First Battle of Nanawa 1933
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 20 January 1933 – 26 January 1933 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1933 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Interwar (1919–1938) | derived from year |
| Location | Paraguay | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | South America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Chaco War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | -23.4583, -59.7222 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The First Battle of Nanawa was fought from 20 to 26 January 1933 between the Bolivian and Paraguayan armies during the Chaco War. Nanawa (Enxet for "carob tree forest"), established by the Paraguayans in 1928, was considered the strongest Paraguayan outpost after it was heavily fortified by the end of 1932 under directives of Ivan Belaieff and Nicolas Ern, two White Russian former officers who joined the Paraguayan army in the 1920s. Zig-zag trenches, barbed wire and machine gun nests were built by the garrison around a horseshoe-shaped defence. Nanawa's commander, Col. Luis Irrazábal, summoned under his command four regiments and several minor units which made up the Paraguayan fifth division. The commander-in-chief of the Bolivian army, German World War I veteran Hans Kundt, commanded the Bolivian assault personally in place. The Bolivian army launched three attacks that stalled after seizing some parts of the stronghold. After this failure, the Bolivian troops attempted to dig a trench around the Nanawa complex to isolate it but were met by Paraguayan reinforcements. Heavy rains forced the Bolivians to abandon what they had captured of the complex and the Paraguayans soon recovered these positions.
The Bolivian troops did not leave the area after the costly attempt but fortified themselves in a semicircle around the Paraguayan trenches.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of Nanawa (revision 1370618824), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Second Battle of Nanawa 1933 · 0 km
- Battle of Gondra 1933 · 23 km
- Battle of Kilometer 7 1932 · 30 km
- Battle of Campo Grande 1933 · 66 km
- Battle of Boquerón (1932) 1932 · 79 km
- Battle of Cañada Strongest 1934 · 266 km
Other battles of the Chaco War
- Battle of Boquerón (1932) 1932
- Battle of Campo Grande 1933
- Battle of Gondra 1933
- Second Battle of Nanawa 1933
- Battle of Cañada Strongest 1934
- Battle of Ingavi (1935) 1935
All 7 battles of the Chaco War →
Browse more: battles in Paraguay · South America · Interwar battles