The Paraguayans were also successful in misleading their foes: a trench drew most of the Brazilian fire, but the Paraguayan troops were located elsewhere. Around 20 percent of the almost 20,000 allied (Brazilian and Argentine) troops involved in the attack were lost; Paraguay lost less than a hundred men. The utter failure resulted in the change of the Allied command. Paraguay's biggest success in the ultimately disastrous war was limited because its military leader Francisco Solano López did not counterattack the defeated Allies; not even a general as celebrated as Díaz would attack without López's orders. Ultimately, the battle of Curupayty was merely a sidenote and temporary success in what would eventually become a near-extermination of the Paraguayan people.