How many South American Coutry fight?

[Henrik Andersson]

How many South Americans country fight?
Many start war aginst the axis, but how many fight in the war?
Brazil send troops. But some one more?

[lwd]

It's wiki but there is some info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participan ... Costa_Rica
including:

...Argentina joined other Latin American countries and declared war on Germany and Japan, but by this time the war was all but over (March 27, 1945).

It is worth noting that many citizens opposed the nation's official neutralist stance. Over 750 Argentine volunteers, fought in the British, South African and Canadian Air Forces, mainly in the 164 Argentine-British RAF squadron, which saw action in Northern France and Belgium.[2] Nearly 4,000 Argentine volunteers fought on the Allied side.

and

In 1944, Brazil sent the 25,000-man Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) to fight in Europe, thus becoming the only Latin American nation to send troops to overseas.

Which is wrong since Mexico sent a fighter squadron to the Pacific.

Cuba joined the Allies on December 8, 1941, when it declared war on Japan. On December 11, it also declared war on Germany and Italy. ... on May 15, 1943, a Cuban warship sank a German submarine in waters near Havana.

...On 20 May 1942, a second tanker, Faja de Oro (which was formerly the Italian Genoano, seized by Mexico one day after the Pearl Harbor attack) was attacked and sunk by the German U-160, killing 10 of 37 crewmen, and the Mexican government was prompted to declare war on the Axis powers on 22 May 1942. The Mexican Air Force's Escuadron Aereo de Pelea 201 (201st Fighter Squadron) served with the U.S. Fifth Air Force in the Philippines during the final year of the war.[5] Not to mention 100 of thousands of mexican americans who fought for the allies wearing the american uniform.

Peru did not declare war with Germany and Japan until 1945 (actually, Peru declared a "state of belligerency"), the Peruvian Navy patroled the Panama Canal area.

It should also be noted that Uruguayan pilots, along with volunteers from other countries, joined the French Free Forces.

[tigre]

Hello to all ; just a little more..............................

The Brazilian Navy in World War II.

Wartime Expansion.

Like most countries, Brazil was at first naturally confused by the prewar appeasement attitude of the European democracies, but intensified preparations began with the outbreak of fighting in Europe. The first step was the patrol of Brazilian coasts, and the expansion of naval technical abilities. Her fleet at that time consisted of 2 dreadnaught-type battleships (Sâo Paulo y Minas Geraes); 2 light cruisers (Bahia y Rio Grande do Sul; 10 destroyers (not all completed); 3 submarines; 12 corvettes; and 10 auxiliary, mine and river vesels. Additional craft were being completed abroad, but these were taken over by the various countries for their own use.

Brazil's merchant marine was sizable 305 vessels totaling 487,000 tons, which was increased to 652,000 tons before the end of 1941. Because many of these ships were carrying supplies destined for the democratic countries of Europe, vicious, indiscriminate Axis attacks by submarine and air began as early as March 1941.

These increased sharply, after Brazil severed Axis relations following the Pearl Harbor attack upon the United States. It was evidently realized by Germany that her sympathy with the democratic cause were but indications of her coming declaration of war, which occurred in August 1942.

Convoy and patrol tasks.

Naval priority was at first given to the rushing of more troops and supplies to the new mainland and island bases along the northeast coast that bulged out toward Africa. Before the end of the year, even United States forces were operating at, or from, many of these bases. And for the sake of combat unity, the northern force of Brazil's Navy was voluntarily merged into the Allied Fourth Fleet (*). The principal base was at Recife, but numerous other, ports helped out considerably. Brazil's southern force, although smaller, also had a tremendous convoy and patrol job. It was based at Rio de Janeiro, where United States vessels happening through that area were sometimes serviced.

Although Brazil had over 4,000 miles of her own coast line to guard, nevertheless on 18 January 1943, her war vessels extended their convoy duty another 1,500 miles northward to Trinidad, where many great convoys were made up. Most of the gasoline and oil used in the North African and Mediterranean campaigns were among the valuable cargoes escorted. Yet the raw materials coming north to the United States from the south were probably of still greater importance. Eventually, all of the South Atlantic convoy duty was turned over to the Brazilian Navy, an act which relieved still other United States and British vessels for urgently needed service elsewhere.

The Brazilian Navy, alone, and in conjunction with the United States Navy guarded 3,167 ships in 614 convoys, totaling 16,500,000 tons - and this with a loss of not one-tenth of one percent.

To further illustrate the importance of the task, here is the national distribution of the tonnage covered:
Ship Nationality - Tonnage
American - 6,884,823
Brazilian - 6,138,506
British - 1,618,299
Panamanian - 933,082
Norwegian - 301.600
Swedish - 233,008
Dutch - 140,538
Lithuanian - 77,300
Belgian - 73.976
Greek - 27,793
Yugoslavian - 16.601
Polish - 6,606
Egyptian - 8.969
Uruguayan - 8,268
Peruvian - 2,7681942.

(*) U.S. 4th Fleet was first established in in 1943 when Adm. Ernest King announced a redesignation of U.S. Naval operating forces, with even-numbered fleets specified for the Atlantic and odd-numbered fleets in the Pacific. U.S. 4th Fleet’s mission was to protect the vital allied shipping lanes in the South Atlantic that was being terrorized by German U-boats. It was also responsible to combat surface raiders and blockade runners. It was first headquartered in Brazil, who were the only South American country to actively support the Allied effort.
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news ... 649576007/

Sources: Military Review. January 1951.

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a little more..............................

The Brazilian Navy in World War II.

A/S Warfare.

The Brazilian Navy Department reports that their vessels alone had 38 separate contacts with U-boats in 1943 (a contact being anything from a propeller sound to a torpedo attack), 14 in 1944, and 24 in 1945. The air forces did much to keep the number down, of course, but some credit for their work must in turn be given to the Brazilian Navy, for supplying those bases from which the planes operated.

The accompanying map shows the locations of these contacts as well as the spots where Brazilian ships were sunk off South America. It well illustrates the fact that Brazil was far from being "on the side lines" during the conflict. She had ship losses in other areas, too, with four of them being off New York, and one even in the Normandy landing. Her naval warfare death list totals over 500 men.

Although but three warships and one auxiliary went down, one of them tops Brazilian naval tragedies., This was the cruiser Bahia, blown up 5 July 1945, nearly 2 months after Germany surrendered. The Brazilian destroyer Babitonga reported sound contacts in the same location a few days later, and after making six attacks with "mouse trap" and depth bombs reported that a dark object identified by some as a metal hull came to the surface momentarily, to be followed by air bubbles and a large slick.

Of the 375 persons aboard the Bahia, over half (including four United States naval technicians) were lost. Many of the survivors were fortunate enough to be picked up from rafts after days of tropic exposure so rigorous that many of their comrades had jumped overboard to welcome death by drowning.

Sources: Military Review. January 1951.

Cheers. Raúl M .