DEZEMBRADA
Dezembrada is the usual name given to three battles occurred in the vicinity of Lomas Valentinas hills (also known as Itá-Ibaty by the Paraguayans) on December, 1868. These battles marked the last phase of the Allied advance and Paraguayan last effort to oppose it.
After the fall of Humaitá, the Allies started a continuous pursuit of López remaining forces. He fled northward, deciding for a new stand about 140 miles north of Humaitá on the port of Villeta. There he had a riverside battery of guns constructed at Angostura and a line of trench to defend the passage through a small stream called Pykysyry. According to Colonel George Thompson, this new position was guarded by a hundred cannons, eight of which were positioned in Angostura. Inside the fortified area 2,000 men were entrenched.
Meanwhile, by late October the Allies had a road constructed in the Chaco in order to bring reinforcement and supplies from Humaitá and Palmas (Caxias´ headquarter) to the invader forcer. Caxias was moving along this road with an army 27,000 strong and despite the terrain and constant skirmishes he was preparing a cross to the other side of Paraguay River.
By early December López became aware of this menace. He dispatched some troops to built a trench around Villeta to prevent a landing operation north of his position.
When Caxias' 17,000 troops disembarked on Santo Antonio, few miles north of Villeta on December 5, López knew he would need more time to face an attack coming from north. He sent 5,000 men under Colonel Bernardino Caballero to meet the enemy in combat.
On the morning of the 6th, Caxias moved with 13,000 men in two columns to take Villeta.
Taking advantage of the Allies slow march, Caballero planned to stop the enemy on a narrow passage over a stream called Ytororó. He deployed his troops so that Caxias would have to cross the only passage at disposal under heavy fire. Since the enemy would have to cross a bridge to reach Villeta, Caballero disposed his men to sent fire on the flank of any enemy troop that dare to move toward the bridge. On each side of his arrangement he located four guns. Other battery of four guns was put on the top of a nearby low-lying hill.
The 1st and 13th batallions of the Imperial Army that marched ahead of the first column reached Ytororó by late morning. When these two units moved as if to take control of the bridge they found themselves under severe fire. Soon they pulled back with many casualties. From this time on, the battle became a desperate fight for the control over the bridge. The Allies launched recurrent assaults. Caxias ordered his men to ignore the Paraguayan fire pouring down on them and charge up. Nonetheless, whenever Caxias' men managed to cross the bridge the Paraguayans drove them back. General Osório was ordered to flank the enemy by any possible way he could find. Unfortunately, for the Allies, Osório would reach his aim only when the fight was over.
Meantime, the struggle went on. Each time Caxias' men headed to the bridge, the Paraguayans expel them with steady volleys. At one point, however, Brazilian troops achieved in crossing the bridge and managed to the batteries on the left flank of the enemy. Caballero's cavalry made them withdrew. But soon the Paraguayans abandoned their defensive action and undertook a massive counterassault. Seeing a chance to take control of the bridge, Caxias himself led the 46th and 51st Volunteers Batallions on a attack. A fierce hand to hand fight follows. Only by 1 P.M. the battle was over. The Allies had accomplished their aim. The losses, however, were high. Brazilian casualties were estimated at about 3,000 killed and wounded. General Antunes Gurjão, commander of the 1st Infantry Division was severe wounded. He would die on Assuncíon on January 17, 1869 from the wounds he received. The Paraguayans sustained 1,200 losses. They also had six guns captured by the enemy.
On the 11th, the Allies marched south toward Villeta.
Caballero was given order to hold the small town with 4,000 soldiers, mere boys of thirteen and fourteen side by side with old men. He decided again for a stand near a stream called Avahy.
While the Allies ranks grew to some 17,000 troops after Ytororó, thanks to some units brought from the Chaco, Caballero's reinforcements were almost none.
The 3rd Corps led by Osório would open the attack. The battle lasted four hours and was fight under steady rain. As one noted:
";(...)Avahy was a vicious struggle in which quarter was neither asked nor given by the two armies" (KOLINSKI)
Osório first led his infantry to cross the stream in order to reach the enemy lines. Notwithstanding, he had to retreat under heavy fire. Caballero tried to repeat the arrangement he adopted in Ytororó, which caused the Allies many casualties. Caxias' cavalry, however, succeeded in reaching Caballero's flank. Despite  stiff resistance, the Paraguayan force was almost annihilated. Only a few hundred escaped toward Itá-Ibaty and Angostura.
According to Brazilian sources Paraguayan losses totaled 3,000 men among dead, wounded and captured. The Allies losses are reported to be some 800. General Osório was shot twice in the fight. He would have to leave the battlefield for recover.
