Portugal - The Reborn of an Empire

Introduction


The Great War has ended, the democracy had failed to fulfill its ambitions when joined the war.. Portugal was not ready to be in the war and only one objective was accomplished, preserve the colonies from the European Great Powers.. The country was in debts, the democracy was falling to the people, and after achieving the power in such horrible way, it was time to change the course of Portugal again.. In 1932 António de Oliveira Salazar achieved his objective, he was now Prime Minister of Portugal, in power to straight out Portugal's finances..

For four years Salazar increased his power has prime minister, and now his course was changing.. He started to clear Portugal debts has Finance Minister by 1926, and now it was finally done.. The growth could finally start..

January 1st, 1936, it was known that Portugal was a little country without any kind of military or industrial power in this world, Salazar found himself at his office looking at papers, news, possibilities, and finances papers.. With his candle and a little office, he was looking for his country state, 10 out of 23 factories working, out of date, most technologies were from 1918, almost no army, no air force, no navy, nothing, there was nothing in his country.

His ministers were the ones he chose 4 years before, and there was nothing he wanted to change, because there was no one better, and he did enjoy those men, hard working people, devoted to his cause, Portugal, but some people talking about a possible revolution in Spain were growing his concerns, he didn't want a war, not now, not ever, the German power was growing and a possible war was coming again to Europe, he knew that, and his objective was make Portugal stay out of this war, he didn't want to make the same mistakes the First Portuguese Republic made 10 years before, so he was studying possibilities. The Minister of Security was to be called this morning to his office, and Afonso Lucas from PNR was invited to fill his position, Mario Pais Sousa wouldn't mind the possibility to return to his family and follow his life as a lawyer, they were great friends and he knew he could handle the talks.

His intelligence, or known as PIDE, was to have a new duty from this new year, he wanted to lower the Portuguese neutrality, not to get into the war but to have that possibility in case of need. A Republican Spain was a problematic situation for his country, with such a democratic country in Europe Hitler would see Spain as a foe and not a possible friend, so he demanded PIDE to grow their threat, he wanted to be ready! Anything could happen, and a possible invasion to Spain was a possibility to protect his country from the War..

The Universities of Portugal were to be paid for new research, they weren't great so there wasn't much he could ask for this research, Construction Engineering was the first thing he wanted to see in this new year so he could start to build some industrial base.

And of course to help this new research he ordered to be built a naval base and a air base.

He ordered the come back of his Colonial Transport Fleet to Lisbon so he could have most of his troops for a new organization..

He hadn't much 2 Destroyers, 1 submarine, and 2 Transports, a new note was created, the Colonial Transport Fleet was to be dismantled, the ships was to be joint together with the "Transporte de Navio de Portugal" under the command of Vice Admiral Afreixo, a blockade runner, he knew it was the best he had for the job, 1 Destroyer and 2 Transport Ships. The other Fleet "Marinha de Portugal" was to remain intact under the command of Vice Admiral Canto e Castro, a Superior Tactician.

Norton Matos, was the supreme leader of his army, Old Guard, Defensive Doctrine, he thought about a change but he wasn't sure about it, so he left him in charge for the time being...

Salazar lays down his pencil, the notes he needed about the decisions to be made were done. Not much was changing but enough, lowering neutrality was going to help him in changing some country laws. The threat generated with Republican Spain was a safe decision, he wasn't investing much on it, he knew he only had a spy in Spain, but it was enough, he was not going to loose leadership and time producing more for something that he didn't want to.



** I'm sorry about my English, first post done, a little introduction to Portugal, and the first decisions made, next post will be about the results of this decisions, the Spanish Civil War, the year of 1936 and 1937! Any comments to my writing or lack of information will be appreciated! See you soon! **

Part One - National Growth


Lisboa, 1 July 1937

I'm being appointed as our mighty leader right hand, my devotion to our cause, his cause, our nation, my enthusiasm with the power that we can achieve, and defense of my home, friends and family, I've been appointed as military strategic leader, I'll have something to say and suggest in his next move from now on. He saw in me great potential, and I'm grateful for that. I hope I don't fail him.

Everyone knows my great admiration for him, his work, and my love for our country, I'll use this notes to write everything that I'm doing, explain everything what I'm thinking, and write about whats going on in Portugal government.

