The Battle of Lapa Highlands

Report by Captain Azevedo, commander of the forces of the Monarchy of the North, after the battle.

On 28 February 1920, between the village of Quintela and the town of Águas Boas, not far from the sought-after Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Lapa, our forces engaged with a strong Republican column that was retreating to Coimbra, after having failed in its assault on São João da Pesqueira. They wanted to cross the Douro to set fire to the region’s wine estates, destroy two ethanol factories, and plunder the stocks of port, one of the main sources of income for the Northern Monarchy.

They retreated through Penedono, avoiding Sernancelhe, thinking they could find their way to Sátão and Viseu by crossing the Serra da Lapa.

Their every move was watched by agents from the Department, and so we were waiting in the most favourable place, the highest position in the whole region, next to the village of Quintela. I had with me two hundred men from the Monarchy’s regular forces, including some veterans of Flanders, with another seventy men from the mountain troops and around fifty civilian volunteers, armed with weapons that had been captured from the enemy in other encounters.

I won’t forget the surprise of the Republican forces. We saw them around 9h50. We didn’t have any heavy equipment, but we did have a few British 81mm mortars, placed on one of the highest points of the mountain, and, well-hidden by the roadside, Lewis machine guns, the centrepiece of our firepower.

When we spotted the end of the column, I instructed the men to attack the beginning and the end. Soon the transport vans were on fire, and the rest of the Republican soldiers, unable to retreat, had to face our mortars and the fire of the machine-guns, along with the shots from the Mauser-Vergueiro rifles. It’s very difficult to see where the mortar fire is coming from, and we had on our side both the terrain and the element of surprise.

The Republicans tried to fight back, but our troops were well camouflaged and the enemy had poor aim. I could see that many wanted to scatter; however, the officers were circling the troops, threatening them with pistols in hand!

Before dinner time, the enemy surrendered. They sent a captain and two lieutenants, haggard and dirty-faced, to confer with me about the conditions of their surrender. Shortly afterwards, I had the pleasant sight of a column of prisoners marching towards Oporto. They will later be exchanged for our soldiers who are in the hands of the Republicans.