Primera Patrulha

The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (Corpo Expedicionario Poruigues, CEP), over 50,000-strong, was the supreme achievement of Portuguese interventionism in World War I. The CEP’s 1st Division, prepared over the course of 1916, set sail for France early in 1917. Not ready for trench warfare, its elements required further training. Portuguese troops …

1917-06-02

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The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (Corpo Expedicionario Poruigues, CEP), over 50,000-strong, was the supreme achievement of Portuguese interventionism in World War I. The CEP’s 1st Division, prepared over the course of 1916, set sail for France early in 1917. Not ready for trench warfare, its elements required further training. Portuguese troops received training oriented to trench and other modern warfare techniques from British soldiers before entering the line. From June 2, 1917, to the April 6,1918, the 1st Division was responsible for the subsectors of Neuve-Chappelle and Ferme du Bois in the Portuguese Sector of the Western Front. At their arrival in position, as most of the troops were taking possession of the dugouts and trenches, patrols were sent out to reconnoiter No Man's Land...and meet Fritz.

Richebourg, France

At the outbreak of the First World War, Portugal had declared its neutrality. The country remained neutral until 1916, though occasional skirmishes between Portuguese and German colonial troops occurred in Africa. In March 1916, the Portuguese Government seized a number of merchant ships belonging to the Central Powers which were anchored in Lisbon. The German government took this as a hostile act and declared war. The Government announced it would raise an expeditionary force to fight on the Western Front, with the first units being raised by July. In early 1917, the force was split into two elements. Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, an infantry force of about 55,000 men, to operate under the control of the British First Army; Independent Heavy Artillery Corps, an artillery force of nine batteries of heavy railway guns, manned by Portuguese gunners with artillery provided by France and the United Kingdom, to operate under the control of the French Army. Initially, CEP was constituted as a single reinforced infantry division, organized according to the Portuguese model, in which divisions were much larger than the British ones. Subsequently, it was decided to reorganize the CEP according to the British model, allowing it to become an army corps of two divisions and corps support troops, just by adding some additional battalions. This new organization would allow it to have sufficient autonomy to be able to take the responsibility for an entire independent sector of the Western Front.

Wikipedia: Portuguese Expeditionary Corps

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