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The Battle of Tarapacá occurred on November 27, 1879, during the Tarapacá Campaign of the War of the Pacific. A Chilean column of 2,300 soldiers led by General Luis Arteaga recklessly attacked an outnumbering Peruvian contingent of 4,500 troops at Tarapacá commanded by Gen Juan Buendía, resulting in a harsh defeat. The Chilean 2nd Line Regiment was the most damaged unit, losing almost half of its force, along with its commander Col. Eleuterio Ramírez and his second in command, Lt. Col. Bartolomé Vivar. Also, the unit lost its banner, which was recovered six months later after the battle of Tacna. Despite the victory, the Allies could not contest for the domination of the Tarapacá department, abandoning it to Chilean control. ==Background== Following a significant defeat at Dolores dwell inflicted by an outnumbered Chilean contingent; which cost the Allies all their artillery, the remnants of the Peruvian army were scattered all across the desert, demoralized and almost leaderless.〔La Guerra del Pacífico en imágenes, relatos, testimonios, p. 245〕 Suárez’s soldiers marched to Tarapacá, the former administrative Peruvian capital of the department, to join Buendía. Buendía’s army gathers at Tarapacá once reunited by Suárez, after marching across the inclement dessert. When Buendía arrived to Tarapacá, dispatched emissaries to gather more fugitives, so, a few days later, his troops grew up to 2,000 men, and on the 26, Rios’ division arrived from Iquique with supplies, apart from the food and water already existing at Tarapacá. In the end, 4,500 soldiers were stationed at Tarapacá. Meanwhile all of this events occurred, and acknowledging that a column of exhausted Peruvians under Buendía had stopped near the town of Tarapacá to rest and regain strength, Lt. Col. José Francisco Vergara asked Gen. Arteaga to dispatch a reconnaissance force to find out enemy's condition and to inspect the route. Hence, Arteaga dispatched under Vergara’s command a party of 270 men of the Zapadores Regiment, 2 artillery pieces, 115 riders of the Cazadores a Caballo Cavalry Regiment on November 24. Vergara’s column took the road to Dibujo, camping at about from Tarapacá.〔Historia del Ejército de Chile, p. 278〕 Later, Arteaga was informed that the Peruvian numbers were greater than expected, so he sent another column made up of the 2nd Line and Artillería de Marina regiments, the Chacabuco Battalion, 30 more Cazadores a Caballo riders and another artillery battery.〔Historia del Ejército de Chile, p. 279〕 Next day, Chilean sentries of the vanguard division captured an Argentinean muleteer, who reports only 1,500 men at the town, and Vergara asks Arteaga for instructions creating great anxiety among Chilean High Command and troops. However, the latter soundly underestimated the battle capabilities of the Allies, and did not prepare properly, carrying an insufficient amount of food, water and ammunition,〔 with serious consequences later on. Vergara, as the same as Arteaga did, gave no importance to supply his troops properly, even more, instead of waiting for the reinforcements to arrive advances over Tarapacá. Both divisions reunited on the noon of the 26 at Isluga, after Vergara made a reconnaissance of the Peruvian troops. When he did so, saw the arrival of Rios’ division, which were in poor condition, giving him the wrong idea of the Allies were demoralized and weary, besides believing there were only 2,500 soldiers.〔Historia del Ejército de Chile, p. 281〕 After both divisions gathered, Arteaga assumed the command. His forces added up 2,281 men, only half of Buendía’s final contingent. His soldiers were like he thought the Allies were, extremely exhausted and thirsty. Only that day, the Chileans marched for nine hours, totalizing 30 hours of marches across burning sands with no food or water, leading to diminishing the soldiers fighting capabilities leaving them no condition of presenting battle at all. But since they were at from the nearest font of supplies at Dolores, Arteaga realized that their only salvation was to attack. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Tarapacá」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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