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Humanitarian work during the Chaco War
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-E-00408
Bolivian prisoners of war with ICRC delegate M.E. Galland (second from the right). The ICRC visited around 18,000 Bolivian prisoners over the course of the war.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03404-09
A first-aid post run by the Paraguayan Red Cross on the front line.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03298-14A
"Travel Air" air ambulance.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03404-18
Paraguayan fighters receive first aid aboard the hospital ship Cuyaba.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03404-29
Members of the Paraguayan Red Cross help a Paraguayan soldier get out of an ambulance.
ICRC/Frédéric Boissonnas/V-P-HIST-02986-27
Wounded Paraguayan fighters travel down the Paraguay River to hospitals in Asunción.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03405-02
Puerto Pinasco.
Wounded Paraguayan soldiers in the city hospital. Men and women alike were involved in setting up and running a number of field hospitals to provide emergency treatment.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03405-14
Asunción.
Members of the Paraguayan Red Cross prepare medical kits to be sent to the wounded in the field.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03405-04
Toledo.
Wounded Paraguayan soldiers being evacuated from the front.
ICRC/Muschietti, M./V-P-HIST-03298-13A
Prisoner-of-war camp in Villa Hayes.
Bolivian prisoners of war wait in line for food.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03405-22
Puerto Casado.
A train arrives carrying ailing Bolivian prisoners of war.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03405-26
Isla Poi.
Ambulances belonging to the Paraguayan Red Cross.
ICRC/Rodolfo Talice/V-P-HIST-03405-00
ICRC delegate M.E. Galland (on the right) in Bolivia.
ICRC/Rodolfo Talice/V-P-HIST-03132-15
Provincia de Inquisivi, Quime, Bolivia.
Paraguayan prisoners of war. ICRC delegates visited 2,500 Paraguayan prisoners in Bolivia.
ICRC Archive/V-P-HIST-03404-12
Aid post for refugees and the wounded in Punta Rides.
The photo exhibition "80 años de acción humanitaria de la Cruz Roja" (80 years of Red Cross humanitarian action) features images of the ICRC's earliest work in Latin America, during the Chaco War (1932-1935). The photos show the everyday activities of Paraguayan and Bolivian prisoners of war, the wounded being attended to on the battlefield and the work of Paraguayan Red Cross volunteers.
Over the course of the war, ICRC delegates visited around 18,000 Bolivian prisoners in Paraguay and 2,500 Paraguayan prisoners in Bolivia. The Paraguayan Red Cross joined Paraguay's medical corps and mobilized physicians from all areas of medicine to care for the wounded and sick from the battlefield. A number of field hospitals were also set up to provide emergency treatment.
