), causing the mass assault. The Chilean officers had nothing to do but to follow their soldiers in a frenetic race for the summit. The infantry had to run up the hill facing the Peruvian men commanded by Colonel Bolognesi. Quickly the Chilean assault degenerated into a confusing pandemonium marked with the explosion of mines placed by the Peruvian defenders. The defenders were overran and annihilated. Col. Bolognesi's plan was to blow up his gunpowder reserves when the Chileans reached the morro thus causing massive casualties among the Chileans. (hilltop). However he was unable to do this and perished gallantly in combat together with most of his men.

The final assault was directed by the Commander of the 4th Line Regiment, Major Juan Jose San Martín (who died in battle) and Sergeant Major Felipe Solo de Zaldívar who was the first to reach the summit.

[edit] Aftermath

Chileans taking possession of Arica Cape after the battle
Chileans taking possession of Arica Cape after the battle

The Chileans won the battle and Colonel Bolognesi was killed. Some other high ranking Peruvian officers who also perished were Colonel Alfonso Ugarte (who purportedly jumped on his horse off the cliff down into the underlying Pacific Ocean to prevent the capture of the Peruvian flag by Chilean forces), and Colonel Mariano Bustamante, his Chief of Detail. These three Peruvian officers belonged to the group that on the eve of the battle had gallantly rejected an offer to surrender the garrison to the Chilean army, and prompted Colonel Bolognesi to vow to the Chilean emissary that he was to defend the garrison to the last shot.

Another very high ranking officer who survived the battle and its aftermath was Lieutenant Colonel Roque Saenz Peña, a volunteer officer of the Peruvian Army, who later went on to become President of Argentina.

The feat of capturing the port was heroic, but it was marred by the lack of Chilean control over the assaulting troops, that led to a widespread killing of the surviving and surrendered Peruvian soldiers and the citizens of the already captured city, which was looted.

Looking down from the cape
Looking down from the cape

With the fall of the city, the ironclad Manco Cápac found herself short on supplies and with the nearest friendly port four days away at Callao. Faced with an impossible trip she was scuttled to prevent her capture by the Chilean military.

Since the Morro de Arica was the last bulwark of defence for the allied troops standing in the city, its occupation by Chile has been of utmost historical relevance for both countries. The city to this day remains part of Chile, and is a constant symbol of friction with its neighbors Peru and Bolivia (whose main port remains to date part of Chilean territory).

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Mellafe, Rafael; Pelayo, Mauricio (2004). La Guerra del Pacífico en imágenes, relatos... testimonios. Centro de Estudios Bicentenario. 
  2. ^ a b Basadre, Jorge. La verdadera epopeya. Retrieved on 2008.
  3. ^ a b Ojeda, Jorge. Batalla de Arica. Retrieved on 2008.
  4. ^ Juan Carlos Valenzuela Bravo. Arica, the hell that it could be. Retrieved on 2008.
  5. ^ a b c "El Ferrocarril" newspaper, June 25, 1880

[edit] References

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