Originally posted by Falcão
As some of you know Portugal had to enter in a colonial war back in 1961 firstly in Angola, then in 2 more fronts, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, with lack of means, with some old weapons like Mausers(a good WWII weapon though).
Mauser rifles at the beginning (for training as well) yes, but for non-elite troops. The anti-guerrilla units, e.g paratroopers, had AR-10s a little known predecessor of the M-16 from the VERY beginning.By 1963, all units equipped with G-3 assault rifles.
It was a guerilla war, and in my opinion we handle it very well , then of course some countries like the USSR gave some weapons to the "rebels" but we still faught it for almost 15 years.
I don't like using "we". Even if i'm Portuguese i did not fight the war so i can't include myself. My father did though. Let's say Portugal/the army. Just a mere detail though
The USSR, China & their satellites that's true. The US even funded a guerrilla movement in the early '60s, the FNLA ! Anti-colonial US mentality i guess.
10000 men lost their lives, about 3 times become incapacitated and about half a million have "post-war stress".
The temperature, tropical diseases, were terrible to portuguese soldiers, and we didn't have helicopters to transport the wounded or dead, at least in significant number.
Temperatures & tropical diseases were terrible in Bissau Guinea for sure. In Angola & Mozambique the southern plateau parts were not that terrible & medication existed for that. The Portuguese had helicopters & planes (even napalm...) but the problem was that the USSR started supplying the nationalists/"terrorists"(déjà vu eh?)/insurgencies with SAM-7s which put an end to Portuguese air superiority which was vital in the overall strategy.
Post-war stress ? One millions sounds too much for me but let me tell you that my father came back different from there....
Not sure about casualties. I've heard about 2000 in Angola, 1700 in Bissau-Guinea & 1500 in Mozambique. Again those figures are not gospel so caution is needed. I would be curious to know the guerrilla's movements casualties.
At the end (to shorten this up), and because all european countries had left their colonies , our politicians decided to give our colonies away in 1974 when we still controled those same colonies.
Both the 2 other great european colonial powers, England & France left their colonies, yes, but they instaured instead neo-colonialism i.e ruling with multinationals. Total-Elf-Fina anyone ? For France only 2 exceptions Indochina (the FIRST vietnam war) & Algeria whose conflict is being rediscovered nowadays. For England well only Malaysia & Kenya experienced conflicts.
IMHO This was the portuguese Vietnam, as it was unnecessary but the outcome was somehow different.
1)What do you think of the colonial wars?
2)Can we compare it to Vietnam as a Guerilla war?
3)And if The portuguese had half the means The US army had in Vietnam?
1. That was bound to happen... Salazar & Caetano and the April junta could have fared much better in dealing with the decolonization process & that's a sweet euphemism...
2. I would keep the "Portuguese Vietnam" expression for Bissau-Guinea but you are not that far from the truth in a way. Counter-example : Angola. The Portuguese Army was not beaten in 1974 simply because the guerrillas (MPLA, FNLA, UNITA) kept fighting each other or at least informed the PIDE/DGS (secret police) about the rival movements' whereabouts.
3. It would have helped indeed. Portugal was subject to a weapons' embargo & was kind of a pariah in the UN. The US refused to supply arms or only in limited quantity & never the best ; those Huey helicopters would sure have helped. So Portugal bought weapons from France & Germany. Let me point out that the Portuguese tactics were clearly inspired by the French anti-insurgency experience from Indo-China & Algeria.
In fact, the Portuguese attempted to win the war by other methods than brute force. General Spinola in Bissau-Guinea launched some successfull "hearts & minds" campaigns by reforms designed to give Africans more rights. A little known fact is Caetano's "africanization" of the war. The Portuguese mobilized Africans who were opposed to the guerrillas on political, ethnic or even religious grounds. The result was that by 1974 more than 50 % of the 136,000-strong colonial army was black.
With more means & above all more political acumen, Portugal could have had a very strong position in negotiations with the rebels.
sources :
Osprey's Men-at-arms Series Modern African wars (2) Angola and Moçambique 1961-1974 , 1988, London.
plus family veterans
