When we hear stories about the Allies in World War II,
we mostly hear about the major players: the UK, the USA, and the Soviet Union.
France and Poland are also discussed quite a bit. But these were not the only Allies,
as The Big Three relied on a number of countries to help them to victory against the Axis powers.
While many other nations only fought because they were under the thumb of a larger Allied power,
like those nations in the British Empire, many smaller independent countries took up
arms of their own volition. In this video, we discuss three of the most impactful.
Italy invaded Greece via Albania on October 28, 1940, dragging it into the conflict.
The Italian Army vastly underestimated the Greeks, and things didn’t go as planned.
It was doomed from the start, really.
Bulgaria refused to help Italy with the invasion, which was something Mussolini had been banking on.
This gave Greece the time it needed to get some support from Macedonia,
and the Greeks were able to push the Italians back into Albania in just a few months.
It was a short-lived victory, however.
Seeing a smaller, less powerful country defeat its allies, Germany swooped to rescue Italy.
The German invasion of Greece began on April 6, 1941,
and by the end of May, the invasion was complete.
The Greek king fled to Egypt in exile, taking his government with him. Following the occupation,
many of those with fight left in them fled to the Middle East and North Africa to help the Allies.
Greece’s presence in these regions proved extremely helpful to the Allies,
especially the British. Greece’s Royal Hellenic Navy also proved to be one of
the most useful naval powers in the Mediterranean.
Even though the RHN suffered heavy losses during Germany’s invasion, it was the second largest
Allied naval power in the Med, after the British Royal Navy, with 44 ships and over 8,500 men.
The RHN was of tremendous help to the Allies.
It contributed two destroyers to the Battle of Normandy and six warships to Operation Husky,
where the Allies landed in Sicily and successfully captured it from the Axis.
That operation started the whole Italian campaign
and those warships stuck around until the end. One ship in particular,
called the Adrias, sank two German torpedo boats in one night during the operation.
The RHN had a presence outside the Mediterranean Sea, too, serving as convoy escorts in the
Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and even the Arctic Oceans, sinking enemy submarines along the way.
The RHN even took part in forcing the surrender of the Italian Fleet in September 1943,
right alongside the British because of all its naval contributions.
Back on the home front, what few fighters were left in Greece worked
day and night to rally the people and kick the Germans out.
This was easier said than done because the power vacuum left in the country after the king fled
meant that the Greek resistance struggled to find a rallying point to inspire people to fight.
The first major effort of the resistance to drive out the invaders was in 1941,
up in the mountains of northern Greece.
There, tensions ran high as Bulgaria annexed land left and right.
Germany pounced quickly at the first whiffs of Greek armed resistance and
stamped out their efforts by killing 488 civilians and torching several villages
Downtrodden but not broken, the resistance took a step back,
reevaluated, and came back stronger in 1942, inspiring others to join. Between 1943 and 1944,
the movement grew, liberating parts of the country, especially in the mountains. The Greek
resistance fought tooth and nail until the whole country was finally liberated in October 1944.
People often forget that Mexico fought in World War II,
as it's overshadowed by its northern neighbor. But Mexico contributed to the Allied war effort.
The nation made an impact even before it officially entered the war in 1942,
supplying raw materials such as copper and zinc to the United States, helping them tremendously.
However, the disruption of Atlantic trade routes put Mexico and many other Latin American
nations in a horrible economic position. Tensions built, and on December 9th, 1941,
two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mexico severed all diplomatic ties
with Japan. Two days after that, they did the same with Germany and Italy.
Still, they stayed out of the conflict. That was until May 1942, when two Mexican oil tankers,
which were clearly marked so they wouldn't be mistaken for Allied ships, were sunk by
German U-boats in the Gulf. And so, on June 1st, 1942, Mexico declared war on Germany.
Mexico mainly fought alongside the US in the Pacific and was based in the Philippines.
The nation only had one fighting unit. To this day,
that unit remains the only one to ever take part in combat outside of the country’s borders.
The unit's formal name was Escuadrón 201, but they went by the far cooler moniker "the Aztec Eagles."
The Aztec Eagles were hand-selected by Mexico’s presidents with the advice of
his military leaders. The squadron consisted of 33 pilots and over 270 support personnel.
It arrived in Manilla in April 1945 to fight alongside the American 58th Fighter Group,
which had already been fighting the Japanese for over a year.
The Aztec Eagles engaged in bombing missions, flew nearly 800 combat stories, and logged almost 2,000
hours of flight time. They were instrumental in the liberation of the Philippine islands of Luzon
and Formosa. Their work was so impactful that General McArthur recognized them,
saying that they were a testament to their nation and their heritage. When they returned home in
November 1945, they received a hero’s welcome by their people. And in 2004, The Philippine
government awarded them with the Philippine Legion of Honor, including the rank of Legionnaire.
Many people don’t even know that Brazil fought in the second world war,
and they should. As the only South American nation to formally enter the conflict,
Brazil doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
At the beginning of the war, Brazil tried to remain neutral. Germany had been a great
trading partner in the years leading up to the war, and Brazil didn’t want to damage their
relationship. But the US, fearful that Brazil’s neutrality would eventually swing all of South
America towards the Axis, started investing in the nation’s steel production. In return,
Brazil let the US establish air and naval bases in the country.
The Axis powers were none too pleased about this and began attacking Brazilian shipping
in the Atlantic. Naturally, this outraged the Brazilian people, who demanded that their country
enter the war abreast of the Allies. And so, in August 1942, that’s exactly what they did.
Brazil didn’t contribute any troops in the beginning,
opting instead to provide raw materials and other supplies. But this wasn’t enough. So they deployed
naval and air force troops in 1943, and these did a lot to help the Allies, including destroying
28% of Axis transportation infrastructure, 36% of fuel deposits, and 85% of Axis ammo dumps.
Brazil also sent the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, a division of 25,000 army troops,
to Italy in 1944. This force's nickname became the Smoking Snakes because some nay-sayers at
that time said it would be more like to see snakes smoke than to see Brazilians fight in the war.
The Smoking Snakes were under the command of US forces. Their uniforms were almost identical
to the Americans’, except for the shoulder patch, which depicted a snake with a pipe.
The Smoking Snakes were a breath of fresh air for the exhausted troops who had been fighting
in Italy for month. The Snakes fought the Italians and Germans in Italy, spearheading victories in
several key battles, including the Battles of Camaiore, Serchio Valley, and Monte Prano. They
defeated the Germans in the Battle of Collecchio and took down three separate Italian divisions.
In the beginning of March 1945, the Snakes, along with the US 10th Mountain Division,
successfully captured important Axis positions in the Appenine Mountains.
They cut off the Germans from important artillery positions that had been blocking the Allies from
Bolonga. During this operation, one Brazilian lieutenant was captured and a German captain
told him, “Frankly, you Brazilians are either crazy or very brave. I never saw anyone advance
against machine-guns and well-defended positions with such disregard for life, You are devils.”
In total, the Smoking Snakes captured more than 15,000 Axis soldiers, and out of 25,000 men,
only 450 were killed in action. The Brazilians made a major contribution
to the liberation of Italy, and their bravery mustn't be forgotten.
So which of these three countries do you think impacted the Allied war effort most??
Can you think of any other non-big-three Allied nations that were critical to the Allied victory?
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below,
and if you want to know more about these countries’ contributions to World War II,
please check out our videos on Greece, Mexico, and Brazil by following the links in the description.