Manuel Coelho Baptista de Lima Military History Branch
Speaker: Jaime Regalado
Activity to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lys | The Great War
Reserves and exhibitions open from 20:00 to 23:00
Free entry
The decision for Portugal to intervene in the European theatre of the Great War projected a total force of almost 60,000 the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (CEP) soldiers into a new and unknown paradigm of warfare.
The CEP was worn out after more than a year at the helm, low on morale and short of manpower. In the early hours of 9 April 1918, the “German storm” hit the Portuguese sectors and, within a few hours, the Portuguese resistance was down to small groups of enlisted men fighting around a few charismatic officers.
The Battle of the Lys, as it is known in Portuguese historiography, was one of Portugal’s greatest military disasters, but with very specific features that warrant discussion.