Knowing they were not at an advantage in terms of manpower, and following the advice of the Larasian officer corps, José Félix Estigarribia decided to launch a preemptive counteroffensive against the Bolivian army in the Northern Chaco region, in order to establish dominance in the war.
On August 17, 1931, José Félix Estigarribia led over 25,000 Paraguayan soldiers in a full-scale counteroffensive along a front line that stretched for more than 70 kilometers against the Bolivian army.
José Félix Estigarribia's plan was to take the entire Chaco region by capitalizing on the consecutive defeats of the Bolivian army before their reinforcements could arrive, thereby securing the war advantage for Paraguay.
What neither side had anticipated was that this offensive would last even longer than the war had up to that point, indirectly causing both nations to deplete their vital forces entirely.
