A COBRA FUMOU: a história completa da Força Expedicionária Brasileira - DOC #148

Hi, today it's just about war, finally presents you from beginning to end the complete history of the Brazilian expeditionary force and when the Second World War began in Europe in September 1939, engulfing the continent's greatest powers in the fight, the countries of the American continent found themselves caught in a delicate situation as many of them maintained strong commercial and political relations with nations at war, including hosting several military missions from these nations. The consensus among the majority of American countries was to individually issue declarations of neutrality in those weeks of September and Brazil was one

of the countries that responded In this way, the new international crisis the following year, via the rapid and impressive German success in its summer offensive, leading to the defeat of France in just six weeks of combat, led to a complete redesign of the balance of power in the hemisphere, placing the Navy in war German in French operation in the Atlantic from French ports is silent I am Whashington for a possible increase in German influence in American countries and to launch a reaction to This possibility was held in July 1940 at the Havana conference at which

chancellors from across the continent and issued a joint statement that said that an attack on any American country would be considered an aggression against them all, with the possibilities of trade with Germany becoming increasingly remote, Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas realized that at that moment only the United States could offer Brazil the commercial and financial opportunities that the country needed and guided its Minister of Foreign Affairs Oswaldo Aranha to seek closer ties with Washington. At the same time, the United States perceived Brazil's high strategic value for the war in the Atlantic, as the extension of land

represented by the Brazilian northeast was the perfect base for anti-submarine missions along the Equator with a view to protecting its maritime trade lines, without Brazilian support, the United States Navy could not adequately carry out such missions, as its continental bases were located very far from there and for this purpose a considerable diplomatic effort was made to convince the Brazilian government to give up air and naval bases in the northeast, a notorious opponent of the American presence in the northeast was the Brazilian Minister of War, General Eurico Gaspar Dutra, who is at the same time found

itself in the difficult situation of rearming and modernizing the Brazilian army to counter the regional threat represented at that time by Argentina, which was still the greatest economic power in South America and whose army had been trained by a German military mission, but in March 1941, with the creation and the Washington of the program In addition to them, vast financing for the acquisition of material from the allied foreign powers Dutra saw an immense opportunity unfolding for Brazil and from then on, negotiations with the United States accelerated in June, the United States Navy began operating from

the ports of Recife and Salvador and the construction of vast air bases in Belém and Natal also began with the continuous arrival of thousands of American military personnel in these cities on December 7, 1941 Japan attacked the American naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, definitively spoiling the United States for war, the following day, this situation once again resonated throughout the continent, causing the Rio de Janeiro conference to be called on Quinze de Janeiro, 1942, in which several countries, notably the Brazil broke off diplomatic relations with the axis powers . its navigation on the 22nd

of May 1942, the Italian submarine Barbarigo, curiously commanded by the Italian-Brazilian Captain, is only Grossi, was sighted off the coast of Ceará after having attacked a national merchant ship and shortly afterwards was found by a North American bombardment b -25 Mitchell of the Brazilian air force piloted by Captain Oswaldo Pamplona Pamplona approached and bombarded the submarine which also opened fire with its anti-aircraft weapons, but none of the attacks were fatal to the opponent, the Brazilian action was nevertheless publicly announced by the Minister of Aeronautics Joaquim Salgado Filho and interpreted by Germany as a Brazil's declaration

of war on May 23rd, the Brazilian government signed with the United States the Washington agreements in which the American government committed to financing 200 million dollars through them the purchase of modern war material for the Forces Brazilian Armed Forces, the agreements also provided for the creation of two mixed military commissions Brazil, United States, one in Washington and the other in Rio de Janeiro to regulate the new alliance between the two countries, while the Rio de Janeiro commission's main objective was to coordinate the mission's activities. American military for training the Brazilian Armed Forces, Washington's focused on

joint military coordination for the defense of the Northeast, which at the time had gained even greater importance, becoming the main air access route to supply the British war effort in North Africa. While this commission was still being organized on the 16th of August, the German submarine, my all insert by Captain North, narrating the tea, approached the Sergipe Coast, entering the cabotage navigation zone, sinking five Brazilian ships in 48 hours and causing the death of 600 people, this event provoked a wave of protests across the country resulting in Brazil's declaration of war against Germany and Italy

on August 22, 1942, the declaration of war caught General Estevão Leitão de Carvalho, representative of the Brazilian army in the Washington commission in its final preparations for the first meeting of the body, which took place on September 3rd, the new scenario brought speed to the work and the commission approved five resolutions in its first meeting, the majority concerning the Brazilian northeast and by the end of 1942, 13 resolutions had been approved without Washington o focus on the northeast began to lose importance after the American art of Morocco and Algeria, Operation Torch, carried out in November,

an event that removed once and for all the danger of a German action across the Atlantic against Brazil, from then on it began to be processed at the Ministry of War the proposal to send a contingent of Brazilian troops to combat abroad and on January 6, 1943 Dutra presented to Vargas the proposal to create an Expeditionary army with 4 Infantry divisions and another armored division to be equipped with American material Getúlio Vargas approved the document and Dutra then submitted an idea to the Washington commission and Leitão de Carvalho began negotiations with the United States army,

however the first half of 1943 saw a rapid advance of the Allied effort in North Africa, causing a consequent loss of priority for negotiations with Brazil, especially the edition of the axis in Tunisia on Thirteenth of May, realizing the delay, Dutra conducted his own process within the Ministry of War, getting ahead of Washington and on the ninth of August issued the decree nº 4744 and created the organizational device of the 1st expeditionary infantry division that same day he sent a confidential telegram to São Paulo addressed to the commander of the 2nd military region, General João

Batista Mascarenhas de Moraes, saying consult the dear comrade if he accepts the command of one of the divisions who will constitute the Expeditionary Corps, I need an urgent response. If so, he will do an internship in the United States, an experienced artillery officer about to turn 60 years old, Mascarenhas Rios, ecstatic with the invitation and immediately issued his historic response, very honored and pleased, I respond affirmatively to the fruit which your excellency' has just done, he soon afterwards took off for the United States to ensure the approval of the resolution and at the meeting on

