The Second World War
Because Portugal stayed neutral in the Second World War, Goa was too. As a result, at the outbreak of hostilities a number of Axis ships sought refuge in Goa rather than face the likelihood of interception by the British Royal Navy. There were three German ships, the Ehrenfels, the Drachenfels and the Braunfels, as well as an Italian ship. The British discovered that the Ehrenfels was transmitting information on Allied ship movements to U-boats in the Indian Ocean, with extremely damaging consequences for British shipping.
Because Portugal was neutral the British was unable to take any official action against these ships, however the SOE Indian mission organised a covert raid using members of the Calcutta Light Horse, a part-time unit made up of civilians who were not eligible for normal war service. The Light Horse embarked on an ancient Calcutta riverboat, the Phoebe, and sailed round India to Goa, where they sunk the Ehrenfels, and the other ships scuttled themselves, fearing that they were about to be seized.
The story of this raid was the subject of James Leasor's book, Boarding Party, which in turn was made into a film, The Sea Wolves, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Roger Moore in 1980. Because of the potential political ramifications of the fact that Britain had violated Portuguese neutrality, the raid remained secret until James Leasor's book was published in 1978.
Read more about this topic: History Of Goa
Famous quotes containing the words the second, world and/or war:
“It was not till the middle of the second dance, when, from some pauses in the movement wherein they all seemed to look up, I fancied I could distinguish an elevation of spirit different from that which is the cause or the effect of simple jollity.—In a word, I thought I beheld Religion mixing in the dance.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“Orthodoxy is the Bourbon of the world of thought. It learns not, neither can it forget.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Signal smokes, war drums, feathered bonnets against the western sky. New messiahs, young leaders are ready to hurl the finest light cavalry in the world against Fort Stark. In the Kiowa village, the beat of drums echoes in the pulsebeat of the young braves. Fighters under a common banner, old quarrels forgotten, Comanche rides with Arapaho, Apache with Cheyenne. All chant of war. War to drive the white man forever from the red man’s hunting ground.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)