page_title: Battle of Yatay
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Yatay / Battle
caption_attribution_description: Português: Derrota dos paraguaios em Yatahy.
context_page_description: In the Paraguayan War, the Battle of Yatay was fought on August 17, 1865 between the troops of the Triple Alliance and the soldiers of Paraguay near Paso de los Libres, Corrientes, Argentina.
  The Battle of Yatay was the first major land battle of the Paraguayan War, and most important of the war's second phase.
context_section_description: Both the Yatay and Uruguay rivers had recently flooded, leaving much of the battlefield underwater. Most Paraguayan infantry forces were entrenched among trees and ditches in the area of the nearby village estates and protected by mud that covered the frontal approach, but the stream behind them made it impossible to retreat in case of a defeat, which was considered very likely by Duarte.
  Duarte's forces consisted of 1,980 infantry and 1,020 cavalry, with no artillery. The Allies had a total of 5,550 infantry, 5,000 cavalry and 32 pieces of artillery. Among the leaders of the allied army were experienced commanders Flores and Paunero, Lion Palleja, Ignacio Rivas, Enrique Castro and José Gregorio Suárez and Argentines Juan Bautista Charlone, José Miguel Arredondo, José Giribone Ignacio Segovia, Joaquin Viejobueno, Leopoldo Nelson, Simeon Paiva and Madariaga.
  The battle began at 10:00 am, with an early attack on the Paraguayan positions by the Palleja Infantry Division. Duarte seized the opportunity and countered with almost all his cavalry, causing hundreds of casualties and forcing them to retreat. Faced with an increasingly bad situation, the cavalry division of Segovia attacked the Paraguayan cavalry, supported by Castro's eastern and Suarez. For two hours the battle was fought exclusively with cavalry.
  Duarte ordered a withdrawal maneuver, which finally enabled the allied infantry to go into action, and although their (the allies) numerical superiority was overwhelming, the Paraguayans fought with tenacity. When the battle was almost lost, Duarte tried a desperate cavalry charge, and in the fight his horse was killed. Paunero himself demanded that Duarte surrender, which he finally agreed to do.
  A final Paraguayan force of infantry under Lt. Zorrilla crossed the Yatay stream and was attacked by a cavalry unit of Suarez and Madariaga, who attacked from the rear. A few hundred Paraguayan soldiers swam the Uruguay River, while the rest were killed or taken prisoner. In total they suffered 1.500 dead and 1,600 prisoners, including 300 wounded.
caption: Defeat of Paraguayans at Yatay.
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