Mexico's participation in World War II had its first antecedent in the diplomatic efforts made by the government before the League of Nations as a result of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. However, this intensified with the sinking of oil tankers by German submarine attacks, declaring war on the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan in May 1942. The international conflict had a profound influence on the country's politics and economy.^[1]

Unlike most nations involved, the effects of the war were largely positive for Mexico.

Even before the beginning of the war, the Mexican government showed its disapproval of fascist nations on different occasions. On November 6, 1935, Mexico joined the League of Nations economic blockades against the Kingdom of Italy for the invasion and subsequent annexation of the Ethiopian Empire.^[2] A few years later, on March 19, 1938, Mexico protested before the League of Nations against the violation of Austrian sovereignty after the Anschluss. However, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States remained silent.^[3]

The most famous case of Mexico's rejection of fascism was the recognition of the Spanish Republic in exile. On June 17, 1939, the Mexican government withdrew its embassy from Spanish territory, leaving diplomatic affairs in the hands of the Cuban embassy.^[4] Since 1937, Spanish refugees (notably Republican supporters) began to arrive on Mexican shores and were received by the authorities in the Port of Veracruz, where ships loaded with Spaniards and some Jews persecuted in Europe by the Nazis arrived.

During this period, Mexico's diplomatic relations with democratic nations were not at their best. Since the oil expropriation of 1938, the United Kingdom had broken off relations,^[5] and the United States would maintain a commercial blockade against Mexico. In addition, the Soviet Union had withdrawn its ambassador since the Cardenista government gave political asylum to Leon Trotsky, who was a strong opponent of Joseph Stalin's regime.^[6]

However, Mexico's neutrality in World War II had to change and decide its position due to geographical, political, and economic situations, such as its proximity to the United States, the solution given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Mexico's oil problem, the need of the allied countries to count on Mexican oil for the war and the country's economic recovery.

The social situation in Mexico during the end of the Lázaro Cárdenas presidency, and the entirety of the Manuel Ávila Camacho presidency, was one of profound socio-economic inequality. By 1940, the upper class represented only 1.05%, the middle class 15.87%, and the lower class 83.08%. In short, it was a country of peasants. Most of the Mexican population were farmers living in the countryside, and a working class was beginning to emerge from the emerging industrial development sector. To guarantee that there were institutions before the state that defended the interests of the workers of different sectors, there were various union organizations such as the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the Unión Sinarquista de Mexico, among others, that made up the left-wing in Mexico. The union leaders were the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM), representing the more radical left, and Vicente Lombardo Toledano and Fidel Velázquez Sánchez as the more moderate left.

On the other hand, the right-wing was represented by a broad conservative and pro-clerical sector, the business sector (especially financial and industrial), and the new party, National Action Party (PAN), founded in 1939 by Manuel Gómez Morín. The confrontations between left and right were always a constant that caused violent conflicts; however, it was possible to achieve relative social stability before the War thanks to the fact that Cárdenas reunited the union organizations before the State, turned his attention to the peasants and also calmed the right wing by postponing the social reforms. This relative stability was consolidated with the oil expropriation carried out in 1938, which universally raised Cárdenas' popularity. The United States, seeing Mexico's stability, decided to cease pressures due to the damage caused by the expropriation, reached an agreement, and definitively leaned towards the Good Neighbor Policy, which would later determine Pan-American cooperation.^[7]

On September 1, 1939, Hitler's Germany began its invasion of Poland and thus began World War II. On September 4, President Lázaro Cárdenas, faithful to Mexico's pacifist policy, declared neutrality in the European conflict, which was seen as a war never seen before. However, neutrality did not prevent the government from condemning aggression against the sovereignty of democratic nations. Mexico recognized the Polish government in exile, and in December 1939 criticized the Soviet invasion of Finland. Already in 1940 and 1941 it would reject the German invasions of Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Yugoslavia. Before the German aggression against Holland and Belgium, Cárdenas declared on May 13, 1940 that:

On behalf of the Mexican nation I send my message of protest to all the countries of the world for the new outrages committed by the militarist imperialism that has attacked Belgium and Holland, without encountering any other obstacle than the heroic defense of the invaded peoples, while other countries, forgetting their responsibility, have assumed an expectant and indolent attitude.