August 21st, the joint commission in Washington approved the creation of the Brazilian Expeditionary Corps or with 3 Infantry divisions to act abroad within the American chain of command. Despite his concern about the delay in negotiations with Washington, Dutra did not want to accelerate the process of preparing the expeditionary units by handing over one of the Infantry divisions already available in the northeast to the task, as he did not want to leave the region unguarded With such a large American military presence there in this way He ordered the Constitution of the 1st expeditionary Infantry division communities

from four different military regions of the Brazilian Southeast and Central-West, the force's Infantry was placed under the command of veteran General Euclides Zenóbio da Costa and dates back to 1932 and its three selected regiments were the 1st Infantry Regiment commanded by Colonel Aguinaldo Caiado de Castro based in Rio de Janeiro, the 6th Infantry Regiment commanded by Colonel João de segadas Vianna, based in Caçapava, São Paulo, and the 11th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel Delmiro de Andrade, based in São João Del Rei, Minas Gerais, was also brought from Aquidauana in the State of Mato. Grosso, the

9th Engineering Battalion commanded by Colonel José Machado Lopes, the division's artillery would be composed of four groups of towed Alto howitzers, three with 105 mm weapons and the last with a 155 mm caliber, whose general command was handed over to the Federal intervener in Rio Grande do Sul and recently promoted General Osvaldo Cordeiro de Farias, the division with a small Cavalry unit, the reconnaissance squadron whose cadres were taken from the 2nd motor-mechanized regiment based in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the first health battalion from medical units, In addition, the division was completed by a

maintenance company, a transmission company, a police platoon and a music band, even though it was part of the North American chain of command, the division should have its own support structure in Italy with the personnel deposit for completion, a military justice session, a postal unit and another from Banco do Brasil, and all these non-divisional bodies were placed under the command of General Olimpio falconieri da Cunha, the chief of staff for fever and was handed over to the colonel, Floriano de Lima Brayner, the official who was initially responsible for organizing and inspecting the units selected to

integrate the vision, realizing that some of them were in a precarious state in his first days of command, Mascarenhas focused on the logistical problems of coordinating his divisional units spread across a vast area of ​​the national territory and also in the arduous task of obtaining North American war material for training, as virtually nothing that was used by the Brazilian army would be used on the battlefront . normative with instructions to fit the divisional units into the new North American standard with the requirement that everything be ready within a month, a gigantic challenge for the commander

to have the Brazilian army since the end of the first world war being instructed by the military mission French whose teachings changed the Brazilian army's way of thinking and organizing itself, the fall of France in 1940, which caused the war ministry to become alarmed at the inadequacy of its own doctrines, and this was another factor that ended up bringing Brazil even closer to the United States United, the North American school of war advocated a mechanized and highly technological war, requiring the use of specialized technical labor such as tractor drivers, electricians, telegraphers and operators of complex

machinery, in general, these personnel did not exist in the ranks of the Brazilian army in at the time and reservists with technical expertise were recruited en masse, as well as quick technical training courses were opened in Rio de Janeiro, in addition to organizational and material readjustments, another became the most problematic, the health requirements stipulated by Washington, the general physiological level of Brazilians in 40s It was much lower than that observed in the United States and when this pair was applied to troops, a large part of the contingent had to be dismissed, which generated a new

layer of complexity in recruitment, the contingent of expeditionary Infantry regiments had to be supplemented with soldiers of other incomes as well as war reservists, all selected by their outstanding physical health staff, the difficulties imposed by recruitment and the long displacement of the Troop to Rio de Janeiro meant that by the end of 1943 the units of the Brazilian expeditionary force were not yet concentrated in the federal capital Mascarenhas left Zenóbio the task of continuing the organization and on December 6th he left for North Africa and Italy to inspect the front line and make contact with

the northern command. American having his first meeting with General Mark Clark, commander of the 5th American Army, a unit which would then be integrated, only after Mascarenhas' return to Brazil in January 1944 did the Ministry of War determine that all units were immediately dispatched to the Military Village in Rio de Janeiro and this displacement was only completed at the end of March in the absence of the promised war material that was never delivered by the Americans Mascarenhas was limited to physically preparing the troops with the support of some examples of weapons demonstrated by Brazilian officers

who had interned in the United States on April 24th, Commander declared his troops ready and ordered the beginning of boarding exercises as the fever and had to embark for Europe on a large North American transport ship which, despite the agreements still there was no date for arrival, the Brazilian government didn't know, but in the first half of 1944 the logistical resources combined with my very high demand. Due to the upcoming major invasions in Normandy in Europe and the Marianas in the Pacific, both carried out in June of that year, on May 24th, the force fully

trained Brazilian expeditionary carried out a parade through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, being warmly greeted by the population and President Getúlio Vargas and a few days later Mascarenhas finally received communication that a bar that would be held in the following weeks, circumstances however allowed at that time the sending of just one transporter or SS General man whose capacity allowed him to carry just one of the three Infantry regiments along with a third of the rest of the division's units, blueprints of the ship were sent in advance and the general staff began to plan how

an order would be given boarding and accommodation and Mascarenhas selected the Infantry basket to embark in that first Echelon, the entire boarding operation was carried out under the cover of the strictest secrecy as it was feared that the German espionage network would become aware and inform Berlin, resulting in in a possible attack by submarines on the transport ship to undermine Brazilian morale, right at the beginning of its intervention in the fight, on the night of June 28th, the gigantic General Mena entered Guanabara Bay and docked at the port pier and the following night Mascarenhas ordered

carrying out what for the troops was just another boarding exercise, like so many others that had already been carried out, the three fully equipped regiments were embarked on railway trains with three different destinations in wagons with blocked windows, but the train with the sixth regiment was diverted from its planned destination and sent to the port of Rio de Janeiro where the data found themselves facing the immense troop transport ship, the army had already blocked the entire area to prevent the entry of curious and potential Spies, but such movement could not fail to be noted, the

embarkation of 5,075 men was carried out throughout the 30th and was finally completed that night with the entry of the command and staff in the early hours of the morning of July 1st. Getúlio Vargas arrived at the port and was taken by the Americans to the bridge command of the ship where he used the sound system to address the soldiers of the expeditionary force, the head of the government came to bring you a farewell word on behalf of the entire Brazilian nation, I know how much this transcendent moment in which you stopped from your homes

the warmth and the caress of your beloved teeth, destiny chose us for the historical mission of making your teeth tremble and the Auriverde Pavilion and respond with the presence of Brazil to the offenses and humiliations that they tried to impose on us, it is with emotion that I leave you here with my best wishes for complete success, it is not a goodbye, but above all a see you soon, when you will hear the word of the Fatherland, grateful to the Dawn of the second of July General Mendes docked and began to move away from the

