Argentina - german foreign policy - subject German/nazi naval vessels rearming in argentina

DEar friends,

Argentina I believe had the closest relations with nazi Germany during the period 1939- 1944 as well as the post war period. ( but that's another story) 1. Why didn't the German Kreigsmarine suggest to the German foreign office that Argentina allow / agree to basing rights(food, water, fuel, armaments, R&R for U- boat crews, surface raiders, and the Rest of the Kriegsmarine ) for the Kriegsmarine during the war?

yours truly,

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the main customer for the Argentinian exports (meat) were the Allies. What could Germany offer in exchange besides sympathy?

Miguel Morao

I do not claim to be an expert on Argentinian history, but from what I understand (and what I read in the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Second World War) there was considerable support for Nazi Germany in Argentina among certain powerful sections of Argentinian society, particularly in the military. Although Argentina had close trade relationships with the allies (40% of Britain's meat imports came from there during the war) and there was considerable British and American investment in the country, there was considerable anti-British and anti-American feeling in the country (which lasted for decades after the war) in addition to a lot of anti-Semitism. Argentina delayed breaking diplomatic relations with Germany until 26 January 1944 and did not declare war until 27 March 1945 (approximately a week before the end of the war) and this was because of the threat that anyone who didn't declare war would not be admitted to the new United Nations Organization. The US was very displeased with Argentina's attitude and this affected relations between the two countries for years. For example, when the US was trying to isolate Castro's Cuba in the 1960's, President Arturo Frondizi was defending it. Similarly, during the 'Dirty War' period of the 1970's, the military regime felt it could ignore US protests over the massive violations of human rights that were occurring. If anyone has any more information on this topic I would appreciate hearing it.

It would be fair to characterize Argentina as one of the fascist nations, like Spain, that managed to stay out of the war (not so difficult in Argentina's case as in Spain's) and where fascism therefore was able to survive for a generation after the German and Italian varieties were destroyed.

all the best

The base reason, I believe, is that that would have been a gross violation of the Hague conventions on the Rights and Duties of Neutrals. In other words, it would have been a belligerent act, and would have justified the Allies in waging war on Argentina. Since the Allies would have taken an extremely dim view of supplying U-boats in the South Atlantic, they would have declared and waged war on Argentina.

In other words, Argentina would at the least have been blockaded and its navy and shore installations destroyed, and at worst would have been conquered.

Nor was there any upside to Argentina if the Axis should actually win. An Axis victory would leave Germany dominant in Europe, Japan dominant in the Western Pacific and Eastern Asia, and the US dominant in North and South America. Neither Germany nor Japan could have protected Argentina, even if they had won the war.

Therefore, Argentina's only way of not being squashed like a bug was to not go to war with the Allies, and that meant not grossly violating its neutral status in favor of the Axis.