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Battle of Arica
The Battle of Arica or the assault and capture of the Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), took place on June 7, 1880, between the forces of Chile and Peru. The Chileans were led by Coronel Pedro Lagos, while the defending Peruvian forces were under the command of Colonel Francisco Bolognesi.
Naval Bombardment
On February 27 the chilean Navy began bombarding the city's defenses in preparation for the ground attack. The chilean Huascar fought an ongoing and inconclusive duel with the remaining Peruvian ironclad, the Manco Capac. Though outclassed, the Peruvian monitor managed to hold the chilean fleet at bay for 4 months, until the chilean Army closed in on the city from the rear.
The Battle
After the Battle of Tacna, Colonel 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. The targets were the 3 main defenses of the city: the East fort, the Ciudadela (Citadel) fort and finally the Cape fort. The East fort was to be taken by the 3 de Linea regiment with the Buin regiment in reserve. The Ciudadela fort would be attacked by the 4 de Linea regiment. Colonel 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. Subsecuently both sides perpared for battle.
The Peruvian defenders at these first two forts, where caught by surprise by an early morning raid, were very quickly defeated and vanquished. The remaining Peruvian defenders then retreated towards their main defense, up the cape, bravely fighting back and trying to reorganize their lines. At that 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!"' , causing the mass assault. Chilean infantry had to run up the hill facing the allied men commanded by Colonel Bolognesi. Quickly the Chilean assault degenerated into a a confusing pandemonium marked with the explosion of mines placed by the Peruvian defenders. Colonel 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 Chilean assault was directed by Major Juan Jose San Martin (who died in battle) and Sergeant Major Felipe Solo de Zaldivar who was the first to reach the summit.
Aftermath
The Chileans won the battle and Coronel 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 Coronel Roque Saenz Pena, 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.
With the fall of the city, the ironclad Manco Capac 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 his neighboors Peru and Bolivia (whose main port remains to date part of chilean territory)
See also
War of the Pacific
References
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Battle of Arica