pier with General Mascarenhas on board and General Zenóbio in command of the first South American military contingent to fight in the old world on the Flag itself began there the epic of the Brazilian expeditionary force A week after leaving Rio de Janeiro, the SSD animal Man troop transport ship carrying the first Echelon of the Brazilian expeditionary force to Europe was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the passage of the Equator was celebrated on On board with the traditional Neptune ceremony, but the Brazilian troops had few people, the vast majority of those five thousand men

had never been on the ship before and the strict safety rules imposed by the United States Navy made the experience even less comfortable. General Mascarenhas, a passenger on that trip, remembered the unbearable unpleasantness of the endless hot nights lived in stuffy compartments packed to the ceiling, completely closed so that not even the slightest bit of light leaked, and the difference in food and the agitation of the sea caused seasickness. in a large number of companions, which made life in the barracks intolerable, despite knowing that they were going to Italy, Mascarenhas was unaware of the final

destination of the ship, kept completely confidential by the American command, the general least passed through Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean, but only in the morning On the 16th of June, the Brazilians on board were aware of where they were and the imposing and threatening figure of Monte resolved the immense volcano that had exploded in fury just four months before. leaving no doubt, the ship headed for the port of Naples, Mascarenhas was the first to get off the ship, having in front of him an honor committee of the United States army, headed by General Jacob, several

American commanders of the Mediterranean, who came to greet the troops upon their arrival, was disembarked from the ship and sent to Batholi, a suburb of Naples, where she camped for the following weeks while Mascarenhas and her staff made arrangements to receive the promised equipment and weapons, without which they would not be able to continue to the front line, meanwhile in Brazil . On the 20th of July, the Ministry of Aeronautics created the most innovative body of the FEB, the first squadron and observation, within the North American war doctrine, divisional artillery should have an air contingent

to guide the fire of its weapons, a practice that the army Brazilian still said he knew the command of the Squadron, a trinket was given to Captain Aviator João Afonso, who had two months to select his aviators and ground staff, as well as making contact with his official army artillery observers who would fly with his pilots, after which speed presented the his General Osvaldo Cordeiro de Farias, commander of the FEB artillery here in his unit would be subordinated in Italy with the successful invasion of Normandy in the Northwest of France, the allied high command decided

to execute a maneuver to divide the German resistance in the country, also landing on the southern coast of France, this operation would be carried out with troops that at that time were in combat in Italy, the remainder of the American 5th Army, General Mark Clark was notified that he would have to give up the French army corps made up of three divisions for the invasion of southern France without any forecast of receiving reinforcements at that time, the presence of the FEB on Italian soil became not only opportune but also essential for the 5th army, on

June 26, the Brazilians moved to Tarquínia, where they finally received all their war material, including the passing vehicles, from that point forward, moving by their own means, from then on, Brazilian soldiers would be identified at the battlefront by the characteristic use of the metal helmet and a North American one, as well as several North American pieces of clothing to complement the National uniform, notably the winter pieces, suddenly the craze began to use the most modern set of equipment available in American nationals, with the notorious with the exception of the infantry rifle, even under the protests

of Dutra and Mascarenhas, the Americans refused to hand over the semi-automatic M1 garand rifle to the Brazilian troops, instead using the antiquated Springfield m1903 bolt-action rifle on Onze de Agosto, Mascarenhas met with Clark on his headquarters and there it was decided that the fever would be integrated into the 5th army within its fourth corps commanded by General Berger, who, unlike Mark Clark, was not enthusiastic about receiving the Brazilian troops under his command on the 18th. the fever began to move to the vada camp, where he would finally receive his final combat training and there the

troops celebrated the Seventh of September with a parade for the allied high command in Italy, two days later Mascarenhas and crittenberger arranged the entry of the Brazilian Troop into the Front Line, with at that time only one Infantry Regiment available in Italy, Brazil would enter combat in the form of the FEB detachment, a regimental-scale unit that would act as a reduced division and that would be placed under the direct command of the General Zenóbio da Costa, while Mascarenhas was busy receiving and training the rest of the contingent that would still come from Rio de Janeiro,

as was customary for inexperienced units, was chosen for the fever's baptism of fire, a relatively calm sector of the front line, the Coastal sector of Tyrrhenian Sea along the Sergio River, while the first engineering company had become the first Brazilian unit to enter service carrying out repairs to the rear infrastructure since 6 September, it was on Treze de Setembro that the FEB detachment received its first operational battle orders from seeing move to foot is that night the next day the troops marched to see that year 8 km north of Pisa to replace American soldiers on

the front line the fever would finally be Face to Face and against the enemy on the other side of the front was the 14th, the German Panzer corps under the command of General freedom from Younger, creator of the defensive system that had paralyzed the allies for the entire first half of that year in Monte Cassino, in that zengar area, at that time had a reduced infantry force represented by the forty-second division and then General Walter ihoshi's galley, but could count on the vast artillery support that includes the powerful 280mm Club K5 Railway cannon, on the

16th of September, the still inexperienced Brazilian vanguards, which had the support of a North American Sherman tank company, advanced towards the North against its first objective is the city of massarosa And at the end of that afternoon, taking a town after an artillery attack from the FEB that fired its first salvo at 2:22 pm, the enemy evacuated But ours before the arrival of the Brazilians, causing 19 ordered the continuation of the advance to Camaiore, however, already aware of the advance, the Germans received the Brazilian force with a heavy artillery barrage, which destroyed the bridge and

blocked the advance of the tanks, when Captain Ernani Ayrosa da Silva, commander of the 2nd company, decided to leave the tanks behind and in the midst of the bombardment, he led an attack against the city, capturing with the greatest and on the Eighteenth of September, an action for which he was awarded the bronze medal. After this victory, the FEB detachment now found itself facing the feared Gothic line. the network of German defensive positions that extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Adriatic Sea Hotel over the Apennine Mountains, meanwhile in Brazil, General Cordeiro de Farias had been

informed that two large transport ships were arriving in Rio de Janeiro to take to Europa, the remainder of the expeditionary division and he would command the second boarding Echelon, with the third Echelon under the command of General Falconieri da Cunha. It was then that they simultaneously attacked the SSD and romance and SS General Marques and in the military village the first and 11th Infantry Regiments received orders to begin boarding. Unlike the boarding of the first Echelon 2 months earlier, the second boarding was carried out openly with broad press coverage, the soldiers boarded in uniforms specially

designed for the crossing and the two ships set sail from Rio de Janeiro on the 22nd of September, Italy 19 and decided to begin the assault on the Gothic line with an attack on Monte Plano, an elevation used by the Germans as an observatory for their artillery, which gave views, Camaiore and the entire coastal plain, once again Captain Airosa's second company led the attack, being covered by fire from Sherman tanks, the attack began on the 21st and the Brazilian troops made steady progress while expelling isolated groups of resistance, captured prisoners were interrogated and revealed that

