World War II
On 01 September of 1939, the German Army invaded Poland, with which the world was again convulsed by a conflagration, World War II, that would become the greatest of the history. General Manuel Ávila Camacho, who came to office in 1940 and was the last general elected president of Mexico, continued Cárdenas's and Obregón's efforts to institutionalize the army and remove the military from politics. On September 11, 1940, the Law of Mandatory Military Service was promulgated, which, however, was still pending application. The service was mandatory for all Mexicans, between 18 and 40 years of age.
In February 1942, soon after the Japanese attack on United States forces at Pearl Harbor, the Joint Mexican-United States Commission on Continental Defense was established. The commission coordinated planning for the defense of Mexico and the adjacent southwestern United States.
Given the alarming emergency caused by the suspension of international maritime services affecting the national economy, in 1941, the decree of seizure of ships belonging to belligerent countries was published in the Official Gazette. The seized boats, which were transferred to Petróleos Mexicanos and 3 German ships of general cargo and passengers, refugees in Veracruz that were delivered to the Mexican Company of Navigation.
The sinking of two Mexican tankers in the Gulf of Mexico by German submarines provoked Ávila Camacho to declare war on the Axis powers in May 1942. On May 13, 1942, the tanker "Potrero del Llano" was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Florida, and on the 20th of that month the "Golden Belt" was sunk. Mexico is claiming these sinkings before the German Government, which does not give more response. President Manuel Avila Camacho, with authorization from Congress, declared on 2 June 1942 the state of war between Mexico and the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan).
Once the war had been declared against the powers of the Axis, the Mexican Government collaborated with the North American Government, sending to the group of perfection of aeronautics to the United States in July of 1944. In response to the Mexican government's expressed desire to fight the Japanese, a Mexican air squadron was readied for duty in the Pacific theater. After a year's training in the United States, Squadron 201 of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force arrived in the Philippines in April 1945. Flying P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, the Mexican pilots participated in bombing and strafing runs to support ground forces and in long-range reconnaissance missions over Taiwan. Of thirty-two pilots in the expeditionary squadron, seven were killed.
To have sufficient organization for the defense of the country, regional civil defense committees, composed of social organizations, public institutions were formed and the people in general. These were under the direction of military authorities designated by the Secretariat of National Defense.
Germany surrendered unconditionally in May 1945 to the Allied countries. In the Pacific, Japan resisted something more, but with the launch of atomic bombs to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese government finally capitulated on August 15 of that year, putting an end to the most devastating armed conflict of all time.
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