Battle of Três Lagoas
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The Battle of Três Lagoas was an offensive by tenentist rebels against Brazilian government forces on 17–18 August 1924, extending the São Paulo Revolt into southern Mato Grosso. Led by Juarez Távora, the rebels suffered heavy losses to loyalist troops from Minas Gerais, under the command of colonel Malan d'Angrogne, in the town of Campo Japonês. This defeat frustrated the rebels' ambition to settle in Mato Grosso, forcing them to start the Paraná Campaign.
Battle of Três Lagoas | |||||||
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Part of the São Paulo Revolt of 1924 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Tenentist rebels | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Juarez Távora | Malan d'Angrogne | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
3rd Battalion |
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Strength | |||||||
570 | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
114: 24 killed 23 wounded 63 captured |
32: 4 killed 28 wounded |
From the beginning, the São Paulo Revolt involved the Military Circumscription of Mato Grosso, which needed to mobilize large troops and occupy the city of Bauru, in the interior of São Paulo. Low ranking officers in Mato Grosso were a focus of the tenentist conspiracy, which even launched a revolt in the 10th Independent Cavalry Regiment (RCI), in Bela Vista, on 12 July; the regimental sergeants themselves controlled this uprising. Due to the deficiencies of the military structure in the state, Bauru was not occupied in time and the rebels passed through the city freely on their way to Porto Tibiriçá, on the banks of the Paraná River, which made São Paulo's border with Mato Grosso.
The rebels expected troops to join them in Mato Grosso, where they would found the "Brasilândia" or "Free State of the South". Possessing an easy-to-defend geography, they would have good conditions to prolong their war against the federal government. But the revolutionary command was indecisive for a few days, giving the government time to reinforce Três Lagoas, where the Noroeste do Brasil Railway connected the two states. In addition to units from Mato Grosso, the loyalists received the Malan column, coming from Minas Gerais. At the head of a reinforced battalion, with a shock force of foreign fighters, Juarez Távora went up the Paraná River and landed near the city on 17 August. Drought and heat exhausted the troops.
The battle was fought in the morning of the next day against elements of the Malan column. The rebels conquered the first line, occupied by the Amaral Column (from the Public Force of Minas Gerais), a contingent inferior in numbers and weapons. This gave enough time for the 12th Infantry Regiment, a Brazilian Army unit, to position a company on the attackers flank. When the latter charged the first retreating line, they were targeted by machine-gun fire at close range. This provoked a widespread flight, made even more chaotic by a fire in the nearby field.
Demoralized, the survivors returned to the rest of the revolutionary army in Porto Tibiriçá. General João Nepomuceno da Costa, commander of the Military Circumscription, considered the threat of invasion of Mato Grosso to be over. The loyalist concentration in Três Lagoas left the road to Paraná little protected. In this state, rebels from São Paulo joined those from Rio Grande do Sul in 1925, forming the Miguel Costa-Prestes Column, which again invaded Mato Grosso, this time passing through Paraguay.