Portuguese volunteers for the Allies (?)

[Viktor.S]

Hello everyone,

I've heard of Portuguese nationals who volunteered to serve in the Axis armed forces (such as those who joined the Blue Division under Germany). Were there any foreign volunteers from Portugal serving in Allied militaries?

Thanks.

[Loïc]

There were around 800 Portuguese listed among volunteers of the French Army in 1939
~ 83 Portuguese dead in 1939-1945

Regards

[Viktor.S]

There were around 800 Portuguese listed among volunteers of the French Army in 1939
~ 83 Portuguese dead in 1939-1945

Thank you. Did many of them manage to escape France in 1940 to join the Free French Army? Did any remain behind and join local resistance?

[Loïc]

the lists of Free French show 27 to 38 Portuguese-born
the dossiers kept by the SHD Free French + FFI together around 344

there is also the particular case of East Timor occupied by Japanese and Dutch-Australians
officially neutral and the colonial authorities wanting to mantain the neutrality despite everything the Portuguese Army didn't participate in the operations against the Japanese invasion of 1942 nor both Dutch Australian preventive operation of december 1941 and further reconquest, however under Japanese occupation Portuguese settlers civilians and Timorese inhabitants supported a local resistance and the Australians
the war caused 10 to 15% of dead among the Timorese population
75 Portuguese were killed including at least 5 soldiers from 4ª Bataria Expedicionária de Artilharia de Montanha in Aileu 1945 with civil servants and missionaries


Regards

[Viktor.S]

Thank you. Yes, the invasion of Timor was an unfortunate incident. A violation of Portuguese neutrality by both sides that brought unnecessary suffering.

[Sid Guttridge]

Because the French countryside was depopulating, the French encouraged rural immigration from places like Portugal.

How far this was advanced by WWII, I am not sure, but such immigrants would have had the same military service obligations as other French citizens.

This leads to the question of whether they would be counted as French or Portugues? If the former, there might be considerable hidden Portuguese service in the French Army.

Cheers;

Sid.

[Viktor.S]

How far this was advanced by WWII, I am not sure, but such immigrants would have had the same military service obligations as other French citizens.

Sorry for the confusion, but do you mean that France conscripted immigrants/migrant workers? Or are you only referring to Portuguese who became naturalised French citisens?

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Viktor S,

The latter.

A quick check shows that there were only 20,000 Portuguese-born French in 1959. Most Portuguese immigration came later, so I suspect there were not many Portuguese immigrants before 1940.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Viktor.S]

Thanks for the answer.

[Sid Guttridge]

If you Google "Portuguese Americans WWII", a couple of sites come up. One says tens of thousands volunteered while the other says at least 100,000.

The motivation is given as a desire to consolidate or gain US citizenship

Cheers,

Sid.

[Viktor.S]

I can imagine the case was the same for many immigrant groups in that country. Do you know if US Army in WW2 had an equivalent to the "Army Beta" test from WW1 for immigrants who may not have spoken good English?

[Sid Guttridge]

I am a Brit, so I can't answer that directly. However, according to some of my old notes;

Company E of 141st Infantry Regiment in the Texan 36th Division had an entire infantry company who spoke Spanish as their first language. They mounted a successful reconnaissance for the crossing of the River Rapido on Italy, but their report was ignored.

Arizona's 158th Infantry Regiment's censors tried to stop the 30% of Hispanics in it from writing home in Spanish.

This implies that fluent English was not a prerequisite for Hispanics entering the infantry, at least.

Cheers,

Sid

P.s. This leads me to wonder whether Cajuns were concentrated in any particular units of the Louisiana National Guard when mobilised?

[Viktor.S]

Arizona's 158th Infantry Regiment's censors tried to stop the 30% of Hispanics in it from writing home in Spanish.

This implies that fluent English was not a prerequisite for Hispanics entering the infantry, at least.

I have heard that California had a concentration of Portuguese immigrants since the late 19th century. I wonder if any units raised there during WW2 had a concentration of Portuguese immigrants, like the Arizona regiment with Spanish speakers...

P.s. This leads me to wonder whether Cajuns were concentrated in any particular units of the Louisiana National Guard when mobilised?

The only thing I have heard about Cajuns in WW2 is that some of them were used to liaise with the French Resistance after the D-Day landings. I wonder if Canada did the same with their Quebecois troops...

[daveshoup2MD]

P.s. This leads me to wonder whether Cajuns were concentrated in any particular units of the Louisiana National Guard when mobilised?

The 156th Infantry Regiment was a Louisiana National Guard unit that was federalized on 25 Nov. 1940 as an element of the 31st Division, and thus started to "lose" its "local" character at that point, with fillers coming from across the country; that being said, after being detached on 14 July 1942 as the division was triangularized, the 156th went as a separate regiment to the UK (arriving on 6 October, 1942); the 2nd Battalion, 156th Infantry was then detached and sent to French North Africa "due to its French linguistic abilities" and served in MP and similar duties in North Africa until 25 Feb. 1944 (having been redesignated the 202nd Infantry Battalion on 1 Sept. 1943. The 202nd was broken up to form nine separate numbered MP companies, the 66th-74th MP companies; some served in Italy with 5th Army and some in southern France and Germany with the 7th Army.

https://books.google.com/books?id=agxau ... on&f=false