v.1.0 September 16, 2001

The terms of the Chaco War Armistice required the reduction of both field armies to 5,000 men within a space of 90 days. Paraguay accomplished this in less than a month by reducing her Army to 3 Divisions, comprising 5 regiments of infantry and a single regiment each of cavalry, artillery and engineers, or more or less the same force as had existed in 1931.

After the demobilization of July 1935 the Army in the Chaco was deployed along the line of separation between the Paraguayan and Bolivian armies, as follows:

D.I. 1: comprising R.I. 2 DOS DE MAYO & R.I. 4 CURUPATY

D.I. 2: comprising R.I. 1 YTORORO & R.I. 3 CORRALES

D.I. 6: comprising R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ & R.C. 1 VALOIS RIVAROLA

R.A. 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ and R.Z. 1 GENERAL AQUINO remained as army level units. In addition to these forces there was also an independent group of cavalry covering the Pilcomayo River, in the south-west.

Immediately after the victory parade in Asunción, on August 22^nd_, in which 10,000 troops, representative of every element of the army which had fought in the Chaco, took part, the remaining units were demobilized and reduced to reserve status.

For a brief period there appeared to be no major combat unit of the Army deployed east of the Paraguay river. However, although hostilities between Paraguay and Bolivia were still, in theory, only suspended, by February 1936 R.I. 4 CURUPATY was providing security at the major military installation of Campo Grande, 9 kms north of Asunción. It took part in the Febrerista revolution by disgruntled Chaco War veterans which placed Colonel Rafael Franco in the presidency for an uneasy 18 months. R.I. 2 DOS DE MAYO was presumably still in the Chaco as D.I. 1 certainly continued to exist. D.I. 6 was certainly still at Capirendá and its Commander, Colonel Carlos Fernández, supported the Government and submitted his resignation as soon as the Revolution was seen to be a fait accompli. Although it was not involved in military operations during the relatively bloodless Revolution, D.I. 6 appears to have been disbanded and R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ seems to have been reduced to reserve status although R.C. 1 VALOIS RIVAROLA appears to have been re-deployed to Campo Grande where it replaced R.I. 4 CURUPATY and formed the nucleus of a Cavalry Division. R.I. 4 CURUPATY appears to have returned to the Chaco and for some time there seem to have been no infantry units in the vicinity of Asunción.

Thus, for a brief period, the Paraguayan Army was further reduced to two infantry and the nucleus of a cavalry division comprising 4 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery regiments and a single battalion of engineers with a total strength of 299 officers and 4,090 other ranks.

During 1937, the Cavalry Division, which now included R.C. 2 CORONEL TOLEDO, formed on the basis of the independent cavalry group in the Chaco had been temporarily re-located to Villa Hayes as it was considered politically unreliable by the Franco government. This suspicion was vindicated when it led the revolt which removed Colonel Franco from power in August 1937 after which it returned to Campo Grande, where it has remained ever since,

By November 1937 R.I. 3 CORRALES (probably together with the remainder of D.I. 2) was at Concepción. Following the Peace Treaty of July 21^st 1938, if not before, R.A. 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ and R.Z. 1 GENERAL AQUINO were also transferred to eastern Paraguay. R.A, 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ was originally located at Villa Hayes but at the end of February 1940 it was transferred to Paraguarí, where it has remained.

The Paraguayans had purchased limited quantities of additional arms during the war but had captured enormous amounts of material of all kinds from the Bolivians. They now found themselves with a vast arsenal including 39,000 usable rifles, 900 sub-machine-guns, 700 heavy and 2,100 light machine-guns, almost 100 mortars, 50 pieces of artillery and two tanks. Of these, 7,119 rifles, 233 light and 85 heavy machine-guns, 7 obsolete mountain guns and one of the tanks were sold in 1937, the remaining tank being converted into a war memorial at Asuncion.

Apart from the reactivation of R.I. 1 14 CERRO CORA, at Asunción, and the creation of a Signals Regiment, so that the Army now consisted of two infantry and one cavalry divisions comprising 5 infantry, 3 cavalry, 1 artillery, 1 engineer and 1 signals regiments, no major changes in its composition and deployment seem to have occurred during the next seven years.

The Paraguayan Army entered a period of virtual stagnation during the 1940s, some M1903 Springfield rifles and M1917 Browning machine-guns being received as token Lend Lease aid in exchange for the offer of air base facilities to the United States during World War II.