the command of the forty-second eager division intended to carry out a retreat on the 24th, abandoning the positions on the mountain . their first casualties in combat, with 5 dead and 17 wounded, capturing 31 prisoners and advancing day by kilometer in the following days, intelligence information indicated a concentration of German forces in the Rio Valley, seriously east of the Brazilian position, with General Walter ihoshi ordering the abandonment, of the mountains to the southwest of the Valley, in this way, the Brazilian command began moving to the valley, occupying Borgo a Mozzano on 2919, moving the first

and third battalions to the Valley, leaving the Second Battalion, Major Abílio Pontes, acting in the mountains to the west, Abílio pursued, the Germans, through the difficult terrain, finally made contact with the enemy in Fornovolasco on October 4th. Meanwhile, in Vale do Serc, the Brazilian vanguard advanced, capturing several small towns on the banks of the river, the advance was frequently delayed by the enemy artillery, which enjoyed a wide field, of vision of the fever's position, even so, the third Battalion, Major Silvino Castor da Nóbrega, pressed forward and captured the city of Fornatti, a coup d'état on

October 6th, taking an ammunition and aeronautical parts factory intact, witness to the hasty withdrawal that had to be carried out by the Germans in the city that same day, the two transport ships docked in Naples, bringing the rest of the Brazilian division, General Mascarenhas went to receive his soldiers, finally relieved to have his entire contingent on Italian soil, the totally different situation on the front line nevertheless made the reception of these contingents was quite different from what happened in July, the urgent need for troops at the front meant that the men were quickly loaded onto

infantry transport boats on a 36-hour journey across the Tyrrhenian Sea towards the North, in which constant and The shaking of the boats caused even more severe nausea and the boats disembarked soldiers in Livorno and from there they went to the San Rossore forest camp where the FEB headquarters were, arriving on October 11th, it was there that the newly arrived contingents were welcomed by General Eurico Gaspar Dutra, who had been on a FEB inspection mission in Italy since the end of the previous month, recognized for being extremely objective, with few words, Dutra met with the entire

allied command, from Marshal Road Alexander, commander of the 15th army group, passing through Mark Clark to Williams Crittenberger to understand the structure of the Brazilian force and find out about its performance after inspecting several contingents of the 5th army and observing that each division carried its own insignia on the left arm to identify the troops Dutra asked Mascarenhas Why the fever didn't have a Mascarenhas told him that there was the together and that an idea presented to him would be to use a smoking snake, a clear response to the provocations received in Brazil that said

that it would be easier for a snake to smoke than for the fever to go to war, as well of official receptions Dutra decided who would visit the FEB front line in Vale do Serious to see the war up close with his own eyes, ignoring the concerns raised by Mark Clark about his safety Dutra advanced to the observation posts closest to no man's land', evaluating the compliment exactly, the performance of the Brazilian force up until that moment, returning to Brazil on October Eighteenth, after the conquest of Fornatti, Crittenberger ordered a pause in the attacks to

consolidate their positions and only Brazilian patrols began to probe the front line, pointing out that Vargas had already been evacuated. by the Germans, the city was occupied by the fever on the eleventh of October together with and on the thirteenth the intelligence of the 5th army pointed out a concentration of enemy troops in the defense of the city of castelnuovo di garfagnana, the largest Logistics Junction in the region, including elements of the 230th second Infantry division of the general is corner to record a corporal lance at this point a great dilemma was faced by the

allied command it will be obvious that the Germans were heavily reinforcing the castelnuovo di garfagnana and that the capture of the town had to be carried out in the shortest possible time before the reinforcements were consolidated however, the small number of Brazilian troops available, who at that time were already exhausted by an entire month of incessant combat, imposed a reckless limitation on the allied offensive power, given that the rest of the Brazilian division was still receiving its weapons in the rear, even though Brazilian patrols scoured the entire front line and established increasingly advanced positions on

the ground, occupying the A colony on October 24, the command also received information that the Italian mountainous Alpine division had arrived to reinforce castelnuovo di garfagnana under orders and Kristen Berger 19 or attacked on the rainy morning of the thirtieth of October with the 1st Battalion of Major João Carlos Gross, leaving Samba Colonia towards the mud of Soto, capturing the town at 11:45 in the morning, throughout the day the Brazilian infantry took all the enemy's starting points for the final attack on castelnuovo di garfagnana, concluding the movement at eighteen thirty, taking the fever and just

4 km from the city, the rapid success of the troops in the attack that day and led to the 19th confidence and a victorious capture of the enemy fortress, but the fatigue of the soldiers and the fragility of the front line positions caused a terrible surprise to the allied command in German military doctrine, the loss of an important position to the enemy should be followed by an immediate counterattack and the Brazilian expeditionary force would discover this fact In the cold and rainy dawn of October 31st, the Germans and Italians carried out a counterattack against the

positions of the 3rd company, which suddenly found itself under fire from the front and sides, retreating towards Albania . once with a large artillery support, the first company resisted until the end of its ammunition but had to retreat to katana resulting in the loss of the positions conquered. The day before the contract which alarmed General Mark Clark who urgently moved the remainder of the fever and to the front line and immediately, even without completing his training period in the rear, even with the setback on the 31st, I had from the FEB detachment in the previous

45 days, he had impressed the American command and of course he had decided to entrust the Brazilian division . fever would be transferred to the central sector of the front of the 5th army, where the Germans had mounted a hitherto impregnable defense on the Gothic line, the fall was already essential for Victory in Italy, the Brazilian troops would be transferred to the Rhine River Valley, mounting oppositions in in front of Monte Castelo, beginning a new and complex phase in the combat operations of the Brazilian expeditionary force, in the first days of November 1944, the Brazilian

expeditionary force was moving along the allied battle front in northern Italy, it was leaving the secondary sector of the Vale do Rio series that after 45 days of successful fighting and now arranged the operations of the 5th army in the Vale, from the River Rhine, the geography of Italy posed a serious defensive challenge to the Germans who now found themselves entrenched along the Gothic line, the network of fortifications that ran above the Apennine Mountains, a long chain of mountains that cuts across the entire Italian territory from northwest to southeast, however, just to the north of

