The Portuguese war in Africa – or, perhaps more properly, the British war in Africa – was near to its close. Only a handful of British divisions remained uncaptured across the whole continent, and Portuguese divisions were busy trying to dismantle the last of them so they could be free to redeploy elsewhere.
Two of these British divisions were trapped in the interior of British Somaliland, squeezed between Italian and Portuguese forces. The 2nd Cavalry began to reduce the 42th Infantry on the 12th of September, at the end of a waiting game of attrition that favored the Axis. On the 20th, after having welcome assistance from Italian bombers, Gen. Watson offered his sword to Gen. Guerra, and planning began to take on the last enemy resistance in the Horn of Africa.
A similar process was taking place north, along the coast, in Egypt. Troops recently engaged at Alexandria were transferred south to eliminate the British presence in the Nile River Valley, which was partially the cause of the supply problems.
The British division in question was completely out of supply, and had difficulty even moving within the confines of its perimeter. But the provinces occupied by them were obstacles which needed to be cleared away so supply could move north.
Such lines of communication were needed as Portuguese armies first ventured across the Suez Canal and into British Palestine.
British opposition to the move was paltry. If they didn’t make a stand at the Canal, where would they stand? It gave commanders hope that Palestine would be an easy conquest. But they were cautioned not to become overconfident.
The Canadians continued to assail the Bahamas. What else could they do to contribute to the war effort? Not much, really. But this persistence was costing them dearly. Their divisions and ships were flagging.
As the 20th Garrison Division approached the limits of its tolerance, it was again moved out of the invasion area and replaced by rested cavalry from Jamaica.
You may recall, at the end of the last update, we had engaged the enemy for the first time at Rawlinna, in Australia.
At first, the Australians backed off at the shock of first contact. But those initial skirmishers were followed by more substantial forces, including Australian Vickers light tanks. The armored cavalry hit the Portuguese 3rd Cavalry at a time when they were already tired from crossing the desert and then fighting infantry, and so they were forced to withdraw.
Hopes were raised when the 18th Infantry moved up to take their place just a few days after the cavalry pulled back, and the Australians hadn’t had time to consolidate their recapture of the territory. But they were also suffering great attrition from the desert crossing, and they were not in much better shape to face Australian tanks than were the cavalry.
The fight was clenched, on the 6th, when the Australian 23rd Division flanked the 18th from behind and to the north.
On the 10th of October, the 18th shattered under the Australian force of arms! The 14th Infantry, nearby, dug in with hopes of holding a line, but they were also in bad condition to fight.
All seemed to be falling apart. The early success of the invasion had fallen into the disarray of an army fighting in unfamiliar conditions on unknown battlefields, and with undue preparation. It was trying to fight a conventional war against an army prepared to fight conventionally, and on its own territory.
Portugal’s success, to date, had relied upon unconventional tactics and risky movements, often by sea. The Australian Royal Navy was known to be active, but its actual deployments were unclear, and Portugal lacked enough units in the region to scout out their presence.
But it was decided to roll the dice once more – to mount an amphibious invasion to try to take some of the pressure off the front in the western desert. Gen. Azevedo embarked his garrison troops – the ones brought in to guard the back door at Perth – onto transports for a destination no one was informed of until they were at sea.
Would this gamble pay off? Or was Portugal’s lightweight army about to be routed in the South Seas?
Before I go, I wanted to show you a Production Screen comparison over the years, just to show you how things have gone…
From a 1936 start of only 11 IC, we’ve come quite a ways! By 1940, we’d more than quadrupled that, through conquest and industrial construction. By a year ago, in autumn 1941, we were seeing 62. Just the amount of IC dedicated to production has increased ten-fold since the start of the war!
The increases have dropped off some since then. What can I say? There’s less left to conquer!
You can also see the dramatic increases in raw materials from year to year. We basically dominate both Oil and Rare Materials production, worldwide.
And one more thing before we go, to set the scene and mood on the world stage. This is a screenshot I happened to snap of Britain in September 1942.
The German bombers, finally, are dominating the skies over Britain. Her submarines besiege the shorelines.
What could this foretell or portend?