First of all, in last years we have seen the debts being cleared, we have new rules in our country. Our leader demanded a Three Year Draft as a Conscription Laws, he has been lowering our country neutrality for some time now, and he could make this rule without any kind of opposition, the elder people are kind of happy with this situation, the army helps the younger ones to have responsibilities and respect. I've been on those recruitments a few years ago, my general was hard on me and it helped me grow, now he is under me.. Thanks to his teachings I've grown, on my time it was only One Year Draft but I remained in the army..

We have some kind of War Economy laws, it helped to improve the industry, some old factories start to working after some upgrades, we finally are getting somewhere! I know this may not look much, but our factories efficiency technologies were upgraded from 1918 to somewhere 1936 in comparison to factories in other countries.. like Germany and our old allied England.. We also learned some techniques to produce more with our current technologies, but they are something close to 1934 compared to Europe...

Consumer Product Orientation was implemented several years ago, around January 1936, it helped our country, the Consumer Goods were greatly reduced and we could expend more IC on other things..

I was called because Salazar is worried about this Spanish Civil War, it's causing too much threat and calling much more attention than it should, it started in April 1936 with General Franco declaring War on the Republican Spain... we are now in July of 1937 and the troops of both sides aren't moving, the only thing that moves on that country is planes.. As second hand my job is to protect and give recommendations regarding the defense of Portugal.



Salazar doesn't want to join any kind of faction, but we have been influenced by Italy since 1936, and they seem to think they have done enough to convince us joining them..

There is a HQ, Lisboa HQ, where I'll choose my best skilled leader to stay, in case of war he is going to be the one that I'll be asking for options and recommendations, as I'm Salazar right hand, he will be my own.. I'm looking for Costa Oliveira for that position, he is the most highly skilled (2) of our country, but his low rank shows that my predecessor didn't like him that much, I'll have a talk with him when he arrives to our capital.. Lisboa HQ will be the highest place of our military command structure.
Right below Lisboa HQ we have 2 HQ, Nova Lisboa HQ, is situated in Mozambique, I can't really afford to send men to our colonies right now, so Nova Lisboa is going to stay right where it is, without any kind of leader in charge. Alongside Nova Lisboa, there is another HQ, a really important from my point of view, Quartel General Avançado Portugal ("Advanced Portugal HQ"), this is the intermediated between our armies and Lisboa HQ..

Besides that we have one bomber in Lisbon, the Portuguese fleet (2 Destroyers, 1 Submarine, 2 Transports), and 7 Land Unites, One is composed by 4 Infantry Divisions, the other one is composed by 3 Infantry Divisions and the last 5 were assembled by Salazar 3 Infantry Division and 1 Artillery Brigade, 14 militia.

We built a naval base, and air base, the Naval Base was built in Faro, and the Air base in Porto.. it helped our Mechanical Engineering growth to 14 points...

Our Production is currently working on Militias that I've demanded for our protection, this is not a army that I like to see, but its our best hope.. After some talks with Salazar I've seen what he is worried about.. Republican Spain is generating threat to every one in Europe, there are more countries aligning to the Allies cause and to the Axis cause than what we were expecting, and this war is not going anywhere! One year at war, the Nationalists are looking defeated but the Republican can't move...

I'm thinking about a possible invasion in Spain, I'll keep working on Militia and when I've a number for some interesting moves I'll let Salazar make the factories come back to Factorial Construction work... Something that I couldn't do was asking for help on Military research... we are still focused on industrial duties...

This is my first note as António de Oliveira Salazar right hand.

Belgiumruler said:

subbed!

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Thanks! Hope you enjoy it! As much as I'm enjoying your Iran AAR!!!

Jandorus said:

subbed! Love the alternate history

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Thanks! Hope you like it!

Part Two - National Threat


Lisboa, 22 October 1938

I haven't been updating this for a while, the army was really disorganized, incompetent, we look like 1800s army... I've seen rumors about heavy armor on central europe... I only have militia... I needed more airplanes, a bigger navy, something that helps our troopers in our land... We've nothing.. Still, I'm proud about what we achieved in a year..

Now another worries, from the map above it's seen that the Spanish troops haven't moved this last year... Republican Spain is really threatening our country, and apparently our English allies seem threatened by them too..