the Apennines lies the Po River Valley, a vast plain that offered no defensive conditions and the general rightfont is left out Commander of the German forces in Italy knew that the loss of the defensive positions on the Gothic line would mean the end of German resistance from the country in this way, the German high command clung to their fortifications in the mountains and dislodged from there would be a difficult task for the Allied armies on the other side of the front line, General Mark Clark, commander of the 5th American army, in front of him, the

task of overcoming the Gothic line and reaching the city of Bologna, the key to accessing the Po Valley, and to do so, it was necessary to capture road 64, which runs along the River Rhine at the bottom of the valley to Bologna. However, the powerful German artillery managed to target the entire the road being directed by observers positioned above the mountainous peaks to the north, thus preventing all progress by the North American towards Bologna so that Bologna could be captured, it was first necessary to expel the Germans from the banks of the highway, capturing the

entire set of mountains and one of these mountains was the famous Monte Castelo, Monte Castelo was the most advanced formation of the mountain complex Belvedere from her to Rakia giving the Germans a full view of the road 64 the German observers above Monte Castelo directed the fire of the mounted artillery Don't have the capture of this behind you position was declared a high priority objective by the allied command, which entrusted the mission to the Brazilian Infantry Division, the Brazilian troops concluded their movement and on November 9th, having replaced the American soldiers at all points of

their new and long front line and extended to the vicinity of cattle sal riding to the outskirts of Torre de Nerone over a length of 15 km, the commander of the 4th army corps, General William written burger was determined to eliminate the German presence in the mountains before the arrival of winter and immediately ordered Mascarenhas to carry out an attack against Monte Castelo which was defended by the 232nd Infantry division of the general é catraia recording recording all via Mascarenhas had at that moment only a third of his troops on the front line the now

tired sixth Bom Dia Regiment which had been there for almost two months in combat continued, his other two regiments were still in the rear receiving weapons This is the training should not have been completed before the first week of December the Brazilian general espouses the American command the feasibility of mounting an offensive at the same time as garrisoning the 15 km from the front line with so few soldiers but the clear response to the problem was categorical, the remainder of the fever should then be brought immediately to the front line, even with training in complete

consternation, Mascarenhas ordered the start of the deployment of the first and 11th regiments from their camp in San Rossore to Borgo Pele, 3 km south of their advanced headquarters in Porreta Terme, the troops began to arrive at Boca Pano and on November 19th and two days later the first battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment There was already the reserve element of the 4th Army Corps, the movement of 10 thousand men would still take several days to be completed, but General Crittenberger was eager to go on the attack and ordered that the action be carried out

by an American contingent called force -task 45, which would have Brazilian support only in the form of Major Silvino's battalion, the reconnaissance squadron and the 9th Engineering Battalion, task force 45 was placed under the command of American General Paul tillich and with the support of armored vehicles and artillery from the fourth corps attacked Monte Castelo and Abetaia frontally on November 24th, resulting in a complete failure of the attack and was spotted in advance by the Germans and their artillery launched a destructive barrage in front of the outlet's advance, preventing any gain in ground, the general

decided to try a new attack on the day and this time setting up two fronts to dissipate the concentration of the opposing artillery, in addition to attacking the castle's hand , task force 45 attacked also a Mount Belvedere at the western end of the mountain range and with their divided artillery the Germans were unable to resist the attack, the summits of Monte Castelo and Monte Belvedere were occupied by the Americans and Brazilians, causing a wave of enthusiasm among the Allied Generals, but that feeling of joy would be short-lived, dividing the troops into two fronts, the

other was dangerously reducing their strength and, as usual, the Germans responded to the loss of the important castle hand with the immediate counterattack that regained the elevation that same day. Faced with the failure, Crittenberger returned Mascarenhas gave command of the Brazilian units of task force 45 the following day and on that November 26th, the Brazilian had for the first time on the front line control of his entire division at the same time, Crittenberger Gil Mascarenhas attacked Monte Castelo within three days, a dangerously short period of time, with the 6th Regiment being exhausted at that moment

being replaced on the Mascarenhas Front Line, would have to use inexperienced troops to attack the mountain and taking the risks of the entire operation, the defensive position set up by Gabriela without Monte Castelo had been reinforced after the scare of the 25th and now had more soldiers, vast minefields covering the approach routes, a long set of wooded houses and machine gun nests staggered in depth, in addition to several Snipers positioned across the terrain, all of this was complemented by heavy-caliber German artillery whose precise fire was called in whenever necessary, Misfortune still acted on the night

of November 20th, the eve of the attack, the Germans attacked and dislodged the Americans from the top of Mount Belvedere, recovering the entire mountain in the following hours, in possession of that position, the German command now had all its device freed to act as necessary, at four in the morning of November 29th, the Brazilian attack force began to move towards its starting points of the offensive that would begin at 6 am, the rain that had fallen the night before, left the muddy ground, causing an hour's delay, the attack that was finally launched at seven o'clock

in the morning with an artillery barrage from Cordeiro de Farias . 11th Regiment commanded by Major Cândido da Silva whose soldiers would have their first contact with the war is precisely against Fortaleza de Monte Castelo the Brazilian advance was made at great cost that morning with the two battalions managing to progress until noon when they were paralyzed on the ground by the German weapons, casualties would increase steadily from that point onwards and shortly after a contract that forced the Uzeda Battalion back, seeing that it was isolated, Cândido also retreated with his Battalion and with the

night and approaching in a few hours the order to abandon the attack was given by the Brazilian command, the cost of hasty planning and the use of inexperienced troops was high and among the dead and wounded the fever accounted for 190 casualties, even so Marcos there Who remained insistent on capturing Monte Castelo before winter And ordered Mascarenhas made one more attempt, this time ensuring greater artillery support from the fourth corps for the Brazilian attack in early December, but the street deteriorated and the attack was postponed until the 12th with the hope that the heavy clouds

would dissipate over the area, the use of rookie contingents would once again be necessary and an event that occurred at the beginning of that month demonstrated the risks of this circumstance. On the night of December 2nd to 3rd, the first battalion of the 11th Infantry Regiment, which had just arrived from the rear, was sent to garrison, the front line in guanella in front of Monte Castelo that night, the inexperienced soldiers and officers were surprised by a reinforced Patrol of around forty German soldiers supported by machine guns and mortars and when they found themselves under fire

they suddenly went into panic, some soldiers abandoned their positions and then the officers themselves ordered the retreat, leaving all their equipment behind in the event that became known as The Night of the laurindos, despite the fact that the Germans did not have the manpower to occupy the Brazilian positions and Mascarenhas quickly ordered the third Battalion of the 6th Regiment to occupy the abandoned sector of the front line. December 12th dawned completely cloudy with low clouds and a light rain and persistent clouds covered the top of Monte Castelo and with that Mascarenhas hoped to be able

