Under the dictator Getúlio Vargas (1930–1945), Brazil was run as a corporatist state. When war broke out it declared formal neutrality, while continuing to assert neutral rights to trade with states in Europe. In January 1942, Rio de Janeiro broke off diplomatic relations with Berlin following multiple sinkings of Brazilian ships in the Gulf of Mexico. When a single U-boat sank seven more ships off the coast of Brazil, Vargas declared war on Germany on August 22, 1942. He had bent to American and public pressure to declare war, although his personal sympathies leaned toward the Axis. Thereafter, Brazil was one terminus of the vital Takoradi air route and greatly benefited economically from the war. Unlike most South American countries that declared war on the Axis only to please Washington, Brazil sent troops to fight in Italy in 1944. The last battles fought by the “Brazilian Expeditionary Force,” which served under U.S. 5th Army, were over control of the Argenta Gap and through the Adige Line in April 1945. In the last days of the war the Brazilians took nearly 14,000 German prisoners. The Brazilian Air Force and Navy made more limited contributions. Varga was ousted in 1945.

TAKORADI AIR ROUTE

A Western Allied supply route that ran from Florida to Brazil, thence to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, then on to Takoradi in the Gold Coast (Ghana). From Takoradi critical supplies and aircraft flew to Lagos or Kano in Nigeria, then refueled at Fort Lamy (Ndjamena) in Chad before flying to Khartoum or Addis Ababa. Supplies were flown from those bases to Egypt or Iran, and on to the Caucasus. The route was vital to British forces in the Middle East during the desert campaign and for delivering a significant portion of high priority Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.