"Brazilian Expeditionary Force in WW2" Topic

For those not aware, Brazil sent an Expeditionary Force to fight in Italy in 1944.

link

Osprey will publish a book on the subject next March. This groundbreaking book is a must read for anyone interested in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force which fought in Italy during World War II.

Cover: picture

In the English-speaking world, it is generally unknown that a volunteer Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) fought alongside the US Army in Italy from mid-1944 until the end of the war. This was in effect a light infantry division, consisting of three infantry regiments augmented with artillery and light armour. It was supported by a Brazilian Air Force contingent of a light reconnaissance squadron as well as a P-47 Thunderbolt-equipped fighter squadron. Although all weapons, uniform, kit and equipment were either American-supplied or American models, there were distinctive Brazilian adaptations to uniforms and other key pieces of kit.

Below, German General Otto Freter Pico, Commander of the 148th Infantry Division, and General Mario Carloni surrendering to the Brazilian Expeditionary Force – Italy, 1945.
link

Brazilian cemetery in Pistoia, Italy.
picture

The main task of the Brazilian Navy was, together with the Allies, to ensure the safety of ships sailing between the Center and South Atlantic to Gibraltar. The Brazilian navy conducted 574 operations that protected 3,164 merchant ships; German submarines were only able to sink three ships.

A total of 9 known German submarines were destroyed along the Brazilian coast. Those were: U-164, U-128, U-590, U-513, U-662, U-598, U-199, U-591, and U-161

The Brazilian 1st Fighter Group flew a total of 445 missions, 2,550 individual sorties, and 5,465 combat flight hours, from 11 November 1944 to 6 May 1945. The XXII Tactical Air Command acknowledged the efficiency of the Group by noting that although it flew only 5% of the total of missions carried out by all squadrons under its control, it accomplished a much higher percentage of the total destruction wreaked:

* 85% of the ammunition depots
* 36% of the fuel depots
* 28% of the bridges (19% damaged)
* 15% of motor vehicles (13% damaged)
* 10% of horse-drawn vehicles (10% damaged)

General Crittenberger, commander of the U.S. IV Corps, thought very highly about the Brazilian Expeditionary Force.

I don't know if Osprey and groundbreaking go together in the same sentence. Hopefully their research is worthy of the topic.

79thPA,

I'm Brazilian and I know one of the authors. All I can say is that the guy knows his stuff… probably better than anyone else.

Thanks for the info Cuirassier. I knew of the air force contribution, thanks to the US Air Force Museum.

link

It will be interesting to read the rest.

Looking forward to it. Thanks for the heads up.

79thPA,

I'm Brazilian and I know one of the authors. All I can say is that the guy knows his stuff… probably better than anyone else.

Well then, it certainly sounds hopeful. These guys certainly deserve their due.

Interesting stuff – the 5th Army was a marvellous polyglot force – here is the South African 6th Armoured Division's stuff that I researched:

link

My force has S. African, US, Italian & Free French units – I shall add Brazilians too now :-)

Freecloud: Weren't there also Moroccans there too? I saw a very interesting movie about these guys.

I remember first encountering this unit about 25 years ago, when playing a WWII board game – one of the Allied unit was Brazilian – I was very surprised at the time

Neat unit patch – a pipe smoking snake!

I wrote a serise of articles on the FEB and Brazilian fighter squadron which appeared in Miniature Wargames (and the SOTCW Journal) a few years back.

I own General Moraes` [the Division commander] book (published in English by the US Army), so I doubt if the Osprey will contain much new info for me :-)

I'm tempted to suggest that the Brazilians occupied a narrow strip down the middle of Italy, but that would be just tasteless, I guess.

Oh, very good, made me laugh anyway :-)

Richard Baber,

The Osprey format is somewhat short (we all know that), but you could be well surprised (especially on uniforms and equipment). ;-)

César Maximiano, one of the authors, has interviewed hundreds of Brazilian veterans, read dozens of published memoirs (by other officers and NCOs) and researched in the Brazilian archives over the last 20 years (info only available in Portuguese). He probably is the most knowledgeable person on the subject.

He just published a new book here in Brazil (much larger in scope than the Osprey book) with new info (interesting interviews, new documentation and never published before photos). Many of these rare photos were part of various private collections (veterans' private collections).

This is the book: link

The author with some Brazilian veterans during the lauching of the book… Click on the images to enlarge them.

picture

picture

picture

picture

Photos courtesy of Marcelo Bonini.

As part of my own research when writing my articles, I joined the FEB veterans forum and spoke to (via email) dozens of veterans myself.

I don`t claim to know everything, but I have read both Gen Moraes own book, and the Divisional combat history, plus other articles and stuff in both English and Portugeuse.

Armes Militaire magazine (French) did fair coverage of the Brazilians over two issues, with colour photos of uniforms and equipment too.