The Allies are calling lots of nations to join a possible war at their side, while Germany enlarges their territory with idiotic justifications, since the Spanish Civil War, Salazar assumed all negotiations and diplomacy decisions, this was a necessary move, he liked the portuguese neutrality. The Nationalists were early on help by the portuguese, using the port of Lisbon for armament and ammunition, supplies, etc...


He tried to convince Franco to finish the war faster, the threat of that war was worrying our country, and with a possible win of the Republicans I couldn't see how would I defend my country with such communists at my border.. the Germany would see them as a threat and the Italians could possible see them as enemies... After some talks with Salazar he saw that I was right, that war was to be ended, and fast, Franco wasn't doing a good job and we couldn't afford to have a Republican win.

I had my army ready any time, they were organized by the Spanish border, I was waiting for further commands, or even the results of new negotiations being taken by Salazar and Franco.. Now this is my time of waiting...

Part Three - World War Two


The negotiations between Franco and Salazar proceeded as usual, Franco stated that they were going to win the war by the end of that year, he was wrong... There were finally some movements by the armies of that "countries", Republicans took Seville, an important city for their goal.. the Nationalists were loosing their war, besides any conquest of land near Burgo...

At 3rd May, 12pm, the War had begun... The Second World War had begun in Europe, Adolf Hitler declared War on Poland, he was being attacked by all fronts, and even with such large fronts on all sides his army easily conquered, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and are easily defeating the French army on French soil... Switzerland are fighting hard, but they are soon to follow their allies.. This is chaotic, most of this countries searched for help for being threatened by the Spanish Civil War...


I took my position in this matter, it was time to do something about it, join the German faction, broke the English Alliance, or join the Spanish Civil War... It wasn't a easy decision, in both decision it means that Portugal is going to war, one of them is going to the World War, and in the second one, is trying to avoid the World War, of course, this was almost impossible after such an aggressive way to solve this matter...

I had took the liberty to start researching more efficient ways for Combat Medicine and First Aid, so that in case of war our troops were going to have better aid right behind them, we didn't made great progress but something was done, by July of 1939 the researchers pointed new techniques..

Another thing that was a surprise for my self was the USA joining the Allies so early after the war begun, this time they weren't so indifferent about this...


I think it was probably because of the Japanese annexation of Shanxi, our people in Macau were worried about this matter, they were seeing Japanese troops being landed at their side.. Shanxi was early made puppet of Japan, but the Chinese were fighting them hard, there are no easy moments in Asia.... the war has been now for three years...

By 9 July 1939, Greece joined the Axis which was something i was not expecting to happen, but apparently the Greeks had another thing in mind..

Soon after that Luis Almeida Braga was called to be Portugal Foreign Minister, he was going to help our party to gain supporters and the threat impact were increased by 5%, this was seen as something good because if we were to enter in the Spanish Civil War, we were going to declare War on both sides...

August 1939, our factories were finally built and started to employ people to start working at 100%, in the same day 4 new factories were put into construction.. I built some new militia divisions for Lisbon defense and backup proposes, with our new Land Fort built in Lisbon by August 1939 we were more defended and ready for war than in the past 100 years...

October 1939, around 11 days ago, we have made our decision.


Portugal declared war on Republican Spain and Nationalist Spain at 00:00 20 October 1939, at exactly the same time, I was with Rodrigues Sousa, my appointed army General, my right hand, telling all troops to move into Spanish Territory.

We were not looking for this War, we were trying to protect the Iberian people from the war, the Spanish people had already suffered too much! That was enough, we had orders to move into spanish territory and help every spanish. We were not conquering for Portuguese honor and glory....

I had around 142k troops moving into spanish lands, they were not equipped as the spanish, we didn't had any tanks, this could go terribly wrong... The tactics that I was going to use was something similar to the reports that came from Macau about the Chinese - Japanese war... lots of division moving conquering lots of lands and attacking from various directions hoping to gain any kind of advantage, we knew that the Spanish troops were tired after three long years and we were looking that advantage... besides, they were not expecting any kind of Portuguese invasion...


In the map above, thats how I intend to invade spain... each flag is an important city, unfortunately they are very very united to the cause in both sides, either Republican and Nationalists... so I have to take each on of them... the blue line indicates the first phase, I'll try to hold the north of Portugal, thats why there are the best troops, the infantry divisions... I fear that tank division so I've place those infantry units over there, my bomber will be in constant ground attack that tank unit unless I need him in another place... Most of Portuguese units are in the south, thats why I'll be moving there and not in the north.. I can't move everywhere because I don't have that much troops to hold the line and move forward at same time, Spain is really a big country and I'll have to be careful about a possible counter-attack...