to maintain the surprise element of the attack until the last moment, but those extreme weather conditions that allowed maximum visibility of 50 meters also made it impossible to regulate artillery fire as well as the use of aviation in support , but even the surprise that Mascarenhas intended to use in his favor was entirely dismantled at 6 am, at the exact moment that the second and third battalions of the first Regiment were silently leaving for the attack, North American artillery opened an immense of Fire on Mount Belvedere, warning the Germans that something was coming, Gabriel detected

the direction of the Brazilian attack and reacted with his entire Arsenal, paralyzing the entire Second Battalion just a few meters from his starting base, causing General Zenóbio to send its operational reserve, the third Battalion of the 11th Regiment in support, after receiving support, the troops began to progress slowly, but some platoons found themselves completely paralyzed by machine gun fire and clung to the ground in the chaos caused by the violent German reaction and the bad weather that made communications difficult, was constant during the attack, causing numerous casualties, including due to friendly fire coming from American

armored vehicles to the right of the attack, the third Battalion of the first Regiment commanded by Major Franklin Rodrigues managed to progress up the hill right over Funo and in the early hours of that afternoon their vanguards entered the area of ​​fog that covered the top of the elevation in a demonstration of determination and courage in the face of a terrifying scenario Brazilian soldiers reached the summit of Monte Castelo but ended up killed by the Germans inside the cloud and their bodies remained there unburied throughout the winter at 3pm, with dusk already beginning to set

in, the Brazilian command gave orders to abandon the attack, withdrawing its troops from the mountain in the face of the disaster that day, Cris Berger decided to order the halt of all offensive activities of the fourth corps for the remainder of the year, placing all front line in a defensive state Monte Castelo will resist before the eyes of Mascarenhas de Moraes as a formidable enemy that would require a supreme improvement from him to be conquered, Brazilian soldiers would have to become Oi and the winter that was announced would be the opportunity for this to happen

Temperatures quickly dropped to minus 20 degrees and snow covered the entire landscape of the Apennines , a novelty for Brazilian troops accustomed to tropical heat. Soldiers dressed in white snow camouflage coverings provided by the Americans and improvised ways to stay safe. Dry and warm in those rigorous conditions, at the same time having privileged views of the Brazilian positions below, the German command constantly bombarded the front line posts with their heavy artillery and especially the Mascarenhas headquarters in porreta terme, but it was during that winter that the entire The Brazilian expeditionary force gained valuable combat experience

by carrying out constant Front Line Patrols . fortified Germany, the months of December and January were transformative for the expeditionary infantry division, which emerged from them as a combat force, complete and experienced completely different from the fever of the previous year and precisely that winter Brazilian soldiers began to wear on their left arms the insignia that would make them known worldwide, the green snake smoking a pipe against a yellow background topped by the word Brazil, still at the end of December, a great exchange in allied command, it happened with Mark Clark taking command of the

15th army group, with the 5th army being passed to the command of General Luciano 13.3 could have various battle plans of the 5th army and is offensive for the sector of the fourth corps planning to reach the Vale do Passing through the Panaro River Valley, less steep than the Rhine Valley, to Bologna, the Monte Castelo mountain range should now not only be conquered to open the road 64 But why was it placed directly in the path of the Allied advance to eliminate the support of artillery to Monte Castelo Crittenberger would now count on the 10th

mountain division, an elite mountaineering unit recently arrived from the United States, the offensive now called the plan to Incor would be initiated by the 10th mountain division, which should take Monte Belvedere and Monte Gordo lesco eliminating the entire German western flank, allowing the fever to then attack Monte Castelo while proceeding in the rear to take Monte Della Torre, eagle, the American attack began on February 19th with the mountain tenth and the Germans at the top of Monte Belvedere taking that elevation, and Monte Gordo Bolesco on the same day, making the enemy retreat to the east

on the 20th and the thunderbolts of the 1st Brazilian fighter group attacked the German positions in Monte Castelo, destroying the casemates and other fortifications throughout the terrain and at the sunny dawn of the 21st of February, the Brazilian command finally felt confident in the mission, the main attack of the first Regiment progressed as planned, being covered by a vast bombardment of divisional artillery that was directed by aerial observers from Captain Bullock's Squadron The Second Battalion of the 11th Regiment, in a secondary attack, took and occupied Abetaia, taking control of the pass between the mountains from

the Germans, three Brazilian battalions were now climbing a hill, saturating the capacity of the German defenses that still resisted, as they could, coordinated Google of the Brazilian forces Unlike previous attempts, overcoming the last third of the elevation was done in force and rhythm and at 17:20 the German resistance collapsed, the Brazilian soldiers victoriously occupied the summit of Monte Castelo, this time permanently, finally eliminating the enemy fortress that challenged them. Since the previous year, Mascarenhas had at that time a large delegation in its command post that had come to closely monitor the Brazilian attack in securing

the Victory was effusively greeted by maxillar and the them crittenberger, once and for all eliminating any doubts about the combative value of his division, the fights to conquer the mountain group would continue in the following days, but now the fever was reinvigorated, confident and aware of its own value, the Brazilian division was now ready for the final Victory against the German army, the day after its victory over the German Fortress of Monte Castelo, the Brazilian expeditionary force finally found itself complete the expeditionary Infantry Division on Italian soil and had completed its disembarkation in September 1944,

but the fever still included a personnel depot of 10 thousand men as reserves, two transport echelons each with five thousand soldiers had left Rio de Janeiro, in November 1944 and February 1945 and the fifth and final echelon of the force disembarked in Naples on the 22nd of February, being transported to the depot camp in Staffoli, from there thousands of soldiers would be sent to the front line to replace the dead. sick and missing wounded from the FEB and after the costly battles of that winter the ranks of the Brazilian division had new faces at the

front, the victory over Monte Castelo on February 21st did not mean the celebration of Victory as the fighting continued right after the conquest from the mountain for a second Set of mountains in the Northeast dominated by the German observation point of Monte Sua pass should also be conquered to open the way towards the North and this task was handed over by the American command to General Mascarenhas de Moraes, in addition to the soprassasso, that group has a dangerous enemy position known as the tower of nerone and for months it attacked the right flank of the