Richard,

First of all, I would like to thank you for showing interest in this often overlooked subject. Not too many people knows about the Brazilian contribution to the allied war effort during the Second World War.

I'm sure that some less knowledgeable people than you will probably enjoy the book.

Btw… The plates are simply gorgeous.

I have known about the Brazilian Exp Force since reading a magazine article in the mid 1980's but have not seen much of note since (magazine was the one edited by Iain Dickie prior to Miniature Wargames but I can't recall either of the names it went by). I believe there is/was an article on the FOW website too.

Btw… My great uncle served in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force during WW2. He was an artillery lieutenant and was badly wounded in northern Italy in late 1944. He was accompanying an infantry patrol, acting as a forward artillery observer, when the Germans spotted the patrol and opened fire with everything they had. He was seriously wounded by mortar fire and barely survived.

Cuirassier:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Although many countries in Central and South America were nominally on the side of the Allies, Brazil is the one that made a very serious contribution to the effort. I'm looking forward to the book. Perhaps I can pursuade my group to do your grandfather's adventure as a skirmish scenario!

By the way, what does "Senta a pua!" mean on the air corps patch? My bad Portugese tells me it has something to do with seats.

Great idea, John! Thank you very much. Actually, it was my great uncle (I just edited my post)…

My great uncle always remembered how well he was treated by the american doctors and nurses. He was stabilized in a Brazilian field hospital (staying there for 5 days) and then was taken to a U.S. hospital.

NigelM – That would have been my articles in Miniature Wargames :-)

Read the stuff on the FoW site too.

John

Brazil was the first South American country to declare war on the Axis (due to ship loses to submarines), at the time when they did this, the war was going mainly in the Germans way and the Allies had yet to win a major decisive victory with both Stalingrad and El Alemain occuring after that date.

Brazil was the only South (or central) American country to send combat troops to fight in WW2 (although Mexico sent a squadron of planes which flew against the japanese in the Philipines late on).

Cuirassier

Sounds like your Great Uncle was a brave soldier.

My mothers uncle also fought in Italy and was seriously wounded on a night patrol and left for dead by his mates. He was found by the Germans and handed over to the Red Cross, he too survived the war.

Take a look at these amazing videos on Youtube…

YouTube link

YouTube link

YouTube link

YouTube link

Richard i remember your article--Very interesting..What shocked me though was that despite it not being in any major battles it still lost about 3000 casualties in less than a year…

Richard,

Do you remember which issue it was in?
Could be a different article because I'm fairly sure it was in the other magazine but it was a long time ago.

Great YouTube videos. I feel for those poor guys in the winter warfare vid. I imagine anyone from Amazonas or Bahia must have found that a bit of a shock!

archstanton73,

The Brazilian Expeditionary Force took part in some fierce but relatively small battles like Monte Castelo and Montese (not well known combats).

"Richard i remember your article--Very interesting..What shocked me though was that despite it not being in any major battles it still lost about 3000 casualties in less than a year…"

Welcome to scenic Italy. Great place for the defenders that mountain terrain. For the attackers, not so much.

Throw in frostbite cases and other exposure-related issues, and 3000 casualties for a division in a year's time in the Italian Campaign and for the attackers sounds about right IMHO.

I am definitely looking forward to this book, being an incorrigible fan of the strange, unusual, and neglected forces of WW2.

Leland R. Erickson

Yes, knew about Brazil in WWII … But this is a lot of very good information. And the 5th Army really was a unique formation. And it worked !!

Another thing that's not too widely known is that when the US entered the war they decided that they wanted an air base in eastern Brazil so they could fly across the Atlantic at that narrow point between Brazil and Africa. They wanted it badly enough that they were not going to take no for an answer and were prepared to take it by force if the Brazilians refused.

Nigel the issue of MW was 254 (July 2004). Time flys I thought it was years earlier too?

"Senta a pua!" would be similar to "Tally Ho!"

Senta a pua!

I love idioms, literally it has something to do with seating a drill (pua). You can imagine my confusion.

A hypothetical scenario of the Graff Spee breaking out and being intercepted by the Brazilian fleet could be pretty cool.

Very cool.

I am kinda sweet on the Mexican Dauntless squadron that fought in the Solomon Islands, another South American contgribution to the allies.

Richard,

The article I am referring to is not yours then it was way before 2004. Will have to see if I've got MW 254 though, bit of a long shot as I have only been buying it very occasionally for the last 10 years or so.

Were there German, Italian and Portuguese imigrants in the FEB?

nigel

There was a piece in the old Command Post Quarterly back in the 1980s and another article about the American invasion plan, in WI, I think?

But I`m quite sure my stuff in MW was just about the first to go into any depth.

The FEB contained quite a few ethnic types – Negro, European, Japanese and South American.

Unlike the US forces the Brazilians were not segregated and all colours/creeds fought together side-by-side.

Well that is something I didn't know about the FEB's ethnic mix. Making it an even more unique unit.