The second phase (orange) was edited, I was looking for moving only the troops in the south of Spain, but I figured out that I could reduce the amount of lands to be protected if I took Galiza.. by 29 October I ordered the movement of the militia placed in Lisbon to the North of Portugal... they will hold there until further instructions for Galiza invasion... The rest of the second phase is to take Madrid and Valencia, these big cities will be a big step, I want to hold the line in Madrid, while the conquest of Valencia will be as fast as I can so that I can move troops to Barcelona and close the gap between Madrid and Valencia.. I hope there wont be much fight near Andorra, those mountains will be hard, but I want them to protect from the Germans...

The third phase (yellow) is closure of the gap from Madrid to Valencia, this one will be hardest, all the Nationalists and Republican troops will be together, without much supplies, but they have better equipment, more man, and are in defensive position...

The last phase (green) will be a phase of the fastest attacks the portuguese army can do, if we can take the last big cities from the spanish as fast as we can we end the war there...

6 days after the declaration of war had passed we still didn't had any kind of fight... everything is going really well...


We didn't found any opposition until 30 October, but then we found that they were a lot more stronger than us, when on supplies, and organized...
By 1 November 1939 our three fronts of war were achieving their objectives of the first phase, but we were already lack troops in the center of Spain....



** I hope you are enjoying, I'm having fast posts because of my free time this last three days... If there is any kind of lack of information, or something you would like to see just let me know! **

DennisRoos said:

This is very interesting. I haven't seen a Portugal HOI3 AAR before. I'm hoping you can beat the Spanish. Your English is good. There are a few grammar mistakes, but it is very readable.

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Thanks! There are few... I've seen some, but most of them are with the TFH DLC... and it seems really easy to play as a minor with that DLC.. I don't really know, I don't have it.. but well I'm having fun, hope you enjoy my AAR!!
Yes, I really need to practice my english, a lot...

Part Four - Iberian War



A month gone now... It's 1st December 1939, the portuguese troops, are in deep spanish territory, we had some key battles and some that were really easy to go by... António Salazar is really happy with my work until now, accepting my judgment even faster than before.. It's really pleasing to see such man listening to what I've to say and even looking for information and tips...

I've started the second phase of the invasion in Spain, with success in the north and center, but the lack of Operational Level Organization is holding us back in the south... We are 357km away from Valencia and moving towards it with some Nationalists troops on our way, what makes me surprise is that they don't offer any kind of resistance, but each time we move on their direction our organization falls and we usually need to wait around 140 hours before I can tell them to move on... They spend too much time organizing the next move... I really feel we are too much incompetents....

In south Spain, at the beginning of the month we were fighting some Republicans troops, they prove to be better than us, better gear, better doctrines and we needed to move smarter, following Rodrigues Sousa recommendation we ordered our militias to cut supplies from every enemies they found..


It took us 7 days to cut of the republican corridor in the south and start moving into Nationalists lands.. there were some troops without any kind of supplies for some months now, the Republican fleet was cutting their supplies, and I offered no resistance at sea.. with only 1 submarine and 2 destroyers I could not afford to loose them...

As soon as we arrived to Nationalist South Spain we found the spanish troops were feeling defeated, they didn't want to fight anymore, they just made us spend time pushing them back, all the time we moved into their territory they would just flee and wait for us again...


Apparently they had mod divisions than man fighting for them... it took us more time than what I was looking for and we are now, as I stated before more than 350kms from our objective...


On the North of Spain we were fighting Nationalists for Galiza.. They didn't had much troops around, so I the fresh militia that I've ordered to move into Porto were going to be big help securing that land... If everything remained like that I was looking to call for some attention in that front so that I can move faster when my troops arrive to Barcelona...


The only resistance was in Vigo and Gudiña, in Vigo they were eventually defeated and in Gudiña every day that goes by we are closer to victory... some fast movements on undefended land made us secure some key positions to hold the line... We are really close from reducing of 5 pieces of territory to defend to 3, and one of them was Porto, so this movement is really important... By the end of the month we are really close of our objective.


