PORTUGAL: Later Than You Think

Lisbon spies peered and scribbled. New and impressive shipments of British arms were arriving. There were sounds and signs of Portuguese mobilization. In the bars the word went around: Portugal was preparing to make war on the Axis—before it was too late.

Said uneasy Premier-Dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, to explain the mobilization to his discontented people: “It may be necessary to reinforce the colonial garrisons*;. … In the unfortunate times in which we are living, [the military] may have to be used against foreign enemies as much as against internal elements of national disintegration.”

*Japanese have held Portuguese Timor in the East Indies since Feb. 20, 1942, lately have seized control of Macao near Hong Kong.