When General Avila Camacho took office as President of Mexico in December 1940, neutrality was less firm. After the invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941, the new president declared:

Once again, the German armies have invaded by force the territory of a neutral country, abusing its military potential. (...) For those who still think that neutrality is a guarantee of peace and salvation, the case of these two nations, small for their territory, but great for their sense of dignity and for their generous love of independence and sovereignty, should serve as an example and also as an encouragement.

In April 1941, Avila Camacho ordered the seizure of German and Italian ships in national ports; among the ships thus seized was the Italian-flagged tanker Lucifero, which would later be called Potrero del Llano.^[8] It became evident that the government of Avila Camacho maintained a "simulated neutrality"; Mexico's material support was clearly for the Allied side. Two months later, another decree was published prohibiting the export of Mexican products to countries outside the American continent. This decision primarily affected Mexican oil, whose only major buyer would then be the United States, a country with which political tension was beginning to dissipate as the U.S. arms industry now required Mexico's raw material.

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.

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 U-Boats would sink 4 more ships: Tuxpam,^[13] Las Choapas,^[14] Oaxaca^[15] and Amatlán.^[16] In view of this situation, the United States, under the pretext of the possibility of aggression by Japan on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, began discreet negotiations to be allowed to install a military base on the Baja California peninsula; according to historian Humberto Musacchio, that there was speculation that he might have tried to occupy that part of Mexican territory without success.^{[citation needed]}

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]}

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 Majors Field in Greenville, Texas, on November 30, 1944. Here, the pilots received advanced training in combat air tactics, formation flying and gunnery. The men were honored with graduation ceremonies on February 20, 1945, and the squadron was presented with its battle flag. This marked the first time Mexican troops were trained for overseas combat. In charge of the group was Colonel Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez, and Captain First Class Radamés Gaxiola Andrade was named squadron commander.

Before leaving for the Philippines, the men received further instructions and physical examinations in Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, California, in March 1945. The men left for the Philippines on the troop ship S.S. Fairisle on March 27, 1945. The squadron arrived in Manila on April 30, 1945, and was assigned as part of the Fifth Air Force. 58th Fighter Group, based at Porac, Pampanga, in the Clark Field complex on the island of Luzon.

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 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 Infantry 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 offered 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 European Theater, but it was decided that they would fight in the Philippines, since both governments maintained a close relationship of Hispanic brotherhood, so for the soldiers of the squadron it was an honor to fight on the side of a half Spanish-speaking country. It is worth recalling that on November 22, 2004, the 201st Squadron was decorated with the Philippine Legion of Honor, with the rank of Legionnaire, by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.^[21]

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]

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 Miguel Moreno Arreola and was built with the help of 10 elements of the Squadron. The eagle that tops the monument was made by the sculptor of Filipino origin Guillermo Tolentino. On October 12, the Squadron handed over its aircraft to the 45th Air Services Group and began preparations to return to Mexico. The members of the FAEM boarded the Sea Marlin ship on October 23, arriving on November 13 in San Pedro, California, although the first to arrive in Americas were Colonel Cárdenas Rodríguez, Lieutenant Amadeo Castro Almanza, Second Lieutenant García Ramos and Second Lieutenant José Luis Pratt Ramos, who traveled by air after meeting with General MacArthur in Tokyo, to thank him for his cooperation with the FAEM.

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.

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.

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 United Nations Organization; unlike the founding of the League of Nations in 1919, where it was not invited because it had remained neutral during the First World War. In the international arena, Mexico was more present; taking part in the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, the Treaty of San Francisco,^[23] the Bretton Woods Conference, and managed to have its initiative approved so that the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain would not be recognized or admitted as a legitimate government before the UN, because it had been formed with the military aid of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

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% 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 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]

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 Wild Flower, brought together a team comprising the filmmaker Emilio Fernández, the photographer Gabriel Figueroa, the actor Pedro Armendariz and actress Dolores del Río. The films María Candelaria (1943) and The Pearl (1947), were considered pivotal works by Fernández and his team, and gave Mexican cinema enormous prestige, with their works being shown worldwide in major film festivals. María Candelaria was awarded in 1946 with the Golden Palm in the Cannes Film Festival. The Pearl was awarded the Golden Globe of the American film industry, being the first Spanish film to receive such recognition.^[29]

• Mexico in World War I