Portugal during World War II
Upon the start of World War II in 1939, the Portuguese Government announced on 1 September that the 600-year-old Anglo-Portuguese Alliance remained intact, but that since the British did not seek Portuguese assistance, Portugal was free to remain neutral in the war and would do so. In an aide-mémoire of 5 September 1939, the British Government confirmed the understanding. As Hitler's occupation swept across Europe, neutral Portugal became one of the Continent's last escape routes. Portugal managed to remain neutral throughout the war despite extraordinary pressures from both sides, notably over the strategically located Azores islands and over the wolfram (tungsten) trade.
Time in Portugal
In the years 1942–1945, during World War II, Portugal, not only advanced clocks by 1 hour during DST, as also advanced them by another 1 hour during some months of those years, coming to have clocks 2 hours ahead of GMT, during that “double DST”. Situation returned to normality after 1945, with the end of World War II, and normal DST continued to be observed. In 1948, it was approved that DST should be observed from the first Sunday in April to the first Sunday in October.