A marinha mercante brasileira na segunda guerra mundial

Abstract

The Merchant Navy has always had a fundamental role in the development of the nations of our planet. And when these nations go to war, the need to take supplies from one country to another is enormous. The Second World War , which occurred between 1939 and 1945, was a major conflict involving several nations of the world divided into two blocs, the Axis, composed of Germany, Italy and Japan and the Allies composed of United States, England, France and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. What many do not know is that the Brazilian merchant navy also participated in this battle, but of course all the glory of the conflict is credited to the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB), formed by the Brazilian Navy and the newly created Air Force. The Brazilian government has always maintained an ambiguous position even though some of its generals sympathize with Hitler's Germany due to the Nazi-fascist model that was followed here. Even with this ambiguity, Brazil needed to position itself and suggested by the United States, decided to break relations with Germany. That was enough for Germany, in retaliation, to start attacking our merchant ships with torpedoes. The popular pressure was great and our then president, Getúlio Vargas, was forced to declare war against the Germans. On this walk to the War, we suffered, we had more sunken ships where we lost many lives besides important burdens. Our heroes sailors sacrificed themselves for our nation, many civilians were also fatal victims of enemy attacks. This work aims to show the participation of the Brazilian Merchant Navy in World War II.