Cape Verde in World War II
History
The Suez Canal was traditionally how Britain reached its lucrative and important eastern colonies such as India, but the canal became a battleground during the war as the Axis tried to capture it from the Allies. As such, the Allies needed to rely on Atlantic islands and archipelagos such as Cape Verde for their critical supply lines between Europe and South and East Asia.
Throughout the war, Allied ships were stationed at the Cape Verdean city of Mindelo on the island of São Vicente.[1]
An Allied invasion of several Atlantic islands belonging to Portugal was planned and code named Operation Alacrity. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt also wanted to include an invasion of Cape Verde to be part of the plan, openly saying that Axis occupation of Cape Verde would threaten U.S. safety and would force the U.S. to act upon its Monroe Doctrine. This statement came in mid-1941, before the Attack on Pearl Harbor and led U.S. military officials to draft War Plan Gray, a predecessor to Operation Alacrity that included solely the United States. Neither War Plan Gray nor Operation Alacrity ever came to fruition, as the Axis could never reasonably threaten Portugal's Atlantic island territories with an invasion.[2]
In 1941, three German
Cape Verde saw its worst ever
Several
The political and economic situation of the post-war world eventually allowed Cape Verde to gain independence from the Portuguese Empire in 1975, as part of a much larger trend of decolonization across the world.
See also
References
- ^ "Shipwreck: Georges A. Rocha". World Wide Voluntary Observing Ship Program. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
- ^ "694. Basic Plan for Capture and Occupation of Azores (Gray)". The National Archives Catalog. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ^ Lycett, Andrew (February 17, 2011). "Breaking Germany's Enigma Code". BBC History. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
- .
- hdl:2022/3269.
- SouthCoastToday.com. Archived from the originalon May 25, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
Further reading
- Leite, Joaquim da Costa (1998). "Neutrality by Agreement: Portugal and the British Alliance in World War II". American University International Law Review. 14 (1). Washington College of Law: 185–199. Retrieved August 21, 2020.