Decryption: Why did Brazil choose to join the Allies and send troops to fight in World War II?

In the 2014 World Cup semi-finals, Germany slaughtered the host Brazil 7:1. Some netizens commented that the last time the Germans were so cruel was during World War II. 70 years ago, Brazil and Germany did meet, but the abuser and the abused needed to switch places. The 95-year-old Brazilian veteran Davaro’s favorite World War II story is how he pretended to be Italians and used a white wolf-style honey trap. “We disguised ourselves as Italians and greeted the German soldiers in Italian. : Sirs, we have prepared many blonde beauties for you, please come with us."

This plot seems a bit familiar, in "*** **" directed by Quentin Tarantino. * In "", the American soldier played by Brad Pitt also pretended to be Italian, but his poor Italian made the Nazi officers dumbfounded. The German soldiers in the real story did not have such good luck. Since many Brazilians were of Italian origin, and the pronunciation of Latin was similar, the Germans were confused and naturally fell into the trap.

"We took down the Nazis with just one mouth," Davaro said excitedly, sitting in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force Museum. The museum is located in an alley in the old town of Rio de Janeiro. The entrance is very small, and the signs are not inconspicuous. Passers-by don't seem to be aware of the museum's existence. Brazil is the only country in South America that sent troops to World War II, but not many Brazilians know this history.

Brazil has experienced only a handful of wars in history. The most recent war that occurred in Brazil itself can be traced back to the Paraguay War in 1864. During World War II, more than one-third of the Brazilian army was sent to the European battlefield. It is really puzzling for a country that is not interested in war to participate in a war that does not pose a threat to itself geographically.

Originally, in the 1930s, Brazil was one of the countries most affected by Nazi ideology. At that time, the number of Nazi Party members in Brazil once exceeded 40,000, making it the largest country in Europe. The most outside. The new constitution promulgated by the then Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas in 1937 was a model borrowed from German fascism. And Hitler had always been fascinated by Brazil's rich natural resources. Between 1933 and 1938, Germany was one of the largest buyers of Brazilian cotton, coffee and cocoa beans. Trade exchanges also expanded to the military field. In March 1938, Brazil signed a military order worth up to US$55 million with Krupp Corp, a German arms company famous for producing cannons, accelerating the development of Brazil's military. Modernization procedures.

There is still a wealth of physical evidence of fascist infiltration in Brazil to this day. On the banks of the Rio Jari in the Amazon Basin in northern Brazil, there are still tombstones with Nazi symbols left after the members of the scientific expedition team were unfortunately killed during a fascist expedition to the Amazon in 1935. In the inland town of Campinas do Monte Alegre in the state of Sao Paulo, a large abandoned farm was once owned by the Nazis, and all the bricks on the farm were marked with Nazi symbols. In southern Brazil, where a large number of German immigrants gather, Nazi relics are not difficult to find.

However, Franklin Roosevelt, the then President of the United States, saw all this and was anxious in his heart, because Brazil has an important strategic position in the Atlantic Ocean, and the northeastern city of Natal is only 10 kilometers away from Africa. At 2,200 kilometers, it is the closest point in America to Africa. At that time, American fighter planes did not have the ability to fly directly to Europe, so mastering the strategic key of Natal was a key factor in the United States' participation in World War II. To this end, Roosevelt sent General George Catlett Marshall, then Chief of Staff of the Army, to Brazil to express his goodwill. This legendary figure who later won the Nobel Peace Prize was warmly welcomed in Rio de Janeiro. Perhaps it was Marshall's astonishing eloquence, or perhaps it was Brazil's strong coveting of U.S. military assistance. Brazil and the United States hit it off with their ideas for cooperation in the military field. Mayor's trip to Rio laid the foundation for the United States to later establish a military base in Brazil.

When World War II broke out in 1939, in order not to offend the increasingly large anti-fascist camp, but also to avoid *** the 1 million German residents in Germany and Brazil, Vargas*** Finally choose neutral. Although the war had not yet reached the Atlantic Ocean, Roosevelt was eager to fulfill the agreement with Brazil on "the shores of Daming Lake". However, Brazil's "two-sidedness" has made the United States anxious. In the first half of 1940, the German army gained the upper hand in the European battlefield, so Brazil did not want to sever its relationship with Germany. In addition, Brazil also had warnings about the United States. This is why even in the summer of 1940, Brazil continued to negotiate with the German Krupp Company on the construction of large-scale modern steel plants.

However, in the second half of 1940, Germany lost the Battle of Great Britain, which made Brazil clarify its foreign policy of "abandoning Germany and joining the United States" and finally opened the door to the United States. In less than eight months, U.S. military supplies had taken off from Miami, stopping in Natal and heading to Africa to support the British army. In addition, Brazil also actively supports the "Atlantic Security Council" and announced joint maritime patrol escorts with the United States.

Brazil's alliance with the United States was regarded by Germany as a betrayal. In June 1942, a frustrated Hitler ordered an attack on Brazilian ships. In addition to passenger ships carrying innocent people, the sunk ships also included transport ships carrying Brazilian soldiers. At the beginning of the article, Davaro, a Brazilian veteran pretending to be an Italian, was on the ship. He recalled that the ship was attacked by a German torpedo just as it sailed near Bahia, north of Rio. "I was still alive at the last moment. As a joke, he mistook the German submarine for a coconut tree that was swept into the sea, and the next moment the entire ship sank into the sea." However, the ship that rescued Davaro was hit by a torpedo a few minutes later. It was not until the arrival of the third search and rescue ship that Davaro, who had narrowly escaped death twice, was safely sent to his destination. In just two months, nearly 20 Brazilian ships were sunk, killing more than a thousand people.

A few days after the ship attack, a large number of victims' bodies and shipwrecks appeared on the beaches of Brazil's northeastern coast. Communists led by the Brazilian Students Union (UNE) took to the streets and strongly demanded that the Communist Party declare war on Germany. At the same time, they attacked and destroyed the German consulate in Brazil, German-owned shops and newspapers. In order to stabilize the domestic situation and gain a clear and comprehensive understanding of the war situation, Vargas finally declared war on Germany and Italy on August 31, 1942, and after consulting with the US military, dispatched land troops to the European battlefield. , which was the Brazilian Expeditionary Force that later assisted the US military in liberating Italy in the Apennines.

Hitler despised Brazil's decision to send troops and even mocked: "If the Brazilians were capable of fighting in Europe, then even snakes could smoke a pipe of tobacco." This mockery eventually became the basis for the Brazilian expedition. Military emblem: a cobra with a pipe in its mouth. The "Cobra" from Brazil not only smoked cigarettes, but also captured 20,000 German and Italian prisoners of war.