After an initial intervention by the Portuguese Air Force, the Portuguese forces landed without meeting any kind of serious resistance in five places of the archipelago, between 15 and 17 of January. The first two intervention groups disembarked on the 15th. Group A disembarked in Caiar, in the south of the island, and then advanced to the tabanca with the same name. They arrived at the tabanca the next day, after a painful march, but they found that the village had been abandoned. Group B landed in the southern part of the island of Como, and advanced to Cauane, where the soldiers encountered resistance. After the fighting, the guerrillas took refuge in the woods, but they were then dislodged from their position by the marines of Detachment 8. Over the next two days the other three Portuguese groups landed without encountering resistance, thereby completing the siege of the guerrillas. The fighting, however, was intensifying in the Cauane area and conditions on the ground were become increasingly adverse for Portuguese forces. The Portuguese also face other problems that logistics were not prepared for. Due to the lack of fresh water on the island, Portuguese troops were forced to dig wells only to obtain poor quality brackish water, and the soldiers also suffered from having poor food and from having to operate in the intense heat under the African Sun.