fever, as well as a German fortress in the village of Castelo Novo, which controlled the route around the mountains, on February 23, Mascarenhas ordered the start of the attack and that night the 6th Company of the 2nd battalion, of the Sampaio Regiment advanced to take the German advanced position there at the foot of the 11th soprassasso and the 6th company commanded by 1st Lieutenant Apolo Miguel rezk became the spearhead of the Brazilian advance and was approaching La Serra when it was detected by the enemy, in a short time, Lieutenant Apolo's platoon found itself surrounded from

the front and sides by six German machine guns 15 to 80 meters apart, forcing the Brazilians to take shelter under a clear disadvantage of fire. Apolo decided to maintain his position, coordinating the Brazilian response even after being injured and refusing to be evacuated, he continued to fire at the Germans throughout the night, finally managing to overcome them and conquer the mountain. Due to his feats, Lieutenant Apolo was decorated by the American command with his second highest honor for bravery, the Cross of distinguished services only below the Medal of Honor, making Apollo the most decorated Brazilian

combatant of the Second World War is the position of fever . Infantry Regiment now under the command of Colonel Nelson de Mello Occupies a hill on March 4 Starting an advance towards the East along the Montagne Ridge, covered by divisional artillery fire, the following day, under heavy enemy fire, the Brazilians conquered the hill only to the steel and showing great operational maturity, they resolutely repelled the German counterattacks that attempted to retake the position, Lieutenant Hugo Correia who were brought from the personnel depot to the front line and a few days ago had received command of

a platoon of the 6th Regiment described the attack in this way, these men from the Brazilian interior with that unmartial and healthy appearance, more resilient and courageous, managed to overcome such a well-executed and synchronized progression up that steep slope, covering a distance of 500 meters in a few minutes, synchronized with the dam of our artillery removed the enemies from their casemates excavated on the slope of the elevation, surprising them and using automatic weapons and rifles, shooting into these shelters as if they were hunting animals hidden within them, the once Unbeatable soldiers cowered out, begging them

not to kill them while the first and the second battalions of the 11th Regiment left to bypass the German position in the mountains, the sixth Regiment advanced against Castelo Novo and despite the intense reaction of the enemy artillery managed to reach the city at nineteen o'clock that night, concluding the expulsion of the Germans the following morning after taking control of the mountains of the fourth corps with its new front line and General Crittenberger suspended offensive activities on March 7, the 10th mountain division was exhausted and needed rest, as well as the Brazilian Infantry division Mascarenhas

took advantage of the stabilization phase to provide the deserved rest for its soldiers And since the previous autumn they had been in continuous contact with the enemy, so the division command organized a system of days off for the men who were sent on leisure trips to Rome and Florence, where they could attend cinemas , bars and dances like this, the rest of the month of March went on, while winter finally set in for the Spring of 1945, on March 20, Mascarenhas was summoned to a meeting with the commanders of the fourth corps at Klea's headquarters,

Berger and his wife and the plans for the final attack against Italy, called Operation Grapeshot, but which would become popularly [...] known as the spring offensive, the general plan of the offensive assigned the fourth corps the task of overcoming the last German strong points on the way to the Panaro River Valley and occupying its eastern bank, following it to capture viola, the key to entering the plain of Valley of the River Pó, the direct offensive movement would be made by the 10th mountain division and the first armored division, with the fever advancing towards the North

to secure the flank of the main attack, however Mascarenhas requested an expansion to the east of the Brazilian operations zone, thus relieving the burden of tenth mountain crittenberger agreed with the Brazilian general and ahead of the fever and started to include the city of Montese, the last major German stronghold in those mountains, defended by the 114th eager division of General I'm here in gamers Montese was on the western face of the last mountain located before of the Panaro River and at its top was a medieval tower used by the Germans as an artillery observatory. The

movement of the fourth corps for the attack began on the seventh of April, with all preparation completed on the thirteenth, while several patrols were launched against the front line. to probe the enemy's positions on the ground to carry out the attack, General Mascarenhas chose the 11th Regiment of Colonel Delmiro de Andrade, the last of his three regiments that came into line the previous year and the only one up until that moment that had not taken the front and a direct offensive against the city of Montese and it would be up to the 1st Battalion of

the 11th Regiment commanded by Major Manoel Lisboa while the third Battalion of Major Cândido da Silva would attack elevation on the right, the objective of capturing the summit in Montello, while the second battalion of the first Regiment under the command of Major Syzeno Sarmento would make a secondary attack to protect the right flank of the 11th regiment on the morning of April 14th, day of the opening of the spring offensive, the Brazilian attack left at 10 and 15 in synchrony with the attack of the 10th division of mountain, a dense barrage of Brazilian artillery preceded

the advance of the infantry, hammering all the enemy strong points located by the Patrols in the previous days, the Syzeno Battalion was the first to advance in its secondary attack, but soon when the cloud of dust from the Brazilian barrage gave way to the observers, Germans at the top of Montese and saw the advancing platoons ordering the opening of the most terrible artillery rain that the fever faced in the second world war, the general he art knew perfectly well the risks that the loss of the position in Montese means in vain and managed the concentration

of almost all the German howitzers in the sector to protect the city at 1 pm the attack of the 11th Regiment was finally closed, General Cordeiro de Farias launched another powerful barrage of his artillery against the city of Montese with the aim of blinding the Germans before the Brazilian advance and at 3 pm the first Brazilians managed to enter the city, ahead of the advance was the second company with three platoons arranged side by side in the center was the platoon of lieutenant iporan Nunes de Oliveira whose Sub Commander was Sergeant Nestor da Silva at

the reaching the first blocks of Montese, the platoon requested by radio to stop the Brazilian artillery, whose firecrackers fell in front of them, when the cannonade was interrupted, the platoon began its ascent through the streets more quickly, the soldiers fell to the ground with a well-aimed salvo from enemy artillery. and hit them on all sides, cutting the unit's communication telephone cable, completely isolating it, several soldiers were injured and Sergeant Nestor was hit by a piece of grenade shrapnel in the back of the head, tearing his helmet and by less than a few millimeters. hitting the

back of his head on his right, a year, Lieutenant Ary Rauen's platoon penetrated the southeastern region of Montese when it was also paralyzed by heavy artillery fire, to which several machine gun nests were added there, but the soldiers took shelter and actually went ahead to make a reconnaissance of enemy resistance points when he was suddenly hit in the head by an enemy projectile, subsequently dying without any communication with the rest of the FEB and for years he led a fearless attack city ​​above, placing Brazilian soldiers for the first time in a situation where Urbano was

