United States involvement in the Mexican Revolution with its diplomatic and economic rivals in Mexico, particularly Great Britain and Germany, meant that foreign powers affected the way the Mexican situation played out. When U.S. agents discovered that the German merchant ship, the "Ypiranga", was carrying arms to Huerta's regime, President Wilson ordered troops to the port of Veracruz to stop the ship from docking. The U.S. did not declare war on Mexico city but the U.S. troops carried out a skirmish against Huerta's forces in Veracruz. The "Ypiranga" managed to dock at another port, which infuriated Wilson. On April 9, 1914, Mexican officials in the port of
Tell it to the Marines He "warns" of the invincibility of the German war machine and instructs the Americans to be sure to tell the Army and the Navy and, above all, "Tell it to the Marines!!" Naturally, the Nazis don't get the reference. The phrase was used in the 1942 serial "G-Men vs the Black Dragon" (it is a captured American agent's response to a sneering Japanese villain's account of Axis victories) The phrase is the title of a British sitcom, "Tell It to the Marines", which aired on ITV from 1959 to 1960. In a 1972 episode of "Doctor Who" ("Day of the