SECOND WORLD WAR | AZORES
CHRIS GOSS PROFILES BRITISH FORCES STATIONED ON THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS IN 1943.
The archipelago of the Azores, a Portuguese group of nine volcanic islands, is situated in the North Atlantic about 930 miles (1,500km) west of the Portuguese capital Lisbon and 2,400 miles east from the eastern seaboard of the USA. During the Second World War, the Azores acquired great strategic importance as not only did they lay across the trade routes from the southern Atlantic, but they were also home to British cable stations linking much of the British Empire.
On the outbreak of war, Portugal declared her neutrality but despite this, it was strongly believed (and later proven) that Hitler’s Germany was considering seizing the islands for use by U-boats and aircraft. This would have been a disaster for Portugal, who had planned to use the Azores as a base for government should the fascist Franco regime invade Lisbon from Spain. Portugal therefore looked to Great Britain, her oldest ally dating back to 1373, for help.
The strategic importance of the Azores became more obvious as the Battle of the Atlantic raged in the early 1940s. After friendly but protracted negotiations, Portugal allowed Brit…
