The Cay, by Theodore Taylor
During World Warr II the Caribbean was important because of Venezuelan oil fields in the southeast and the Panama Canal in the southwest. The Lago Company refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba, processing seven million barrels of oil per month, was the largest oil refinery in the world; the refinery at on Trinidad was the largest in the British Empire; and there was another large refinery on Dutch-owned Curaçao. The United States and Britain needed oil for the war effort. The British Isles required four oil tankers of petroleum daily during the early war years, and most of it came from Venezuela after Italy blocked passage through the Mediterranean Sea from the Middle East.
The Caribbean held additional strategic significance to the United States. The United States' Gulf of Mexico coastline, including petroleum facilities and Mississippi River trade, could be defended at two points. The United States defended the Panama Canal with 189 bombers and 202 fighters, and based submarines in Panama and on the U.S. Virgin Islands. British troops occupied Aruba and Curaçao soon after the Netherlands were captured by Nazi Germany. On 11 February 1942, United States forces replaced British soldiers on the Dutch refinery islands and began operating Douglas A-20 Havocs from Hato Field on Curaçao and Dakota Field on Aruba. |