clearing house by house the center of Montese and of the enemy presence at the end of that afternoon, Iporã himself reached the city tower, climbing its stairs and reaching the top of the building that had been there moments before evacuated by the Germans, it was only at nightfall that communication with the Iporã platoon was reestablished and the lieutenant discovered that he was still virtually isolated in the city, as the Germans had resisted the advance of the 3rd Battalion in the Picos to the east and the platoon to his side, right-wing remained paralyzed by the fire

without leadership and suffering despite the casualties faced with the dire situation, General Mascarenhas picked up the phone and called the Iporã platoon that was sheltering from enemy fire in a church, resorting to a very rare resource in the history of the Brazilian army, Mascarenhas called Sergeant Nestor on the phone and said if we, where I have just signed your promotion from 2nd Sergeant to 2nd Lieutenant, honor these stars as well as your sergeant's badges, immediately assume command of the Platoon on your right and move forward, good luck in the morning of the following day, Brazilian

artillery restarted fire on Montello and the mountainous peaks, allowing Major Cândido's attack to resume. Midshipman Francisco Mega, who commanded his platoon in the attack on those positions, was hit in the chest by a machine gun burst, ordering the advance to continue before After dying in the city, the now reinforced Brazilian platoons continued to fight and house to house, also advancing slowly throughout the day, the German resistance in Montese was only defeated on the sixteenth and in the following 48 hours the Brazilian soldiers cleaned up the entire the area ahead in the direction of panaro, as

expected, the German agency in that Sector of the Apennines collapsed after the loss of Montese and on the 19th of April the fever reached the valley, occupying its eastern margin while it advanced towards the North on the 21st of April after being delayed by numerous minefields and traps left by the enemy, the Brazilian vanguards occupied Joca and finally, at the end of the next day, they reached viola at the foot of the Apennines, setting the fever and finally in the Po Valley, from there the objective of the allied high command, was to pursue with maximum

speed the German divisions in Fuga across the plain before they could reach the Alps and escape to Germany and in that context, Crittenberger's orders to Mascarenhas excluded the fever of this pursuit towards the North, assigning the Brazilian division the task of covering the flank of the American advance heading northwest along the road to Milan. Furthermore, as it accelerated its mobile capacity, the fourth corps had requisitioned the fever infantry trucks, leaving the division dangerously behind, more intelligence information was aware of the presence of enemy formations still trapped in the Coastal region of Las Pérsia and Mascarenhas

decided to prevent his escape, General Cordeiro would do if God artillery trucks to transport the infants and the fever and gave chase, the M8 greyhound armored vehicles of the Reconnaissance Squadron commanded by Captain Plínio Pitaluga left in the front, searching the terrain, kilometers ahead of the troop trucks, reaching São Paulo, Denis on the 24th of April, proceeding hurriedly towards the Northwest, Italo entered the school shortly after noon on the 26th of April, where his armored vehicles made contact with an enemy Vanguard receiving the location of the Germans from the Squadron Mascarenhas ordered the IMEI to

transport the infantry to Colégio where they arrived that night Decisively blocking the enemy's Escape Route to the North, the German troops consisted of the 148th Infantry Division of General Otto Fretter-pico along with the remainder of two other divisions that had retreated from the Coastal sector and were trying to flee to Germany and at that time were trying to reach the supplement depots held in colloquy. Soldiers from the 6th Infantry Regiment captured the depots and pushed the Germans south, advancing until winning on the twenty-eighth, where they were blocked by a line of machine guns, Mascarenhas enemies

then ordered the siege of the German troops already located in the city of Fornovo Di Taro, after a Brazilian ultimatum, emissaries were sent by General Frater Pico to negotiate the surrender of his troops, which was agreed for the following day, which was in the early afternoon of the 20th. and the 9th of April, the first German units began to surrender to the expeditionary force in an endless line, here it advanced at dawn, only being concluded on the 30th, when the fever led to the surrender of 15 thousand enemy soldiers, General Fretter-pico was the last to

leave deliver in the afternoon of that day and was escorted to the rear by General Falconieri da Cunha at the same time the high command of the axis in Italy signed the negotiations for the surrender of its armies and in this last phase of the campaign FEB motorized patrols spread across the Italian Northwest, arriving in Milan and Turin, finally reaching the French border, the axis forces in Italy laid down their arms on May 2, 1945, ending the fighting in that theater of operations once and for all, a week later Germany would sign its final surrender

, putting an end to the second world war in Europe, the Brazilian division celebrated its victory with pride in its duty accomplished and with the certainty that it would see its land again, a far cry from the one now destroying the continent, the fever began to carry out occupation tasks in the region and in those days Brazilian soldiers were able to meet several tourist cities in Northern Italy and France on the 4th of May, General Lúcio in return offered a celebratory lunch to the commanders of units of the 5th army and upon arriving at the

location Mascarenhas was applauded and congratulated for the Brazilian performance in capturing the enemy division on the 7th of In May, the Brazilian commander met with General Mark Clark, who told me it was a privilege to be associated with the Brazilians in the campaign, the fever carried out with precision all the missions entrusted to him, he did not relax in the pursuit and surrendered an enemy division and It was a magnificent end to a magnificent performance, concluding its period of occupation at the beginning of June, the Brazilian division began to be transported back to Brazil and

the first echelon of five thousand soldiers set sail from Naples on the sixth of July, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on the eighteenth of July, where the soldiers were effusively welcomed by the population, holding a triumphant parade through the streets of the capital . Três de Setembro, carrying out a parade through the streets of the Portuguese capital, the last Troop Echelon of the fever and arrived in Rio de Janeiro on November 13, 1945 Closing the chapter of Brazilian participation in the largest armed conflict in human history over 239 days is facing a period much longer

than the vast majority of American divisions, the fever took part in the main combats carried out by the 4th army corps, being entrusted to commissions of the greatest degree of importance, which carried out with a performance commendable by the entire allied high command, the Brazilian division will capture a total of twenty 1573 prisoners more than his own staff and freed a hundred Italian locations from German occupation and is still recognized in Italy for the Brotherhood with which he treated Italian civilians, sharing with him and his ration in the harsh months of that winter of the

25,334 Brazilians sent During the combat, 465 lost their lives there and thousands more were injured, sent for treatment in Brazil or the United States . National monument to those killed in the Second World War The legacy of the performance of the Brazilian expeditionary force is the ability to adapt and overcome obstacles that proved to the rest of the world in its most dramatic moment the value AND courage of a country called Brazil liked the story So, if you like our work and want to collaborate with the channel, you can do so by sending us pics

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