In the 1930s, Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas pushed to expand and industrialize his country’s economy—until the outbreak of World War II upended his plans. In response to repeated Axis attacks on Brazilian shipping, Brazil joined the Allies in 1942 and made significant, though rarely recognized, contributions to the war effort. Brazil provided vital air and naval bases to the Allies in the Battle of the Atlantic, while the Brazilian Expeditionary Force distinguished itself in combat during the grueling Italian Campaign.
Getúlio Vargas’s Dreams for Brazil’s Economy
On its face, Brazil’s decision to join the Allies in August 1942 appears somewhat unexpected. Unlike most of the other Allied powers at the time, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Canada, and Australia, Brazil was not a democracy but had in fact been ruled by dictator Getúlio Vargas since 1937.
Moreover, in the 1930s, while the United States was Brazil’s largest trading partner, Brazil had sought to diversify its economy by cultivating significant economic ties with Germany. For example, before the outbreak of World War II, Brazil was the largest supplier of cotton to Germany and was responsible for over 40% of Germany’s coffee imports. The Brazilian military purchased significant quantities of arms from Germany. Brazil also had large immigrant populations from all three major Axis powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Vargas’s overarching goal was to promote Brazil’s economic development and industrialization. He knew he needed foreign investment to accomplish this goal, so throughout the pre-war period, he tried to maintain a neutral position between the Americans, the British, and the Germans.
However, the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 compelled Vargas to revise his strategic calculations. The British naval blockade effectively eliminated Germany as a trading partner for Brazil, so to maintain the economy, Vargas needed to find new markets for Brazilian goods and sources of investment for Brazil’s nascent industrialization. Forced to reconsider his country’s warm relations with Germany, he turned towards the Allied cause.
Brazil Bests Germany: The Battle of the Atlantic
By June 1940, the Germans had successfully defeated and occupied Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France, leaving the United Kingdom as the last major power in Europe still fighting. Continued British resistance depended on the maintenance of trans-Atlantic supply lines that connected the United Kingdom to the economic resources of the rest of the world, and most importantly, of the United States. The stage was set for the Battle of the Atlantic, in which Axis submarines would attempt to sink enough of the ships bringing supplies to the United Kingdom to force the British out of the war.
The strategic importance of Brazil in the Battle of the Atlantic was immediately apparent to all sides. Brazil’s coastline stretches for 4,600 miles; warships and planes operating from bases on the Brazilian coast would be able to patrol the entirety of the central and south Atlantic.
In October 1941, while the United States was still officially neutral, the Roosevelt administration offered Vargas a deal. In return for allowing the Americans to establish bases in northeastern Brazil, the United States would finance the construction of a steel mill in Brazil and provide other economic incentives.
Vargas, desperate for economic support after losing access to German markets, was happy to agree to the American proposals. The United States moved promptly to construct bases, including the largest airbase outside the United States at Natal, Brazil. The Americans also eventually stationed the U.S. 4th Fleet at Recife, Brazil. American planes and warships operating from these bases inflicted significant losses on German submarines in the central and south Atlantic. American planes flying from Brazil were also able to supply Allied troops fighting in North Africa without fear of attack by submarines. The Roosevelt-Vargas deal represented a significant blow to German prospects in the Battle of the Atlantic.
In January 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ official entry into the war, Vargas drew Brazil closer to the United States by breaking off diplomatic relations with Germany.
Hitler viewed Brazil’s decision to allow the Americans to operate bases in its territory and sever diplomatic relations as a hostile act and responded by unleashing U-boats on Brazil’s shipping.
Brazil was not prepared for this assault, and throughout the first half of 1942, dozens of its ships were sunk by Axis submarines, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Brazilians reacted with outrage, and protests filled Brazil’s major cities demanding that Vargas formally declare war on the Axis powers. In some cases, immigrants from the Axis powers were attacked by hostile crowds.
While Vargas had, by this point, clearly aligned Brazil with the United States, in early 1942 he still resisted formally entering the war. Vargas’ hesitation probably stemmed from the knowledge that, while the majority of the Brazilian people were clamoring for war, there was significant sympathy for the Axis powers within the Brazilian military. Nonetheless, on August 22, 1942, following a string of particularly devastating attacks by German and Italian submarines, Vargas formally declared war on Germany and Italy.
