The Chaco War 1932–35: South America’s greatest modern conflict (Men-at-Arms, 474)

Everyone interested in this subject absolutely should own this book! Anyone who is familiar with Osprey's Men-at-Arms series knows exactly what this book looks and reads like. These are general overviews with a high percentage of the book dedicated to lots of small b&w photographs and a few pages of large full-color artistic plates.This short book is 48 pages, with 8 pages of color plates and 4 pages of plate commentaries. There is a 1-page index and short 1-page bibliography, that lists only 2 books written in English and the rest written in Spanish. The book is divided into the following sections: Introduction, Paraguayan Forces (including a section on the Navy), Bolivian Forces, Military Operations (which breaks the war into 3 phases: 7/32-12/33, 1/34-12/34, and 12/34-6/35, with a 1/2-page insert on the Mennonite Colonies), Weapons (broken out by Infantry, Artillery, and Armored vehicles), Air War (divided into Combat operations, General air support, Naval air operations, and Wartime procurement), and Foreign Involvement.This is probably the single best book in English that is both readily available and inexpensive. It may not be very deep but it is very broad, covering pretty much every significant aspect of the war except for the home fronts. That alone makes it a must buy for anyone interested in this fascinating confict. All of the other primary books in English are either out of print (e.g., Zook), very expensive (e.g., English's recent The Green Hell or Farcau's book from the 1990s), or limited to a single aspect of the conflict (e.g., Hagendorn & Sapienza's Aircraft of the Chaco War). Other than this book, the material on Wikipedia is the rest of the best readily available in English.The worst flaw of this book is that there is only a single 1-page map, in b&w. The map is decent, but it fails to fully complement the text as many places named in the text are not shown on the map. The map does show positions as they generally existed at the start of the war, 11/15/34, 1/18/35, and 3/1/35. But the map fails to show either final positions or the current legal boundary between the two countries. The text really needs at least a 2nd map showing the extensive activity in 1935 at the western end of the area, where Paraguayan forces cross over into Bolivia proper. Would've been best to have had one dedicated map for each of the 3 phases of military operations discussed in the text.The book would've benefitted from some more detail about the weapons involved, esp. drawings and specifications of the primary airplanes and details about the two major Paraguayan naval combatants (e.g., size, weapons). The text also should've better explained the order of battle for the respective Corps formed after the start of the war (e.g., how many and which divisions/regiments were in each Corps); there is only an OOB for the start of the war before the Corps were formed.

Of Osprey's 1500 titles, some are superb; some are so grotesquely inaccurate they make one wonder if Osprey employs editors. Most are in between, and this volume is no exception - a solid 3-star. The text is undistinguished, has typos and sometimes doesn't clearly present the sequence of events. Much of the weapons data is just plain wrong - for example, the standard caliber of both sides was 7.65x53mm, though others were used (Erroneous wpns data is common in Ospreys) - and the bibliography omits the 3 most important sources in English - Zook, Farcau, and Estigarribia. On the other hand, the concise introduction is good, and the b&w photos are excellent. The book's greatest asset is its availablity. Otherwise, a student will have to depend on a major library; a summary might be helpful. The standard account in English, and for many years the only one, is David H. Zook's Conduct of the Chaco War (1960). It divides each chapter between events on the battlefield and the concurrent political developments. Zook is fair and balanced but describes the war mainly from the Paraguayan point of view. His book's greatest asset is 2 dozen maps, worth photocopying. Bruce Fracau lived in Bolivia and used mainly Bolivian sources. His The Chaco War (1996) is fair, but told mainly from Bolivia's perspective. Farcau concentrates on battlefield events and is sometimes hard to follow. The book has only one map, a small b&w reproduction of a large map, originally in color, from a 1991 article by the same author in Command Magazine. This article is good if it can be obtained; I cannot evaluate the war game based on it. The 3rd general history is The Green Hell (2007) by Adrian English. It strives for comprehensiveness, but is the least readable of the 3. It is long on Order of Battle information and short on anecdotes and narrative descriptions, making it read like a series of unit lists. It does incorporate air and naval operations, and it is lavishly illustrated with maps and photos. Marshal Estigarribia's memoirs were published in English in 1950, reprinted 1993. They deal mainly with the politics of the war and issues of the high command. Hagedorn's Aircraft of the Chaco War (1997) is an aviation buff's dream, loaded with photos and technical data. But it is organized by aircraft type and gives only a sketchy overall view of the war and even of the air operations. There are bits and pieces of Chaco War information in other books that are not direct histories, such as the works of Augusto Roa Bastos, himself a Chaco veteran (e.g his novel, Son of Man). At present, the internet offers a wealth of articles of highly variable quality and accuracy. Wikipedia now offers several tactical maps posted by a contributor, their ultimate origin unknown. Most sites have photos. The careful student might note that pictures don't lie, but photo captions often do! I should also note that figures - casualties, unit strengths, etc.- vary considerably among even the most reliable sources. Also, I have visited Paraguay, seen the terrain, and examined some of the surviving weapons from the standpoint of a military officer.

A major South American war, unknown to most U.S. readers, gets some coverage thanks to this Osprey Men-at-Arms Series book, "The Chaco War 1932-35". Bolivia and Paraguay battled for control of a vast wasteland in the interior of South America, thought to possess petroleum reserves. The conflict was a bloody one, generating an estimated quarter million casualties. The conflict was notable for the first use of some modern weaponry in South America.Alejandro De Quesada gets the writing credit, with assistance from Philip Jowett. The book opens with an introduction to the conflict, followed by brief descriptions of the forces of each, and an extended narrative of the military operations. The narrative touches the respective weapons used by the two sides. The text is nicely supported by period and modern photographs and by some nice color plates of uniforms by illustrator Ramiro Bujeiro. For some reason, only one primitive map is included, which makes it hard to follow the description of the fighting. Recommended as a decent introduction to an overlooked war.

insofar as it goes,this is a decent little tome but the subject matter is in no way satisfactorally covered by this book.the osprey MAA series usually cover uniforms in the main,this covers both the uniforms and the course of the conflict and,with the brevity of the books in the MAA series,it only briefly touches on both.this war is barely covered in the english language and if ever a subject could have done with the 96 odd pages of an osprey campaign title,this is it.the book as it is is neither one thing or the other and is a massive missed opportunity for osprey to give a decent,well mapped overview of this conflict

If you are interested in finding out more about the history of this obscure conflict then this is a great place to start, the basic history is very well written with useful levels of information, but if you want to know what the soldiers looked like on the battlefield it is a little disappointing. The quality of the artwork is excellent but the Osprey editor has failed (once again) to realy think about what most people want to know. There is only one colour plate of a Paraguayan soldier in the field, but a whole page on their ceremonial dress! The Bolivians are a bit better covered but you will get more information from the internet than what this book offers, but still worth it for the writing!

A concise account of the conflict, and the usual creditable description of the combatants and their arms. This is a good introduction for anyone who has not come across this obscure, but lethal war before.

These books have been doing exactly what they say they do for donkey's years and doing them exceptionally well. There's not a lot out there on the Chaco War and this tells you plenty within the constraints of this style of book.

A good primer for the Chaco War. For a more detailed look you would need Farcau or Adrian English's books.Some interesting photos & the plates are decent.