Mexico during World War II

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, precipitating the Americans to abandon neutrality and enter the war which, from being purely European, thus became world-wide. Mexico, respecting the agreements of the Havana Conference of 1940, the Rio de Janeiro Conference of 1942 and in a move of loyalty, broke off relations with Japan and interrupted all commercial exchange with the Axis countries. This was the conclusion of relations between Mexico and Germany, which had been weakening since the British commercial blockade against the Axis.^[9] Simultaneously, it resumed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, broken since the oil expropriation of March 18, 1938.

Declaration of War

Mexico sold oil to several countries, its main client being the United States, and its ships sailed the Gulf of Mexico. This trade naturally did not suit the Axis powers, which is why German U-boats threatened Mexican merchant ships, warning that this activity could have severe consequences.^[1]

On May 13, 1942, a Nazi submarine sank a Mexican oil tanker, the Potrero del Llano.^[10] The Mexican government immediately protested the aggression:

If by next Thursday, May 21, 1942, Mexico has not received from the country responsible for the aggression complete satisfaction, as well as guarantees that the indemnities for the damages suffered will be duly covered, the government of the Republic will immediately adopt the measures required by national honor.

Mexico received no response except for a new attack on May 20. Another oil tanker, the Faja de Oro, was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico by a German torpedo.^[11] On May 22, the president called an extraordinary session of the Congress of the Union to grant the executive the power to declare a state of war between Mexico and the Axis countries. Before the congress, Avila Camacho said the following:

The attitude that Mexico takes in the present eventuality is based on the fact that our determination stems from a need for legitimate defense. We know the limits of our military resources and we know that, given the enormity of the international masses in conflict, our role in the current conflict will not consist of extra-continental war actions, for which we are not prepared.

"Simulated neutrality" had been left behind and Mexico was explicitly on the side of the Allies as a belligerent country. Lázaro Cárdenas was appointed Secretary of Defense, the National Military Service (SMN) was created, the United States delivered armaments to improve the capacity of the Mexican army, and the properties of German, Japanese and Italian citizens were seized. Even so, Avila Camacho recognized that his role in the conflict was not on the battlefield, but to prepare his defenses and provide resources to his new allies.^[12]

Between June and September 1942 the

President Avila Camacho immediately met with his cabinet, who, analyzing the situation, took precautionary measures to reinforce the surveillance and defense of the Pacific coast.^[citation needed]

Combat participation

Militarily, Mexican participation had been limited to the military defense of the coasts of Baja California, but the Allied powers pressed for Mexico to send a symbolic force to the battlefield.

In 1943, due to the military situation in Europe, the Mexican government began to reconsider its refusal to participate in the war with Mexican troops there. By this time, the Allies were already on the offensive on all fronts and the possibility of a German or Japanese attack on the American continent seemed increasingly remote. So Mexico decided to send to the war front a symbolic force to fight under the Mexican flag, providing that it would be an air force contingent in the Pacific campaign. Thus, in 1944, the 201st Squadron arrived in the United States for aviation training. A year later, in 1945, the Mexican squadron (known as the Aztec Eagles) was ready for battle; this squadron of fighter planes participated directly in the Philippines campaign alongside the United States Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force.^[17]

The 201st Squadron arrived at

Thus, the 201st Squadron of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, composed of about 300 men, 30 pilots and 25 U.S.-made P-47D Thunderbolt aircraft, fought against Imperial Japanese Army forces during the Battle of Luzon in pursuit of the liberation of the Philippines. The P-47D aircraft carried USAAF insignia but with Mexican colors on the tail rudder.

in the Pacific

in June 1945, the squadron initially flew missions with the 310th Fighter Squadron, often twice a day, using borrowed U.S. aircraft. It received 25 new P-47D-30-RA aircraft in July, marked with the insignia of both the USAAF and Mexican Air Force. The squadron flew more than 90 combat missions, totaling more than 1,900 hours of flight time. It participated in the Allied effort to bomb Luzon and Formosa to push the Japanese out of those islands. It relentlessly attacked the Japanese forces concentrated mainly in Luzon and flew 53 combat missions as part of the U.S. Air Force warfare organization, was specified in the support of the 25th U.S. Marine Division, the Philippine Army, as well as numerous Filipino guerrillas, to open up into the Cagayan valley where the squadron devastated the Japanese defenses on the ground with its bombs. Close support missions consisted mainly of attacking resistance points with feces, apart from these they launched attacks on bases, fortifications, supply routes and machine gun pits.^[18]

