Casemate UK Air War Over The Putumayo - Helion & Company via Casemate UK

[Julien]

Air War Over The Putumayo

Colombian and Peruvian Air Operations During to 1932-33 Conflict 

ISBN : 9781912390236

Helion & Company via Casemate UK

 

 

Air War over where? you might ask, I know I certainly did. Putumayo is a southern district of Columbia bordering Ecuador and Peru.  In 1932 following dissatisfaction with an earlier (1922) treaty between Columbia & Peru local civilians from Peru angry over heavy tariffs on sugar took overtook the city of Iquitos, the Peruvian military then sent 2 regiments of troops top the area in early September 1932.  Following the turning back of two trade ships by the Peruvian Army the Colombians finally took notice with an outpouring of national patriotism. The issue for the Colombians was the almost total lack on infrastructure in the region.  To aid Colombian activities an expat German WWI veteran and fledgling aviator Herbert Boy along with other German Aviators of Colombian - German air transport society organised arming their commercial aircraft for war becoming a defacto Colombian Air Force. (Boy would later become a Colombian citizen and Mayor of Bogota). Even though the city of Tarapaca was bombed the Peruvians did not actually have any troops there. 

 

The Peruvians also resorted to air power and bombed the Colombian Fleet (without any success), this did cause the breaking off of any remaining relations between the two countries.  Events in Peru would help Columbia though as the Peruvian President was assassinated. His successor met with the Colombians and turned the disputed area over to the League Of Nations, and thus signed a peace treaty in the Brazilian Capital called the Rio de Janeiro Protocol. The incident though was a wake up call for Peru and it embarked on a rearming process which would help with its 1941 war with Ecuador. 

 

 

The book looks at the conflict and the use of air power in an area with no roads. As the main transport avenues were the rivers it is hardly surprising that float planes featured heavily (The War Memorial in Tarapaca even features one). The book has a large number of rare and previously unpublished photos . This volume is A4 soft back in format and 80 pages. There are black and white photographs throughout with maps, 5 pages of specially commissioned colour profiles, and also 3 pages of colour maps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

This book should provide readers with an understanding of this small almost unheard of conflict. I find these conflicts fascinating to read about and this is an excellent addition to the Latin America War series. 

 

Very Highly Recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of