How Cossacks Saved Paraguay.

In the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin, there is a book with records of those who fell in battle, which states: "Russian citizen, Kuban region, Petrovskaya stanitsa, Cossack Ivan Kononovich Matviychenko." However, this church is far from Petrovskaya, as our fellow countryman died defending Paraguay's independence in Latin America.

The Chaco War, the largest and bloodiest conflict in the recent history of South America, is known to only a few researchers. It is a pity that the active participation of Kuban, Don, and other Cossacks in it has been forgotten. How did they end up in a distant country on the other hemisphere?

The Civil War in Russia forced them to leave their homeland. After the defeat of the Whites, tens of thousands of Russians emigrated in search of a better life. They were not welcomed in Europe, but Latin America was interested in their colonization experience: Paraguay, Peru, Brazil, and other countries needed to develop the jungles.

Emigrant I.T. Belyaev, a former White general, received permission from the president of Paraguay to create Russian settlements to improve the economy. Thousands of compatriots responded to his call. Cossacks were attracted by the fact that they were accepted without exams, allowed to wear uniforms, carry weapons, and maintain self-governance. By 1922, the first Cossack settlement appeared in Paraguay. Newspapers even reported that an English expedition encountered an Indian tribe, whose chief turned out to be a Russian Cossack from the Terek.

When Bolivia attacked Paraguay in 1932, the government turned to the Russians for help, as the country had no regular army. Hostilities unfolded in the Chaco province, rich in oil. About three thousand Cossacks and White officers served in the Paraguayan army, while the officer corps of Bolivia was mainly composed of German veterans of World War I. Lieutenant General Nikolai Stogov wrote that Russian emigrants made a significant contribution to Paraguay's military affairs.

Russian officers helped transform Paraguayan peasants into a real army. European journalists loved to photograph barefoot Indians in German uniforms with Austrian rifles, singing songs of the Russian imperial army.

Bolivians relied on numerical and technical superiority, but their offensive soon faltered. Tanks got stuck in swamps, and bombers failed to succeed, dropping bombs on camouflaged palm trees. Guerrilla units of Paraguayans, led by Cossacks, terrorized the Bolivian rear. Cavalry attacks led by Cossacks instilled terror in superstitious soldiers. The first senior officer of Paraguay to die in battle was Cossack Vasily Fedorovich Orefyev-Serebryakov, who fell during the assault on Fort Boquerón.

One of the cities in Paraguay is named after Captain Serebryakov. In the battle near Paso Favorito, the centurion Malyutin was killed, and a street in the capital of Paraguay is named after him. Captain Blinoff Street in Asunción is a memory of Cossack Nikolai Blinov. Nothing is known about the fate of Ivan Kononovich Matviychenko.

The war ended with a complete defeat of Bolivia, claiming the lives of forty thousand Paraguayans and Russian volunteers. Three times more Bolivians died. The Russian community in Paraguay has survived and holds significant influence. Paraguayans call them "rusos blancos" and remember their contribution to the country's history.