World War II contingency plan for a United States invasion of Brazil
Joint Basic Plan for the Occupation of Northeast Brazil
Part of Second World War
Map of the Western Atlantic Defensive Zone
Planned
December 1941 – February 1942
Planned by
United States Armed Forces
Commanded by
Royal E. Ingersoll
Objective
Bases in Northeastern Brazil and Pará
Executed by
United States Atlantic Fleet 1st Marine Division 9th Infantry Division
Outcome
Never attempted
Casualties
2902 expected in the American side
An operation with the codename Plan Rubber was the amphibious component of the Joint Basic Plan for the Occupation of Northeast Brazil, J. B., Serial 737, dated 21 December 1941. This would have been a United States military invasion of the northeastern coast of Brazil, through the beaches of Natal, during World War II. The plan was never carried out due to successful diplomatic initiatives with Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas.
Brazil's northeastern salient or bulge is where South America is at its closest to Africa, and thus offered American strategists an air route through the Atlantic Ocean and a platform for maritime patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Since the late 1930s, the region was part of the US's defensive perimeter as defined by its military planners. Since 1941 the Brazilian Armed Forces were reinforcing their hitherto almost undefended coastline north of Rio de Janeiro, but officials in the American Franklin D. Roosevelt administration deemed these defenses insufficient and feared the Brazilian Estado Novo dictatorship would align itself with the Axis powers or be overthrown by a pro-Axis coup.
A land intervention in Brazil was studied by previous plans such as May 1940's "Pot of Gold" and November 1941's "Lilac". Plan Rubber had its main goal in the city of Natal, which would be occupied by the US Marine Corps. US Army reinforcements would proceed by land to Fortaleza and Recife. Further landings would occupy Belém, Salvador and Fernando de Noronha. Brazil's Army, Navy and Air Force were deemed unprepared for an effective defense, and Brazilian reinforcements would have to come from the south in an eight to twelve-day movement by sea. Nevertheless, difficult geography on the beaches (except in Salvador) and unprepared landing craft crews could cause high casualties.
Military planning offered alternatives in case diplomatic negotiation failed. The latter was already producing results months before Brazil's entry into the Second World War on the American side in August 1942. The US Armed Forces were allowed to operate in air and naval bases in the Brazilian bulge, rendering invasion plans unnecessary. Parnamirim airfield, on Natal's outskirts, became one of the busiest American air bases in the war.
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