This country is at war with Germany.

We shall go on to the end.

I remember the sheets of flame which came up and almost blinded us from our guns.

Hello and welcome to the World War II podcast. In this episode, we discussed the role of Macau, the Portuguese colony in South China, and the experiences of John Reeves, the British

consul stationed there.

Despite Portugal's official neutrality, Macau found itself caught in the geopolitical struggles of the Pacific War. With Japanese forces surrounding the colony, John Reeves had

the difficult task of representing British interests while navigating an increasingly precarious situation.

His work included intelligence gathering, aiding refugees and balancing diplomacy with survival

in an environment where Japan's influence was ever present.

I'm joined by Peter Rose, who is the author of The Good War of Consul Reeves, which focuses on wartime Macau.

Thanks for joining me, Peter.

For listeners, let's start with Macau.

I suspect people will have heard of it, but cannot perhaps place a pin on the map where it is.

Macau is one of the most fascinating cities that I've ever studied or been to.

It is a small Portuguese colony on the Pearl River Delta, about 35 miles west of Hong Kong, very close to Hong Kong.

And it's been there forever.

It was founded by a motley crew of priests and sailors during the great age of Portuguese

exploration in 1557.

In 1557, if you cast your mind back, for someone from England, it's two years before Elizabeth I first went on the throne.

It's 60 years before the pilgrims arrived in the U.S.

Michelangelo was carving marble in Florence.

And they founded a small Portuguese town with town squares and church, baroque churches and cathedral and forts stuck there on the southern coast of China.

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