page_title: Passage of Humaitá
section_title: 2.  Extended lines of communication
hierarchical_section_title: Passage of Humaitá / Difficulties facing the Allies / 2.  Extended lines of communication
caption_attribution_description: English: Brazil's lengthy lines of communication with the Fortress of Humaitá 1868
context_page_description: The Passage of Humaitá was an operation of riverine warfare during the Paraguayan War − the most lethal in South American history − in which a force of six Brazilian Navy armoured vessels was ordered to dash past under the guns of the Paraguayan fortress of Humaitá. Some competent neutral observers had considered that the feat was very nearly impossible.
  The purpose of the exercise was to stop the Paraguayans resupplying the fortress by river, and to provide the Empire of Brazil and its Allies with a much-needed propaganda victory. The attempt took place on 19 February 1868 and was successful – the attackers had hit upon the fortress' Achilles heel. It restored the reputation of the Brazilian navy and the Brazilian Empire's financial credit, and caused the Paraguayans to evacuate their capital Asunción. Some authors have considered that it was the turning point or culminating event of the war. The fortress, by then fully surrounded by Allied forces on land or blockaded by water, was captured on 25 July 1868.
context_section_description: Lengthy lines of communication vastly increased the difficulty and cost of the war for Brazil.  According to the American envoy to Paraguay, López had banked on that fact when deciding to make war on the Brazilian Empire in the first place.
  Steam vessels were the only practicable means of communication. Thus in Brazil the overland journey from São Paulo to the Mato Grosso took two and a half months by fast mule; by steamship, although the detour south through the River Plate and up through the River Paraguay was vast, it could be done in little over a fortnight. Tension over this route had been one of the causes of the Paraguayan war.
  Ammunition or other stores shipped from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the naval arsenal at Isla del Cerrito, near the mouth of the river Paraguay, had to travel an extensive water route.
  Vessels requiring to be repaired could not be sent down to Buenos Aires for lack of facilities, and Rio de Janeiro was too far.  Isla del Cerrito ("island of the hillock") was and is a small island at the confluence of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers.  There the navy established a machine shop employing 20 men; a boatyard manned by 50 carpenters, etc; a coal bunker; a gunpowder mill; a naval hospital; and even a church.  Good naval timber required for repairs was harvested locally.
  Because the river was blocked at Humaitá, stores required further north had to go by oxcart convoys on a route flanking Humaitá to the east.  Those convoys were the object of repeated Paraguayan ambushes.
caption: Brazil's long supply lines.  Every round of ammunition had to be transported by sea from Rio de Janeiro 1 to Montevideo, Uruguay 2 then upriver to Corrientes, NE Argentina 3 and thence to the naval base 4 on the River Paraguay − a sailing distance of nearly 3,300 km.
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