During its fighting in the Philippines, five squadron pilots died (one was shot down, one crashed, and three ran out of fuel and died at sea); and three others died in accidents during training.^[1] The pilot Héctor Espinoza Galván was flying together with an American pilot but he ran out of fuel and fell into the ocean; His body was never found. Captain Pablo Ribaz Martínez and Second Lieutenant Guillermo García Ramos were surrounded by a storm, Ribaz Martínez dying while García Ramos survived after being rescued. On July 21, 1945, Second Lieutenant Mario López Portillo along with another pilot from 311th Squadron crashed into a mountain nearby, dying in the process. The casualties of these pilots would be a serious blow to 201st Squadron, meanwhile, the fifth force moved to Okinawa to continue harassment attacks on the Japanese. The Mexican Expeditionary Air Force was assigned to the service group of 311th Squadron, and on August 24, it carried out an escort mission to a convoy north of the Philippine Sea to prevent Japanese attacks. After intense fighting and losing companions, the mission had been accomplished.^[19]

Given all this, on August 15, 1945, the Empire of Japan finally accepted its unconditional surrender, which was formalized with a solemn signature on September 2, in Tokyo Bay. During that period, the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred. They were very risky missions, since the anti-aircraft attacks would cause six planes to be annihilated by bullets. Mexican troops were credited with putting 30,000 Japanese soldiers out of action and destroying held buildings, vehicles, tanks, anti-aircraft machine guns, emplaced machine guns, and ammunition depots. Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Command Allied Forces in Southwest Pacific Area, was impressed with the work performed by the squadron.^[20]

Years later, it was announced that the Mexican troops were going to embark to the

But Mexico's participation in World War II was not exclusive to the 201st Squadron. Thousands of Mexicans fought on the battlefield as volunteers in foreign armies or as residents of other countries. There are figures of between 50 thousand to 80 thousand Mexicans who fought on different fronts, many of them did so voluntarily. On D-Day there were also Mexican fighters, all of whom were volunteers and born in other countries, including Luis Pérez Gómez (1922-1944), who enlisted as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, participating in various missions during the Normandy landings.

One of the most prominent Mexicans as reinforcements for other troops was José M. López, who fought alongside the American troops and his bravery in the conflict was such that after the Allied victory, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration in the army. This after his participation in the Battle of the Bulge, where he and other soldiers counterattacked the German offensive. Mendoza, with a machine gun, left almost more than 100 casualties to the Germans.^[22]

Returns

On September 25, 1945, a few weeks after the war ended, members of the FAEM unveiled a monument to their fallen comrades. The monument was designed by pilot

201st Squadron returned to Mexico City on November 18 in a military parade in the Zócalo and the subsequent presentation of the flag to the president, General Manuel Ávila Camacho, being received as heroes for battling fascism in the Pacific. The FAEM was disbanded upon his return from the Philippines. However, the rest of the Mexicans who fought in other armies were not given recognition as they did with the Squadron.

In the years following the war, many of the members have successfully moved on to other careers in life, some as leaders of civil aviation or the Mexican Army, others as businessmen, educators and engineers; five of the pilots became generals of the Mexican Air Force.

Popular opinion

Not all of the population agreed with participating in the war. A poll by the magazine Tiempo revealed that 40.7% supported Mexico's further involvement in World War II, while 59.8% opposed it. To change public opinion, the government began a propaganda campaign to justify its decision. They used Rodolfo Chacón, a survivor of the German attack on Potrero del Llano as the focal point of the propaganda.

Regarding military service, there was also division among Mexicans, provoking violent protests that led the government to exempt draftees from overseas service, which helped quell civil unrest. However, Mexican citizens living in other countries were drafted into their respective armies, resulting in high casualty rates.

