Portuguese Expeditionary Corps
| Corpo Expedicionário Português Portuguese Expeditionary Corps |
|
|---|---|
CEP's recognition flash
|
|
| Active | During World War I, 1917–1918 |
| Country |
 Portugal
|
| Allegiance | Portuguese Army |
| Type | Corps |
| Size | 55,000 |
| Headquarters | Saint-Venant, France |
| Engagements |
World War I Western Front Battle of the Lys Hundred Days Offensive |
| Commanders | |
| Corps commander (until July 1918) | General Tamagnini de Abreu |
| Corps commander (from July 1918) | General Garcia Rosado |
| Divisional commander | General Gomes da Costa |
| Divisional commander | General Simas Machado |
| Chief of the General Staff (until March 1918) | Major Roberto da Cunha Baptista |
| Chief of the General Staff (from March 1918) | Colonel Sinel de Cordes |
The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (CEP, Portuguese: Corpo Expedicionário Português) was the main military force from Portugal that fought in the Western Front, during World War I. Portuguese neutrality ended in 1916 after the seizure of German merchant ships resulted in Germany declaring war. The expeditionary force was raised soon after and included around 55,000 soldiers.
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:
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.
The CEP was shipped to France in early 1917, where the first groups received training in trench warfare and were equipped with British small arms. The first units began to deploy in May, and a sector of the frontline was fully held by the CEP by November; by the end of October, just under 60,000 troops had been sent to France.
...
Wikipedia