The Mexican Armed Forces in 1940-1941
v.1.0 April 1, 2001
This article was researched and written by our South American correspondent, to answer a question by reader Staff Sergeant Paul D. Carrier of the US Army.
Acknowledgement Much of the information given here comes from A. English Armed Forces of Latin America, Jane’s, 1984
On 1st April 1941, the US and Mexico signed an agreement allowing the reciprocal use of certain military bases in exchange for US technical assistance in the modernisation of the Mexican Armed Forces.
The Mexican Army
The Mexican Army was divided into 32 military zones (established in the 1920s) corresponding to the 29 states then existing plus the two national territories and the Federal district. Each was to be garrisoned by one or two infantry battalions and at least one cavalry regiment. Probably the headquarters of these zones were the same as those of the current first 32 zones (see www.sedena.gob.mx/ejto/mandos/zon_mil.html ).
In 1941 the Mexican Army numbered 56,000 all ranks, organised in the
The senior ranks were top-heavy with over 400 generals (most with little or no professional military background) as a legacy of the revolutionary period. However considerable progress had been made towards the professionalisation of the Army, pay and living of the rank and file having been considerably improved during the 1930s (until then the Army rank and file were mainly incorporated by forced recruitment of Indians).
The standard rifle was the locally-produced Mauser M-1936 adopted in the 1930s. The Mendoza B-1933 and Madsen M-1934 light machine guns were also adopted during this period. The artillery was mainly equipped with the Schneider Model 1897 75 mm field gun in service with the Mexican Army since the early years of the 20th century. It had been supplemented with the Breda M39 L/45 37mm anti-tank gun and the 20 mm Oerlikon M24 L/70 AA gun.
In 1937, a move towards mechanisation had seen the formation of a company of six Marmon-Harrington CTVL tankettes, a motorised infantry company and a motorised AA battery with truck-mounted Hotchkiss 13.2 mm twin AA machine guns.
The Mexican Air Force
The Mexican Air Force, though known as such, remained subordinated to the Army till 1944.
The first aviation regiment (established in 1926) was located at Balbuena and had 3 squadrons :
1 with 10 Bristol F2.B fighters
1 with 12 Vought O2U Corsair
1 with 10 Douglas O2.
A second air regiment had been established in 1931, with domestic-built Vought Corsairs, of which a total of 31 were produced under licence by Azcárate.
Some Grumman G-23 two seat fighters and some Spartan Zeus and Waco D6 light bombers were bought during the 1930s, plus a few Consolidated PT-3 and Fleet 21 primary and half a dozen Ryan STM advanced trainers.
Also 21 Bellace 28-90-B Flash intended for delivery to the Spanish Republican Government were bought by the Mexican Government in 1939, as the planes had been abandoned in Veracruz when the Republican government went into exile.
The air regiments were replaced by 6 independent squadrons on 20 January 1940.
The Mexican Navy
The Atlantic and Pacific coasts were divided in Naval zones as follows :
ATLANTIC AND GULF :
PACIFIC :
Despite the naval modernisation programme announced in 1933, Mexico had a very modest fleet in the begin of the 1940s, totalling 19 ships, none of them first line.
The Marines had a number of security companies grouped under three battalion headquarters.
The Naval air arm (Servicio de Aviación de la Armada Mexicana) was organised in 1940 with a dozen pilots and two aircraft:
1 locally-designed Azcárate Model E
1 Fairchild KR.34.