The press and the popular opinion, on one side was the sympathy with the aliadophiles and on the other the germanophile current. For the former, the gazettes and newspapers in general were full of praise "with the full assurance of conquering the laurels of triumph". And in cities throughout the Republic, "darkening exercises" were carried out, in which the civilian population had to participate by turning off all sources of light, as a strategy to hinder possible bombing of the cities.

On the other hand, in the newspaper La Nación, organ of diffusion of the National Action Party, Efraín González Luna stated:

The great danger of our situation consists in the fact that on the one hand, this is a war whose direction and decision are in the hands of the great powers engaged in it for life or death, and at the same time, we do not have a repertoire of tangible objectives to mark and govern our path... no pending territorial dispute... an invasion... we do not even have a common border with enemy countries.... We run the risk of entering into a rather ideological war of solidarity with the United States of America.... Under these conditions we are seriously exposed to a deadly annulment of our national personality.

So it had been, the leader of the workers, Vicente Lombardo Toledano, visible head of the Mexican left, supported the allied cause in the tribunes and advised the president not to take refuge in prudence because the time had come for the country to honor its traditions. The idea of National Unity prevailed and 1942 was baptized as the "Year of Effort", with the multiplication in all the media of allusive messages always accompanied by a Mexican flag such as:

Mexican: think of your country and work for it,

The Americas United, united we will win,

We are at War, Spirit of Victory,

The radio constantly broadcast war reports and allusive radio soap operas: Contraespionaje, Las ideas no se matan. Agustín Lara premiered his Cantar del Regimiento and the cinema achieved resounding successes that everyone likes to this day: ¡Mexicanos al Grito de Guerra! by Álvaro Gálvez y Fuentes, La Isla de la Pasión and Soy puro mexicano by Emilio Fernández. This was the popular sentiment.

Aftermath

Politic

When the Allies achieved victory, and although they actively sent soldiers in the last year of the conflict, Mexico was among the victors. Therefore, the country was a founding member of the

Economic

Mexico's geographic position and the global crisis the world was facing placed the country in a strategic role for the supply and security of its northern neighbors, Canada and the United States. The U.S. productive force was incomplete and international trade was hampered; Mexico had a "high bargaining power" with the U.S. and was obliged to produce products that it had previously imported. The country had natural resources indispensable for the war industry -such as copper, zinc, graphite, minerals, silver, cattle, beer and agricultural products-, which increased its exports and stimulated its development.

These were years of unprecedented prosperity; between 1939 and 1945, the domestic product grew by 10%36 and the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) was founded. The economic benefits of the war also brought some damage: it was during this period that Mexico became completely dependent on the capitalist powers during the early years of the Cold War, missing the opportunity to link up more deeply with the nations of Latin America. Mexico lived in ideal circumstances for industrialization. The conditions that allowed the accelerated growth of the economy were the origin of the import substitution model that Mexico maintained for several decades since the end of the war. Economically, Mexico's actions in World War II cost the country approximately three million dollars.^[24]

The Bracero Program

The entry of U.S. troops into the war caused an intense increase in its industrial and agricultural production. But the departure of U.S. soldiers left little labor for its economy; the remaining U.S. labor force was insufficient to meet the demands of the countryside and industry. Mexico and the United States signed an agreement in 1942 to regulate the flow of Mexican migrants (braceros) to the United States and compensate for the lack of U.S. workers.^[25] The agreement established that braceros could not be employed in military service; they could not suffer acts of discrimination, could not be used to displace U.S. workers and their basic needs had to be assured.^[26] The Bracero Program remained in effect until 1964 and benefited neighboring countries, securing needed labor for the United States and reducing unemployment in Mexico.^[27]

Film industry

A little known situation is the boom in music, radio and, above all, Mexican cinema during the war. On the one hand, the scarcity of labor made the costs of foreign productions fighting in Europe more expensive, which motivated their transfer to Mexican forums and studios -such as the Estudios Churubusco and Azteca Studios in Mexico City and the deserts of Durango. On the other hand, the constant presence of Hollywood stars on the war fronts forced the film industry to use Mexican casts. In addition to the low U.S. film production during the war, Mexican cinema spread throughout the world, where it left a permanent mark.^[28]

Mexican cinema continued to produce works of superb quality and began to explore other genres such as comedy, romance and musical. In 1943, the film