Editing Battle of the Atlantic (section)

==South Atlantic (May 1942 – September 1943)==
[[File:036562036562 - Exercício de lançamento de bombas de profundidade a bordo do Caca submarinos Guajará, 1944 (26171331354).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Brazilian Navy]] on anti-submarine warfare in the South Atlantic, 1944.]]

Despite U-boat operations in the region (centred in the [[Atlantic Narrows]] between Brazil and [[West Africa]]) beginning late 1940, only in the following year did these start to raise serious concern in Washington.{{sfn|Carey|2004|pp=5–6}} This perceived threat caused the US to decide that the introduction of US forces along Brazil's coast would be valuable. After negotiations with Brazilian [[Foreign Minister]] [[Osvaldo Aranha]] (on behalf of dictator [[Getúlio Vargas]]), these were introduced in second half of 1941.{{sfn|Carey|2004|p=}}

Germany and Italy subsequently extended their submarine attacks to include Brazilian ships wherever they were, and from April 1942 were found in Brazilian waters.{{sfn|Carey|2004|pp=9–10}} On 22 May 1942, the first Brazilian attack (although unsuccessful) was carried out by [[Brazilian Air Force]] aircraft on the {{ship|Italian submarine|Barbarigo}}.{{sfn|Carey|2004}} After a series of attacks on merchant vessels off the Brazilian coast by {{GS|U-507||2}},{{sfn|Carey|2004}} Brazil officially entered the war on 22 August 1942, offering an important addition to the Allied strategic position in the South Atlantic.{{sfn|Morison|2001|p=376}}

Although the [[Brazilian Navy]] was small, it had modern minelayers suitable for coastal convoy escort and aircraft which needed only small modifications to become suitable for [[maritime patrol]].{{sfn|Morison|2001|p=386}} During its three years of war, mainly in Caribbean and South Atlantic, alone and in conjunction with the US, Brazil escorted 3,167 ships in 614 convoys, totalling 16,500,000 tons, with losses of 0.1%.<ref>Votaw, 1950, pp. 10579ff, and 1951, p. 93.</ref> Nine hundred and seventy-two [[Merchant marine|seamen]] and civilian passengers were lost aboard the 32 Brazilian merchant vessels attacked by enemy submarines.{{sfn|Maximiano|Neto|2011|p=6}} American and Brazilian air and naval forces worked closely together until the end of the Battle. One example was the sinking of {{GS|U-199||2}} in July 1943, by a coordinated action of Brazilian and American aircraft.<ref>Gastaldoni, 1993. From p. 153.</ref><ref name=Uboatnet>{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/fates/losses |title=Loss listings |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net |access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref> In Brazilian waters, eleven other Axis submarines were known to be sunk between January and September 1943—the Italian {{ship|Italian submarine|Archimede|1939|2}} and ten German boats: {{GS|U-128|1941|2}}, {{GS|U-161|1941|2}}, {{GS|U-164|1941|2}}, ''U-507'', {{GS|U-513|3=2}}, {{GS|U-590|3=2}}, {{GS|U-591|3=2}}, {{GS|U-598|3=2}}, {{GS|U-604|3=2}}, and {{GS|U-662|3=2}}.<ref name=Uboatnet/>{{sfn|Carey|2004|p=119}}{{sfn|Barone|2013|loc=Chapter 2}}

By late 1943, the decreasing number of Allied shipping losses in the South Atlantic coincided with the increasing elimination of Axis submarines operating there.{{sfn|Carey|2004|p=100}} From then on, the battle in the region was lost by Germany, even though most of the remaining submarines in the region received an official order of withdrawal only in August 1944, and with the last Allied merchant ship (''Baron Jedburgh'') sunk by a U-boat (''U-532'') there, on 10 March 1945.{{sfn|Carruthers|2011|p=190}}