The Portuguese Azores lie among vital shipping lanes between the US and the
Mediterranean Sea, Europe, and South America. Though the Azores were of little value to the
Western Hemisphere's defense, this was countered by their immense value to Germany. If Germany was to build air and naval bases from these islands, they could put a further chokehold on British shipping. This led U.S. Army and Navy planning officers in October 1940 to draft a plan for surprise invasion of the Azores. At the time, the plan was not feasible due to a lack of manpower and resources and it was incompatible with the US policy of staying out of the war. In May 1941, intelligence suggested the possibility of Germany seizing the Azores Islands. This led President Roosevelt to commission the Army and Navy to draft a new formal plan codenamed Gray. The plan was approved by the Joint Board on 29 May. It called for a force of 28,000 combat troops, half Marine and half Army. Gray's landing force would be commanded by Major General
Holland M. Smith,
USMC, under Rear Admiral
Ernest J. King, the Expeditionary commander. Six days before the Azores directive, US attention was turned towards Brazil, for fears of the Axis powers stepping into South America and the Western Hemisphere. This led to a change in urgency of the Azores operation. In June, intelligence sources produced credible evidence that Germany planned not to invade Spain and Portugal but the
Soviet Union. This put an end to the fears of the Azores islands and War Plan Gray was suspended. ==See also==