The need for a port near to the location of the army, in order to supply and reinforce the troops and evacuate wounded, made the Chilean command put its attention on the remaining Peruvian stronghold in the Tacna Department.

Since the outbreak of war in 1879, the initial naval stage came to an end with the capture of the ironclad ship Huáscar at Angamos, on 8 October 1879.

The Chilean Army claimed a series of victories at Germania and San Francisco, but ended with the Peruvian success at Tarapacá, on 27 November.

Popular discontent in the Allied countries led to the removal from office of both President Prado in Peru and Hilarión Daza in Bolivia, replaced respectively by Nicolás de Piérola and Gen. Narciso Campero.

These defenses had a range of 3.5 km, providing a large covering zone for the remaining Peruvian ironclad, the Manco Cápac.

Though outclassed, the Peruvian monitor, covered by the land defenses, managed to hold the Chilean ships at bay for 4 months.

On 8 March, a Chilean expeditionary force was sent to Mollendo, in order to interrupt communications between this port with Arequipa, where 4,000 Peruvian soldiers were posted.

On the 22nd, and with General Manuel Baquedano as the new Commander in Chief of the Army of Northern Operations, the Chileans obtained the victory at Los Ángeles Hill.

During this march, the Chilean Minister Rafael Sotomayor died at Las Yaras, being replaced by Jose Francisco Vergara.

With the entire allied army in Tacna destroyed, the port was an easy target for the large number of Chilean troops.

In the early morning of 5 June, the Chilean Sergeant Major José de la Cruz Salvo reached the Peruvian lines with a parley flag, requesting an interview with the commander of Arica.

The phrase "until the last cartridge has been fired" (hasta quemar el último cartucho), which has now become part of the Spanish language, is also the official motto of the Peruvian Army.

Pierola's deputy, Del Solar, sent Col. Pacheco Cespedes to Arica in order to communicate the decision to abandon the city, but he never arrived at his destination, due to the Chilean troops in the area.

With his capture, the Chilean army knew the location of minefields and reduced the troops' apprehension, thereby permitting a ground assault.

[6] After suffering heavy losses at the battle at Tacna, the Chilean command realized the need of a port in the area to resupply the troops and to evacuate the wounded.

4,500 men were sent to Arica, while another 13,000 were posted at Tacna and its surroundings, forming an impossible barrier for the 4,000 soldiers of Leiva's Second Southern Army.

Col. Lagos was initially reluctant to attack Arica directly fearing excessive bloodshed; thus he asked for the surrender of his opponent, Francisco Bolognesi, an Italo-Peruvian veteran brought out of retirement when the war broke out.

We had the expectation of forcing them to have the laurels of victory among fields of bodies, oceans of blood...The entire city was mined in order to inflict as many casualties as these gadgets could explode while the Chilean army was passing through.

The engineer Elmore made a study of the terrain determining the soil resistance in order to make three galleries where the land mines were planted.

They abused their numbers, playing with their corvos and bayonets; they were as blind as raging bulls; I have no words...At the East Fort exactly the same thing happened.

At this point, Colonel Lagos's idea was to wait for reinforcements of the "Buin" 1st Line Regiment to arrive before finally storming the Cape Fort.

At the same time, the Peruvian monitor Manco Cápac, which was defending the Cape from the sea, was attacked by four Chilean warships of the Navy, the Huascar included.

Quickly the Chilean assault degenerated into a confusing pandemonium marked by the explosion of mines placed by the Peruvian defenders.

The Chilean assaulting troops engaged in widespread killing of the surviving and surrendering Peruvian soldiers and the citizens of the captured city, which was then looted.

With the fall of the city, the ironclad Manco Cápac found herself short on supplies and with the nearest friendly port four days away at Callao.

In Punta Picata, Tacna, the boat was stranded due to the impossibility of continuing because the engines were overheated and its crew blew it up with a boom torpedo to avoid its capture by the enemy.