Battle of Avahy (detail) by Pedro Americo -Fine Arts Museum (Brazil)
After Avahy Caxias opted for making a rally. He took Villeta as his headquarter and brought more troops to fill his ranks. Newly arrived troops from Brazil was incorporated to the I and III Corps. Meantime, some 4,000 Argentinean troops under General Gelly y Obes came from Palmas along with 600 Uruguayans to prepare an assault from the south against the Paraguayan positions. The navy was positioned to support the attack. It had  passed Angostura in October with hardly any damage and now Caxias planned to  use it to bring supplies and men from Humaitá. On December 14, he dispatched the Monitors Silvado and Lima e Barros to bring supplies. They succeeded again in forcing Angostura with only a sailor killed and four wounded.
He planned to attack the Paraguayan trenches along Pikisiri stream from north and south. Once he expelled the enemy from that position, Angostura would lay  isolated since Lopez' forces inside the inner circle of trenches would not be able to give it any help.
The assault was planned to occur on the 19th. Due to the bad weather it had to be delayed for two days and only on the 21st , the Imperial Army started to march from the north with a force of 19,500 soldiers.
The Triple Alliance  troops first attacked  on Itá-Ibaté hills where the enemy resistance prove to be strong.
Meantime, General João Manuel Mena Barreto launched his cavalry attack on the rear of Pikisiri trenches. He would find the fiercest combat of the day. His men would have to fight inch by inch since the beginning.
As soon as the first shots were given at Pikisiri, the Argentinenan General Gelly y Obes and the Uruguayan General Enrique Castro begin to attack it from the south. As the Paraguayans concentrated their forces to deal with Mena Barreto, Gelly y Obes and Castro's advance was an easy task.
When the day was over, the Allies had not conquered all trenches, but  Angostura laid isolated . The cost was high. The casualties on the Brazilian side totaled 3,500. Only the 3rd Infantry Division of the Imperial Army sustained 1,846 losses among dead and wounded. According to Lieutenant Dionísio Cerqueira, who took part in the combat and was wounded in the head, his 16th Volunteers Battalion lost 22 of its 28 officers. Paraguayan losses are not known.
The following days the two opponents spent the time preparing for the next action.
While López had no reinforcement, Allies' ranks grew day by day.
On the 24th the Allies' commanders sent López an ultimatum. He refused it.
By the morning of the 25th , the Allied artillery begin the bombardment of the last Paraguayan defenses.
On the 26th Caxias had  rallied some 25,000 soldiers and officers.
The Paraguayans had 6,000 to 6,500 men to face the attack.
Caxias divided his forces in three columns. On the center he would lead 6,000 men in a frontal assault, while Gelly y Obes would command a combined Argentinean-Brazilian force on the left. General Vasco Alves with his cavalry would attack the remainder positions along the Pikisiri and take the enemy position by the rear.
On the morning of the 27th, Caxias gave orders to begin the attack. At first, the Paraguayans held their trenches against the overwhelming enemy.
The vanguard of Gelly y Obes column was severed attacked and only with the help of the 1st Buenos Aires Division the advance proceeded.
On the center, however, López men could not bear the pressure over them. Caxias troops took the Paraguayan trenches. The Paraguayans withdrew to inner positions.
On the right, the cavalry moved with difficulties. But with Caxias success on the center, general Vasco Alves ordered his troops to explore the gaps on the enemy line.
López defenses began to melt down under the enemy pressure. He fled the battlefield before the total collapse of his troops, leaving to the north with some officers. The Paraguayan Army was finally destroyed.
On the 30th Angostura garrison surrendered to the enemy. Colonel George Thompson along with 1,350 men and almost 400 women gave himself to the Allies.
The casualties on the last day of battle is not known. The Allies estimates are suspicious low. The Brazilian sources reckon 6 dead and 32 wounded for the Imperial Army and some 340 losses for the Argentineans. Nothing is said about Uruguayan losses.
Nevertheless, losses were high for the entire campaign. The Imperial army alone suffered  more than 7,000 killed and wounded from Ytororo to Lomas Valentinas.
On  the battle of the 27th, López' remaining  forces were all dead or captured. A toll of some 6,000 soldiers and officers.
On January 5, 1869 Caxias entered Assuncíon. He assumed that war was over. López could not gather an army anymore and he would not pursuit the Paraguayan leader, a job he found not suitable for the Imperial Army. On the 24th he left Assuncíon towards Rio de Janeiro.
In the empire, however, the political opinion was not so optimistic. The war had to continue until Lopez was captured or killed.
Final Stages