Através do periscópio: uma abordagem arqueológica da guerra submarina em águas brasileiras durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial

Abstract

The present work aims to understand the submarine war on the Brazilian coast during the Second World War from a perspective of the Conflict Archaeology. Therefore, a history was initially built about the development of the submarine on the world stage between the 16th and 20th centuries, while the peculiarities of this type of vessel are identified and presented. This led us to a discussion about the legal issues related to the submarine's modus operandi and its relationship with Brazil's entry into World War II. In total, 22 German U-boats were displaced to the Brazilian coast during the conflict, and the main focus of this work is on the analysis of the routes and technology of these military units in order to identify the relationship between their respective jobs in this region with the geographical, environmental and military context of Brazil in the first half of the 20th century. Secondly, this work also sought to understand the social relationships present in World War II submarines, taking as basis the arrangement of the internal spaces of the U-505 - one of the remaining German uboats from the conflict, which is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry, located in the city of Chicago - USA. For these analytical purposes, the methodologies of Historical Archaeology and Documentary Archaeology are used, since the approach of the present study is linked to the analysis of the representation of material culture.