| Battle of Iruya | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Tarija War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Peru-Bolivian Confederation |  Argentine Confederation | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Timoteo Raña | Manuel Virto | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 260 [1] | 150–250 [Note 1] [2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
 | |||||||
The Battle of Iruya was a military engagement fought during the Tarija War, in which Manuel Virto attacked Iruya, but after several attempts, he failed to take it and had to withdraw, thus resulting in a Peru-Bolivian victory.
In May 1838, Alejandro Heredia finalized preparations for a counteroffensive to repel the Peru-Bolivian forces occupying parts of Northern Argentina, gathering an army of 3,500 men, organized into three main divisions, with each under the command of its own respective general. [3] Heredia ordered a combined infantry and cavalry corps, commanded by Colonel Manuel Virto, to advance towards Iruya, attacking the Peru-Bolivian garrison, 1,200—1,500 strong, under General Otto Philipp Braun from the rear.
On June 5, 1838, Marshal Andrés de Santa Cruz, in the face of Chilean preparations, tried to open negotiations by sending a letter to Alejandro Heredia and appointed Napoleón Bonetti as a negotiator, but this was an Argentine fugitive who had been declared a traitor and criminal and Heredia confirmed that he was trying to carry out a plan of insurrection against him in northern Argentina, so he did not recognize Bonetti's parliamentary immunity, imprisoned him and sent him to Buenos Aires on August 21, 1838. Braun demanded the release of Bonetti, threatening to restart hostilities, but on October 19 he received a negative response from Heredia, who still considered Bonetti a criminal.
After reorganizing his forces, General Alejandro Heredia prepared to launch an offensive against the troops of Otto Philipp Braun and commissioned Virto with his division to advance towards the mountains of Iruya, in the hands of Colonel Timoteo Raña, to attack the bulk of the Peru-Bolivian army from the rear, preventing their withdrawal in a coordinated pincer movement. The division under the command of General Gregorio Paz had to occupy the border with Tarija and threaten the city of Chuquisaca. [2]
Virto gathered his troops, after requesting Colonel José Segundo Roca to send the Battalion of Voltigeros and some cavalry forces, on June 5, 1838 he left San Andrés heading to Abra de Zenta at the head of the Libertad Battalion. On the way they met with the battalion Restauradores (Colonel Esteban Iriarte) and 50 Infants of Jujuy (Captain Bernardo Lagos), then joined the company of Voltígeros (captain Lorenzo Álvarez). [2]
The forces gathered under the command of Virto and on June 8 they headed for their goal. On June 10, they arrived in the vicinity of Iruya. Virto, for his part, advanced the Baqueans to inform him about the state of the roads and the position of the enemy.
Upon returning, they informed the commander of the Argentine forces "that the roads that existed in the direction of Iruya offered very serious difficulties for the march."
Therefore, he decided not to perform a wrapping maneuver, which meant dividing his forces into two columns. In this way, he decided to keep the whole troop united by marching in one of them.
At dawn on June 11, he set off and stopped about 1,200 meters from Iruya. From there he sent small fractions of troops with the mission of exploration and reconnaissance. When he proved that he was free of enemies, he advanced the vanguard in charge of Commander Ángel Rivas, who would be followed by the bulk of the army. Rivas reported that the enemy's front and flanks were protected by entrenched forces. While the division marched slowly, Virto sent Captain Lorenzo Álvarez as a parliamentarian.
Manuel Virto ordered the vanguard to seize a nearby height, which they did without resistance. When Álvarez returned with the failure of his mission, Virto decided to attack and at 7:30 AM, the initiation of the fire was ordered.
On the morning of June 11, the attack began by deploying the "Libertad" in the center and that of "Restaurators" and the Jujo infantry on the wings. The forces of Virto and Lagos ran over the Bolivian infantry stationed on the road, which fled to Iruya by throwing the weapons. Virto and his men chased them to the parapets and trenches that surrounded the town, where Iriarte's cavalry joined after beating a group of Bolivian infantry.
The Argentine infantry fired their weapons to protect the cavalry and the Company of Grenadiers of the Voltígeros Battalion, who were carrying on the enemy's right flank. Several times the assaults against the enemy's entrenched positions were repeated, without achieving any positive results despite the fact that the risks were greater than the advantages achieved.
However, the pressure of the Argentines' onslaughts was felt and the Bolivian forwards began to retreat to occupy other positions repaired at the rear.
After four hours of combat, Virto understood that the repeated attacks carried out had demanded great efforts from the troop without being able to violate the defense of the Bolivians. Taking into account the exhaustion of the troop and the lack of ammunition, he ordered to interrupt the combat and withdrew some of his forces as best he could, without the enemy chasing them, in the direction of San Andrés.
The failure of the expedition on Iruya to which was added the subsequent disaster of the forces of Colonel Gregorio Paz in Tarija, caused serious risks to northern Argentina, since the Bolivians could penetrate with all their forces on these territories without effective resistance.