The charro forgotten army created to defend Mexico from the Nazis

Friday October 7, 2016

Today out of high school I saw an article that interested me and would like to share.

Can you imagine thousands of men to horse armed with guns, machetes and shotguns and organized to defend their country from a Nazi invasion?

Well, that happened in Mexico. During World War II an army of 100,000 charros in anticipation of an eventual attack Axis forces was created.

The charros are riders who come from an ancient tradition originated in the Viceroyalty and that for centuries were responsible for security on farms and rural areas.

It is an unknown chapter in the history of Mexico, they faced the countries that formed the Axis (Germany, Japan and Italy) for sinking two ships off its coast.

The unprecedented army was called Legion of Mexican fighters and its creator was Ranges Antolin Jimenez, a veteran of the Revolution to the orders of Francisco Villa.

The story now has in the documentary "Matria" released on September 16 in theaters in the country.

The film, made by Fernando Llanos, grandson fighter, has won several international awards, including Morelia Film Festival.

Sympathy for the Nazis

The idea of ​​organizing a group of riders to face that once was the most powerful army in the world seems far-fetched.

But at the time when fear was born to a possible invasion it was real.

Some, like the writer Juan Alberto Cedillo have documented, for example, that in Mexico operated a network of German spies linked even with senior officials.

In his book "The Nazis in Mexico," Cedillo that Adolf Hitler had a special interest in Mexican oil reserves.

In addition there was a marked sympathy for the Nazi Party among intellectuals in this country.

The situation changed when the May 13, 1942 Potrero del Llano oil was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. Seven days after another ship, the Faja de Oro, was also attacked.

Mexico abandoned the neutrality maintained in World War II and opened hostilities against the Axis.

training

For a year legionaries groups learned war strategies taught them veterans of the Revolution.

"They trained on Sundays all people on horseback with machetes and guns," says Fernando Llanos. "He was preparing in case of invasion."

They never used their training because the attack did not happen, but at the time the country took it very seriously.

The sample was that the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force in June of the following year participated in the battles of Japan was established in 1944.

The group of pilots who took part in the combat Squadron 201 was called.

By that time the Legion had been disbanded and its creator was dedicated to book publishing, a business where it thrived.

He also left the charro suit because after several heart attacks doctors forbade him to return to riding.