| History - WWII Comes to Mexico |
by Gregg Thompson
Just past 11:30 on the night of May 13th, 1942, a German U-boat fired torpedoes at a merchant ship silhouetted against the lit-up coast of south Florida. The vessel was the “Potrero del Llano,” of Mexican registry, and as the torpedoes struck the several thousand tons of oil she was carrying exploded in a fireball that sparked Mexico´s entry into World War II.
Having broken off diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan following Pearl Harbor, Mexico demanded an explanation and indemnification from Germany through the Mexican ambassador to Sweden. (The U-boat sinkings were part of Operation Paukenschlag, a German submarine offensive which targeted shipping using US East Coast ports.)
Germany responded nine days later by torpedoing a second Mexican oil tanker off the Florida Keys.
Mexico declared war against the Axis powers on May 28th, 1942.
Over the next three-and-a-half years of war, the economic and military links forged between Mexico and the United States would define relations across the Rio Grande for decades to come. Immigrant labor, bi-lateral trade, energy sharing and security co-operation are all modern-day issues first confronted by the two neighbors as WW2 allies 60 years ago.
Plunging agrarian Mexico into a global war between industrialized nations was not a widely popular move; large segments of Mexican political opinion sharply rejected the war. Major opposition came from the right-wing Sinarquista movement, a loosely-formed but influential Catholic cultural organization with close ties to the Spanish Falange, the Nazi-styled political party recently emerged victorious in Spain´s 1936-39 civil war. Sinarquist membership in Mexico numbered 500,000 in 1940 - many were trained paramilitaries in the movement´s “Gold Shirts” organization. Opposition came also from Mexico´s sizable Italian expatriate community.
Right-wing reaction was so vehement that just four days after declaring war Mexican President Avila Camacho was forced to parade together, on the balcony of the National Palace, all living ex-Presidents of Mexico. This extraordinary show of national solidarity was meant to cool not only over-heating public debate about Mexico´s war role, but also to assure an expectant but skeptical America of Mexico´s resolve to overcome internal dissent while accepting sizable international responsibilities.
Mexico quickly began fulfilling its wartime commitment to America by providing tens of thousands of agricultural contract workers, tanker-loads of oil and massive amounts of other crucial war materiel.
Security on America´s Mexican flank preoccupied Washington, and centered largely around the country´s 12,000 kilometer (7500 mile) coastline, with its many bays easily accessible to submarine-landed saboteurs and its several Pacific ports vulnerable to attack and occupation. The June, 1942, landings by Japanese troops on Attu and Kiska in Alaska´s Aleutian Island chain showed that Japan was quite willing to attack and occupy important points in America´s outer defensive perimeter.
US intelligence agencies were especially worried by the 1942 establishment by the Sinarquists of a colony and port at Magdalena Bay, on the coast of Baja California. Far enough removed from effective Mexican naval control but close enough to US territory to serve enemy interests, the concern was that the Sinarchists might allow Japanese use of the facility. The fear was not misplaced. While Japanese forces were landing in the Aleutians, Japanese submarines were shelling oil refineries along the California coast and 9000 Japanese balloon-bourne incendiary bombs were setting forest fires in Oregon state — anything was considered possible. (This period of hyper-uncertainty also provoked the controversial forced removal of tens of thousand of Americans and Canadians of Japanese descent from their West Coast homes to inland internment camps.)
US President Roosevelt, recognizing the need for closer US-Mexican security co-operation, used the FBI and various arms of military intelligence to infiltrate Sinarquist fund-raising cells operating in the US; Mexican President Avila Camacho responded by allowing US agents to secretly enter Mexico and train Mexican security police in counterintelligence methods.
But Mexico´s WW2 effort went beyond patrolling its beaches and sniffing out spies; thousands of Mexicans served with US forces during the war, including some 300 who fought as a distinct Mexican unit in the Pacific air war.
It was decided early on that the military arm best equipped to carry the Mexican flag into battle was the Mexican Air Force. An agreement between the US and Mexico allowing for the reciprocal use of airfields and facilities had been in place since April, 1941. But following Mexico´s declaration of war intense air-training programs sponsored by the USAAF came into affect. Some air-crews were trained in Mexico at Guadalajara, while other Mexican Air Force personnel went directly to airbases in Florida, Texas and Idaho.
By July, 1944, enough Mexican pilots had been trained to form three squadrons, one of which (Squadron 201, or “The Aztec Eagles”) was commissioned for active service in February, 1945. It saw action while attached to the USAAF Fifth Air Corp., flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts out of Clark Field in the Phillipines, and also over Formosa. Of the 31 Mexican pilots who flew in combat missions, five were killed.
Of Squadron 201 General Douglas MacArthur said. “I have watched over its combat activities with growing pride and admiration, and for that reason upon leaving (the Phillipines) I have said goodbye to them with sadness and affection.”
It was the first time Mexican forces had ever set foot on foreign soil to wage war, and it hasn´t happened since.
Mexico´s role in WW2 has traditionally received scant local attention. But in an effort to increase national awareness the Mexican government in 1999 opened a site commemorating Squadron 201. It stands in Mexico City´s Chapultepec Park, alongside the nation´s greatest military memorial, dedicated to the 1847 deaths of six Mexican Army cadets who died, ironically, resisting American invaders.
Gregg Thompson has lived in Mexico for six years and is an avid reader of Mexican History. Now living in Zihuatanejo with his wife and family, Gregg is an English teacher and English/Spanish translator with his company, English Language Consultants. He can be reached by e-mail at gregg_30@hotmail.com.
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