Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

The Portuguese Army in WW1


MartinWills

Recommended Posts

Just before Christmas I was asked by a member of staff at the local records office whether there was much information avaiolable on the Portuguese army in WW1. Her husbands family had served and she wanted to try and flesh out what little they knew about the Portuguese army.

I am afraid this one had me floored - I'm simply not sure where to start at all.

What little I know tends to revolve around the few Portuguese cemeteries on the Western Front and their reputation which does not hold them amongst the better units engaged in WW1.

Can anyone suggest a few reasonable accessible sources from which to learn a little of their background, formation and participation in the Great War.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't help with sources but there were Portuguese troops stationed near my home village here in East Sussex during WW1.

There are several buried in the UK including two in Sussex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On another similar forum,The World at War

there has been discussion of this.

Subject: Portugal in WWI

Posted By: RHLV - Unregistered User

Posted At: (11/9/03 10:48 am)

Reply

Portugal declared war 9 March 1916, sending 2 divisions to the Western Front. According to Ellis and Cox "The World War I Data Book" there were 26 local companies rising to 40 in Angola. The Mozambique force consisted of 12 local companies again rising to 40 by 1918 (numbered 17, 19-40, and 42-45) along with 6 companies raised by the Chartered Companies (I assume that means the Mozambique Company of postage stamp fame). Additionally the following number of units were sent from Portugal to Mozambique during 1914-18: 7 infantry batallions and 2 cavalry regiments.

The commanders of the forces on the Western Front were Fernando Tamagnini de Abreu e Silva to 10 July 1918, then Tomas Antonio Garcia Rosado until he left in December 1918.

Subject: Additional

Posted By: alternate history fiction - Registered User

Posts: 110

Posted At: (11/9/03 12:25 pm)

Reply

ezSupporter

Portugal clashed with German forces in SW Africa in 1914, and Portugal was in favour of entering the war then but was dissuaded by Britain who realised they would have to pay for it

1916 Britain pressurised Portugal to seize the German ships and assets in her ports, and as a result Germany declared war

Portugal was now swept along in a fervour - they were entering the war for civilisation etc, aligning with their ancient allies Britain. The king in exile in London issued a proclamation in support of the republic's position

As it had expected, Britain ended up paying for most of the outfitting and transport of Portuguese units to the Western Front.

The first units were not actually sent until Dec 1916/Jan 1917

Subject: Portugal in WWI

Posted By: Len Shurtleff - Registered User

Posts: 732

Posted At: (11/9/03 9:04 pm)

Reply

Portuguese experience in The Great War is the subject of an essay in "The European Powers in The First World War," Sterling Tucker (ed,), Garland, NY, 1966. I summarized this in an earlier posting which I shall not repeat here.

The two Portuguese divisions sent to the Western Front came under British command. They were badly beaten about in the first of the German spring offensive in 1918. There is a monument to the Portugese Army in the French village of Couture in Flanders near the Belgian frontier and a WWI Portuguese military cemetery not far from Ypres near the British Indian Army Memorial.

The war was not universally popular in Portugal. Mobilization did not bring an economic boost. The military coups and other political upheavals sparked by declaration of war continued after 1918, eventually resulting in the Salazar Dictatorship which lasted into the early 1970s.

In addition to honoring its long-standing alliance with Great Britain, Portugal also sought to protect its ramshakle colonial empire from nibbling by beligerent powers. In the event, Portugal gained in the peace settlement a tiny strip of German East Africa called the Kionga Triangle lying along the northern Mozambique border.

Subject: Portugal

Posted By: healdav - Unregistered User

Posted At: (11/10/03 3:46 am)

Reply

You can get a small brochure from the French Anciens Combattants ministry (in French) giving details of where they served and where they are buried. Similar brochures have been produced for all the other armies that fought in France.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Martin,

There is a section about the Portuguese Army in The World War One Source Book By Phillip Haythornthwaite. There isn't a great deal but it is all I can remember seeeing on the subject. I don't have the book but I'm sure another one of the Pals does.

Good luck.

Roger

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Martin

I've scanned the relevant pages from 'The World War One Sourcebook' and sent them to you directly.

Cheers

Dolphin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There were Portugese soldiers based near me in Hampshire, in the New Forest. The story goes that they were used in felling trees for the war effort, and in doing so allowed British war workers or perhaps pioneers to serve abroad. There was a barracks or encampment in the New Forest near Emery Down. There is a stone fire place and chimney remaining which is still called 'The Portugese Fire Place'

Best wishes

Nick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although this is not directly pertinent, the Portugese also operated a force in Portugese East Africa (Mozambique). They were engaged alongside a British force in fighting the Germans who were retreating out of German East Africa under von Lettow-Vorbeck.

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the officers that I am researching, Captain RCG Dartford MC of the 19th London Regt served as a liaison officer with the Portuguese divisions during 1917-1918. His diaries for this period can be viewed in the IWM dept of documents.

There are a few pages about Dartford and the Portuguese in the 'IWM book of the W Front' by Malcolm Brown, pub 1993. (See pp 165-168.)

Dartford was born in Portugal, and his family were in the Port wine trade. He grew up speaking the language. He joined the 19th London Regt with a commission in Sept 1914, having left school at Haileybury in July 1914 (where he had been taught by my grandfather). He was wounded in the head at Loos, and spent the early part of 1916 convalescing at home in Lisbon. (According to his service record he managed to persuade the War Office to pay his passage home, on the advice of a doctor who advised that a cold English climate would be less conducive to a speedy recovery than that of Lisbon.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Portuguese memorial to their dead of WW1 in Lisbon is (I think) on the Avenida de la Liberdade. See pic below

Their unknown warrior is buried in the Monastery at Batelhas (c 1.5 hrs N of Lisbon) and above his tomb is the figure of Christ taken from the ruined church at Neuve Chapelle.

post-1-1072829780.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's some nice photos of Portugese mounted troops in Africa in an archived thread on The Military Horse Society website, which is at www.militaryhorse.org

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Martin

Some journal references for you - these are written by a Portuguese professor (Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses) who teaches at the University of Maynooth in Ireland.

" 'All of us are Looking Forward to Leaving': the Censored Correspondance of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps in France, 1917-18" European History Quarterly Voll 30(3) pp333-355

"The Abandoned Army: The Portuguese Expeditionary Force in France, 1917-18". Portuguese Studies Review, Vol. 5 (1996) pp 59-72

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please find the attached image of a Portuguese Stokes Mortar Crew.

The attached photo was taken in 1917.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 years later...

Can anyone help please.

There was a coup in Portugal on 5th December 1917.

The Country was actively, to a degree, helping out with fighting men.

Things were hotting up in Russia. Very hot.

Any connections between events in Portugal and Russia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...