Little new equipment was acquired in the immediate post-war period, apart from some Madsen M-46 sub-machine-guns, purchased from Denmark. The Air Force however became an independent service in 1946.

Paraguay's signature of the Rio Treaty of 1947 also had little immediate effect, other than the delivery of some M1 Garand rifles from the U.S.A.

 The Paraguayan civil war of 1947, which lasted for five months - from early April to the beginning of August - was between the strange mix of insurgents referred to as Febreristas (nearest local equivalent to Nazis!), the traditional (pro Argentine and not very) "Liberal" Party and the Communists, supported by the Chaco garrisons of the Army and part of the Navy and Air Force on one side and the more-or-less democratically elected (but increasingly dictatorial) administration of General Higinio Morinigo, supported by part of the armed forces and the Colorado (pro Brazilian conservative nationalist) party.

On the outbreak of the 1947 civil war the Army thus consisted of the following formations:

D.I. 1 (HQ Camacho): with R.I. 2 DOS DE MAYO & R.I. 4 CURUPATY

D.I. 2 (HQ Concepción): with R.I. 1 YTORORO & R.I. 3 CORRALES

D.C. 1 (HQ Campo Grande): with R.C. 1 VALOIS RIVAROLA, R.C. 2 GENERAL TOLEDO & R.C. 3 CORONEL MONGELOS

In addition there was an independent infantry regiment at Asuncion: R.I. 1 14 CERRO CORA; a group of cavalry in the southern Chaco, which was subordinate to D.C. 1,; R.A. 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ (Paraguarí), R.Z. 1 GENERAL AQUINO (Asunción) and the signals regiment at Asunción. The infantry regiments each contained two battalions whilst the artillery regiment had a single active group, the engineer and signals regiments each having only a single battalion.

The civil war was precipitated by the revolt of D.I. 1 and D.I. 2, supported by most of the Navy, part of the Air Force and a bizarre and improbable alliance of the "Febrerista" followers of Colonel Franco, the Liberal party and the largely Communist labour unions.

As ground troops, the government was thus left with only the three cavalry regiments of D.C. 3 (R.C. 1, R.C. 2 and R.C. 3), R.I. 14, R.A. 1, R.Z. 1 and the Signals Regiment and to make up the deficit initially formed the 1^st Army Corps (C.E. I) made up of an infantry and a cavalry division. These were:

D.I. 3 comprising R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ & R.I. 6 BOQUERON

D.C. 2 with R.C. 4 ACA CARAYA & R.C. 5 ACA VERA

The mobilization of R.I. 7 VEINTICUATRO DE MAYO was also authorized (as part of D.I. 3) but apparently not implemented. R.C. 6 GENERAL CABALLERO, B.Z. 1 GENERAL AQUINO and B.Z. 4 AQUIDABAN were however mobilized in due course.

During the civil war there also existed a 2^nd Army Corps (C.E. II) and a 3^rd Cavalry Division (D.C. 3) in addition to three brigades. All of these formations were of variable and transient composition and ceased to exist with the triumph of the government forces. 

Following the defeat of the uprising, D.I. 1 and D.I. 2 were apparently disbanded and their component units reduced to reserve status. D.I. 3 was also presumably disbanded as its component elements were divided, R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ replacing R.I. 1 YTORORO and R.I. 3 CORRALES in D.I. 2 and R.I. 6 BOQUERON replacing R.I. 2 DOS DE MAYO and R.I. 4 CURUPATY in D.I. 1. R.C. 4 ACA CARAYA, R.C. 5 ACA VERA and R.C. 6 GENERAL CABALLERO also seem to have been disbanded or reduced to reserve status. D.C. 1 therefore seems to have remained the only permanently constituted division-level formation, apart from which there were R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ (Concepción), R.I. 6 BOQUERON (in the Chaco) and R.I. 1 14 CERRO CORA (Asunción), each of which may have constituted the cadre of a mobilization division. R.A. 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ and R.Z. 1 GENERAL AQUINO remained at army level, together with the Signals Regiment.

Since 1908 Paraguay had been divided for administrative and recruiting purposes, into five military regions. In the late 1940s, these were:

Región Militar I (HQ Concepción)

Región Militar II (HQ Paraguarí)

Región Militar III (HQ Pilar)

Región Militar IV (HQ Encarnación)

Región Militar V (HQ Camacho)

Although each Military Region was supposed to contain at least one infantry battalion, this had never been fully implemented, it seems that now each Region which did not contain a larger unit or formation of infantry or cavalry (R.M. III and R.M. IV) was garrisoned by a single independent infantry battalion. The Army thus now consisted of one Cavalry Division (3 regiments), 3 infantry regiments (each of two battalions), at least 2 independent infantry battalions, an artillery regiment, an engineer regiment and a signals regiment.