And for last, my third objective of second phase was to hold the line in Madrid... we are at the gates of Madrid, creating a line and waiting for more men that will come from south Spain, currently finishing some resistance...


This started really well, but as closer we are from the Republican/Nationalist border more resistance we find, the good part, is that they are killing themselves... As I stated before I wanted to cut off every supplies before attacking key enemies, the light armour was no different, we sent men to every neighbor province and with some Nationalist help we attacked the light armour... the resistance was much greater by the Repuclicans in the center, they were clearly stronger than us, but the movements created by me and General Rodrigues were putting our side into advantage.


Some key battles were being fight in the center of Spain, we were trying to destroy infantry that could offer really great resistance, and by cutting their supplies we were gifted with great victories.


By the end of the month we were waiting for reinforcements to take Madrid out of Republicans hands... This was from my point of view, a great month for our forces, we learned a lot with this month and next one we will be stronger...


I was amazed when I hear the news, the french were resisting to the Germans, Paris was in German hands but they didn't move much in the last month, but at the same time, Sweden was near the end.... hopefully we can end this war before the Germans destroy the french army...

** For the ones reading I hope you are enjoying the way I'm telling the story! Have fun! **

volksmarschall said:

Never let a good crisis go to waste! Looking forward to see a revived Portugal be a major (or regional?) player in WWII. Should be great and entertaining to see for sure!

Good luck and Cheers!

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Ahahah you are right! It surprised me the way the Spanish war was going... I needed to take advantage of this.. Have you ever seen this happening?
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it!

Ikarases said:

"When two fight each other, the third laughs."

This is definitely a way to describe what is happening here

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ahaha, you are right!
Thanks for the message!

Part Five - ¡Hala Madrid!


It was a hard month, but a happy one, we have conquered Madrid, the Republicans were defeated, only Cataluña lasts... My invasion plan was changed because of the Center of Spain and now I've all my troops in the north and center of Spain... Valencia was taken, left defenseless by the republicans and taken by the Portuguese troops... last month of war, I hope.. towards Barcelona, Bilbao and Burgos.

Norway and Nationalist China were accepted to the Allies faction, its January first and Paris is still holding, they didn't even move in France... Sweden have the German troops at Stockholm door... Norway is surely helping Sweden, the germans barely moved in Scandinavia too... and the Japanese are being pushed back by the Chinese...

The North of Spain was the easiest one, the Nationalists aren't really motivated to pursue this war, even a single Militia division can push their infantry divisions back, my plan of calling some attention in Galiza worked, but not much as I wanted... I hope the troops they called were from Burgos and Bilbao so that I can take those cities easier.. La Coruña was well defended compared to some other cities, Valencia, Sevilla, etc.. this city had 1 infantry corps and one port, I rapidly moved my submarine and a destroyer for a convoy raiding mission near this port, but no convoy was shrunk, so I though they were not receiving any kind of supplies since they needed to pass through Republican sea...


The South Spain was again hard because of the time it took us!!We took Murcia and Cartagena from Nationalists hands, they had 1974 men there, but they were spread out in 3 or 4 divisions, each time we found them, they delayed our advance...


While we were taking Murcia, and single division was going towards Valencia on a scout mission... It was a really pleasant news for portuguese ears, such a city taken without any kind of defense...


And the worst and best of this month, center of Spain, I thought that by taking Valencia and Guadalajara at the same time, the Republicans would spread their troops looking for any big city possible, I was wrong, their troops were a lot better than my own, I was being attacked in every piece of land near Republican troops, I had to call some divisions to help on Madrid attack... If it wasn't the siege of Madrid would last even longer, once again, the bomber proved to be very effective...


It was a hard battle for Madrid but in the end it was very pleasant to see their troops surrendering to us...


Of course, Salazar pursued my request of annexing Republican Spain into our country, I made his mind into it, not proud, but I think we have chances together as one...

sethlee75 said:

Awesome AAR. Unique concept.

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Thank you very much!!

volksmarschall said:

The Iberian Peninsula is a mess...but that's great news for you!

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Yes it's, it doesn't look like the mess it was before the formation of Portugal but a mess anyway eheh..

I'm sorry for my lack of activity, unfortunately real life is being a messa just like iberian peninsula in my save ahah.. I'll try to post a new chapter in the next few days, one day or two maybe! Hope the ones reading enjoy it!