The Brazilian Navy, despite primarily consisting of obsolete vessels, fully committed to the Allied cause in the Atlantic and conducted over 35,000 convoy escort missions during the war. The effectiveness of the Brazilian Navy increased as American Lend-Lease aid flowed to Brazil in the form of destroyers and PBY-Catalina planes. By the end of 1943, after sinking nearly a dozen German and Italian submarines, American and Brazilian forces had largely succeeded in forcing the Axis to withdraw from Brazilian waters. The withdrawal of the U-boats from the Brazilian theater allowed vital Brazilian natural resources, including rubber, to flow to Allied war factories unimpeded.
Boots Down: The Brazilian Expeditionary Force in Italy
Vargas was determined that Brazil should receive the greatest benefits possible in exchange for its participation in the Allied war effort. He was particularly interested in ensuring continued access to American markets and capital following the war. Brazil had already contributed heavily to the Allied war effort by opening up its territory to American bases. Still, Vargas felt that a more visible Brazilian contribution was needed and ordered the Brazilian military to draw up plans to send an expeditionary force to fight with the Allies in Europe.
The initial plans for the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (BEF) envisioned sending 100,000 men in four divisions. However, while Brazilians flocked to recruiting stations, the Brazilian state of the 1940s was only able to organize a single division of 25,000 men. The BEF also contributed a fighter plane and observation squadron to the Allied cause.
Vargas was eager that the BEF should prove its mettle in combat against the Axis as soon as possible. However, the Americans recognized that the BEF was in no shape to fight a modern war and undertook the training and equipment of the Brazilians so they would stand a chance in combat against the highly experienced German army. After nearly two years of training, the first contingent of the BEF set sail from Rio de Janeiro in July 1944, bound for the Italian front.
In Italy, the BEF joined the U.S. Fifth Army under the command of General Mark Clark. On September 15, 1944, the first Brazilian units went to the frontline to face German and fascist Italian forces entrenched in the “Gothic Line.” While the BEF lacked combat experience when it arrived in Italy, the Brazilians learned quickly. The BEF performed admirably in Allied efforts in the fall and winter of 1944 to break through the Gothic Line and advance into northern Italy. The Brazilian soldiers gained confidence as they fought and nicknamed themselves the Cobras Fumantes, or “Smoking Snakes.”
In November 1944, the BEF was given its toughest assignment to date: taking the fortified hill of Monte Castello, which barred the Allied advance towards Bologna. The Germans that the BEF faced at Monte Castello were heavily entrenched with artillery support. The BEF also faced severe winter weather that limited the effectiveness of Allied air support.
For the next three months, the BEF fought its way up the slopes of Monte Castello in a battle reminiscent of the Allies’ struggle to capture Monte Cassino the previous year. The Brazilians took heavy casualties throughout the fighting but did not waver, and in February 1945, the German defenses broke, and Monte Castello fell to the BEF. The capture of Monte Castello was hailed throughout Brazil as a major victory.
The capture of Monte Castello in February 1945 helped break the Gothic Line and pave the way for the final Allied offensive in northern Italy. The BEF participated fully in the final Allied offensive and, in heavy fighting in the last days of the war, captured over 15,000 German troops. In addition to its ground forces, the BEF contributed to the Allied victory in Italy through the efforts of Brazilian pilots organized in the BEF’s 1st Fighter Squadron. The 1st Fighter Squadron engaged in combat with Axis pilots and provided tactical air support to Allied soldiers throughout the BEF’s presence in Italy.
The Legacy of Brazil’s World War II Alliances
Fighting for the Allies awakened in many Brazilians, including many veterans of the BEF, a desire for democracy. In 1945, Vargas was overthrown in a coup, and free elections were held, restoring, at least for a time, democracy in Brazil. Despite the fact that his regime ultimately collapsed, in a sense Vargas accomplished his objective. Brazil’s participation in World War II cemented an alliance with the United States and sparked a wave of industrialization and economic development throughout the country that led to Brazil becoming South America’s largest economy.