Although an uneasy peace followed the triumph of the Government forces in the 1947 civil war political instability returned in the early 1950s and on April 4^th, 1954 Army Commander, General Alfredo Stroessner, seized power with the support of the Armed Forces. Stroessner suffered several serious challenges to his regime from disaffected elements of the Armed Forces, mainly during the late 1950s but overcame them all with relative ease and no major changes in the composition or deployment of the Army occurred during this period.

Argentina and Brazil had each begun assiduously to court successive Paraguayan Governments from the early 1950s onwards, both countries presenting quantities of second-hand military equipment to the Paraguayan Army.

Argentina presented two DL-43 Nahuel tanks to Paraguay in 1953, nine Shermans being obtained from the United States in 1969. Brazil also presented a dozen M3A1 Stuart light tanks to Paraguay during the 1960s whilst Argentina followed with three Sherman Fireflies in 1971 and another three, ten years later, the Brazilians also providing about a dozen examples apiece of the M8 armoured car and the M2 half-track APC, both modernized and re-engined with diesel instead of petrol engines, during the late 1970s. With this equipment the Paraguayan Army began a very belated partial mechanization of its cavalry arm.

Argentina also provided Paraguay with numbers of Bofors 75mm L40 Model 1935 field guns, commencing with a six-gun battery in 1970, the Brazilians more recently providing a battery of Vickers Mk V 6 inch mobile coastal guns.

From the mid 1960s onwards, United States military aid also increased, being confined mainly to the provision of transport and communications equipment, although some RCLs and quantities of heavy mortars were also received. The FN FAL rifle also began to be adopted generally during the mid 1970s, gradually replacing the venerable Mauser as the standard small arm.

By the mid 1960s the economic and consequently the strategic importance of the south-east had increased and a new city, known as Puerto Presidente Stroessner, had grown up in the vicinity of Saltos del Guairá. Reflecting this importance, a new Military Region was created in this area so that the country was now divided into six rather than five military regions, as follows:

 RM I (HQ Asunción)

RM II (HQ Villarica)

RM III (HQ San Juan Bautista)

RM IV (HQ Concepción)

RM V (HQ Pto. Stroessner)

Chaco Military Territory (HQ Mariscal Estigarribia – formerly Camacho)

On April 18^th, 1958, the infantry battalion stationed in R.M. II was designated R.I. 27 GENERAL EUGENIO ALEJANDRINO GARAY. This raised the number of permanently embodied infantry regiments to at least four – R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ, R.I. 6 BOQUERON, R.I 14 CERRO CORA and R.I 27 GENERAL GARAY, plus the existing three cavalry, one artillery, one engineer and one signals regiments. There was now also a Presidential Escort Battalion and least two independent infantry battalions existed (in R.M. III and R.M. V).

By 1966 the Chaco Military Territory had been re-designated RM VI. Each of the six Military Regions was now garrisoned by the cadre of an Infantry Division of identical numerical designation, as follows:-

D.I. 1 (HQ Asunción): with R.I. 1 14 CERRO CORA as its major permanent element

D.I. 2 (HQ Vlllarica): with R.I. 2 GENERAL GARAY as its major permanent element

D.I. 3 (HQ San Juan Bautista): with R.I. 8 PIRIBEBUY as its major permanent element

D.I. 4 (HQ Concepción): with R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ as its major permanent element

D.I. 5 (HQ Pto. Stroessner): with R.I. 15 LOMAS VALENTINAS as its major permanent element

D.I. 6 (HQ Mariscal Estigarribia): with R.I. 6 BOQUERON as its major permanent element

At army level there was also still D.C. 1 (HQ Campo Grande, Asunción) with R.C. 1 VALOIS RIVAROLA, R.C. 2 GENERAL TOLEDO, R.C. 3 CORONEL MONGELOS and R.C. 4 ACA CARAYA; the Presidential Escort Battalion which had become a full Regiment; R.A. 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ, R.Z. 1 GENERAL AQUINO and the still unnamed Signal Regiment.

This reorganization involved the resuscitation of the traditional D.I. 1 and D.I. 2 although these were re-numbered D.I. 6 and D.I. 4, respectively and the mobilization of two additional infantry and one cavalry regiments, R.I. 8 PIRIBEBUY, R.I. 15 LOMAS VALENTINAS and R.C. 4 ACA CARAYA, to make a total of at least six permanently embodied infantry and four cavalry regiments. A new type of unit, the frontier battalion, of which there were initially two (No. 1 in RM III and No. 2 in RM V), had begun to appear and replace the independent infantry battalions.

In 1980 two additional Infantry Divisions (D.I. 7, at Campo Jurado and D.I. 8, at Capitán Lagerenza, both in the Chaco) were created and the Army was reorganized into three Army Corps:

C.E. I (HQ Asunción) comprising:

D.I. 1 (HQ Asuncion) with R.I. 1 14 CERRO CORA as its major permanent element

D.I. 3 (HQ San Juan Bautista) with R.I. 8 PIRIBEBUY as its major permanent element

D.C. 1 (HQ Campo Grande) with R.C. 1 VALOIS RIVAROLA, R.C. 2 GENERAL TOLEDO, R.C. 3 CORONEL MONGELOS and R.C. 4 ACA CARAYA as its major elements

C.E. II (HQ Villarica) comprising:

D.I. 2 (HQ Villarica) with R.I. 2 DOS DE MAYO as its major permanent element

D.I. 4 (HQ Concepción) with R.I. 5 GENERAL DIAZ as its major permanent element

D.I. 5 (HQ Pto. Stroessner) with R.I. 1 YTORORO as its major permanent element

C.E. III (HQ Mariscal Estigarribia) comprising:

D.I. 6 (HQ Mcal. Estigarribia) with R.I. 6 BOQUERON as its major permanent element

D.I. 7 (HQ Campo Jurado with R.I. 1 YTORORO0 as its major permanent element

D.I. 8 (HQ Capitán Lagerenza) with R.I. 4 CURUPATY as its major permanent element

 The Presidential Escort Regiment, R.A. 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ and R.Z. 1 GENERAL AQUINO, together with the Signals Regiment, remained as army level units. R.I. 16 MARISCAL LÓPEZ, which although part of D.I 1, on mobilization, functioned normally as an army level garrison unit at the important military centre of Paraguarí, had also been mobilized.

The number of permanently embodied infantry regiments therefore now rose to nine by virtue of the mobilization of R.I. 4 CURUPATY, R.I 10 and R.I. 16 MARISCAL LÓPEZ. There were by now four groups within the single artillery regiment, a similar number of engineer battalions and a single engineer battalion although most of the infantry regiments now had only a single battalion.

 IV 1989 - 1993

On February 3^rd, 1989, after almost 35 years of continuous rule, Stroessner was overthrown by General Andrés Rodríguez. Subsequently, the Army was again reorganized, D.I. 4 being replaced by D.C. 2 and D.I. 5 by D.C. 3. This involved the reduction of R.I. and R.I. to reserve status and the activation of R.C. 5 ACA VERA and R.C. 8 CORONEL DUARTE. C.E.I therefore effectively became a Cavalry Corps whilst D.I. 4 and D.I. 5 were disbanded, D.I. 7, D.I. 8 and D.I. 9 being re-numbered and becoming D.I. 6, D.I. 7 and D.I. 8, respectively.

 This left the order of battle as follows:

C.E. I (HQ Campo Grande):

D.C. 1 ( Campo Grande)

D.C. 2 (Concepción)

D.C. 3 (Curuguayty)

C.E. II (HQ Villarica):

D.I. 2 (HQ Villarica)

D.I. 3 (HQ San Juan Bautista)

C.E. III (HQ Mariscal Estigarribia):

D.I. 4 (HQ Mariscal Estigarribia)

D.I. 5 (HQ Campo Jurado)

D.I. 6 (HQ Capitan Lagerenza)

The number of permanently embodied infantry regiments was now reduced to seven whilst that of cavalry regiments rose to six. By now there were at least 20 frontier units, including at least 11 and possibly as many as 13 infantry battalions. The number of artillery groups within the sole artillery regiment (R.A. 1 GENERAL BRUGUEZ) had also risen from four to six, indicating that each infantry division probably now had an integral artillery group and there was also an A/A artillery group. The number of engineer battalions remained at four and there was still only one signals battalion.

In March 2000, following an abortive coup by elements of D.C. 1, R.C. 2 GENERAL TOLEDO and R.C. 3 CORONEL MONGELOS were re-deployed to the Chaco and Misiones respectively and the HQ of the Cavalry Corps was moved from Campo Grande to Curuguaty leaving the status of the remainder of D.C. 1 (R.C 1 VALOIS