Brazilian Expeditionary Force
The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (in Portuguese, the Força Expedicionária Brasileira, or FEB) was the 25,300-men force formed by the Brazilian Navy, Army and Air Force who fought alongside the Allied forces in the Italian theatre of World War II.
One could argue why did Brazil join the Allied powers on World War II, since it maintained itself neutral in the earlier parts of the conflict, trading with both the Allies and the Axis. Even more, Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas' quasi-Fascist policies made it almost certain that Brazil would join the Axis powers. However, the increasing trade and diplomacy with the United States and Britain, including the setting up of American air bases in the states of Bahia, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte, combined to the sinking of several Brazilian merchant vessels by German and Italian U-Boats ragged the public opinion so as to force a declaration of war against the Axis on August 22nd, 1942.
The overall command of the FEB was made from the High Command of the 15th Allied Army Group, headed by American Generals Mark Clark and Crittenberger, British Field Marshall Alexander, and the top officials of the Brazilian Army, Generals Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Mascarenhas de Moraes, Zenóbio da Costa and Cordeiro de Farias.
The FEB was organized like a standard American Infantry Division, complete in all aspects, down to its logistical tail, including postal and banking services. It comprised the 1st, 6th and 11th Infantry Regiments of the Brazilian Army. Each Regiment had three Battalions, each having also four companies.
Soon after the declaration of war was issued, started the mobilization to create an Expeditionary Force to fight in Europe, a giant US-sponsored effort to update an obsolete army into a modern fighting force. It took two years to propperly train the 25.300 expeditionaries ready to join the allied war effort.
In early July 1944, the first five thousand FEB soldiers left Brazil to Europe aboard the American ship General Mann, and disembarked in Naples, where they waited for the US Task Force 45 they later joined. On late July, two more transports with Brazilian troops reached Italy, with two more following in November and February, 1945.
The first weeks of the Brazilians in Italy were dedicated on acquiring and training with the new American uniforms, since the Brazilian ones would not suit the Italian climate. The troops were moved to Tarquinia, 350 kilometers north of Naples, where General Mark Clark's Fifth American Army was based. The FEB was later integrated into General Crittenberger's Fourth Army. The first missions of the Brazilians involved reconnaissance operations.
The Brazilian troops were filling the gap left by several divisions of the 5th Army and French Expeditionary Force that left Italy and went on the invasion of southern France. On November 16th, the FEB occupied Massarosa. Two days later, Camaiore and other small towns on the way north were occupied as well.
By then, the FEB had already conquered Monte Prano, controlled the Serchio valley and the region of Castelnuovo, without any major casualties. The Brazilian soldiers, after that, were directed to the base of the Appenines, where they would spend the next months, facing the harsh winter and the resistance of the Bernhard and Gustav lines.
It was on that region that the Brazilian soldiers, together with men from many other nationalities, made one of their main contributions to the war: Monte Cassino. The combined forces of the FEB and the American Tenth Mountain Division were assigned the task of clearing Monte Belvedere from the Germans atop of it, clearing off mine fields, suffering from ambushes, machine gun nests, all this under a heavy barrage of grenades and mortar fire.
On late February, while the battle for Monte Cassino was still taking place, parts of the FEB conquered the city of Castelnuovo and, on March 5th, Montese. The German's mass retreat had started. In just a few days, Parma and Bologna were taken. After that, the main concern of the Allied forces in Italy were pursuing the enemy. After surrendering a large number of Germans on Collechio, still under artillery attack, the Brazilian forces were preparing to face fierce resistance at the Taro region from what was left of the retreating German army. The German troops were surrounded near Fornovo and forced to surrender. So that, the entire 148th Wehrmarcht Infantry Division, consisting altogether of more than sixteen thousand men, including the 80th Panzer division, several Italian divisions and more than a thousand vehicles, surrendered to the Brazilian Forces on April 28th.
On May 2nd, the Brazilians reached Turin, meeting French troops at the border. Meanwhile, on the Alps, the FEB was on the heels of German forces still on the run. On that very day, the astounding news that Hitler was dead put an end to the fights in Italy. All German troops finally surrendered to the Allies in the following hours.
The Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira, FAB) had its first fighter group trained by the Americans in Panama. This group was sent to Italy as well, being integrated to the 350th Army Air Corps Fighter Group and forming one of the twenty squadrons of the 22nd Air Tactic Command, flying P-47s. Their role was very important to the actions of all Allied forces in Italy and the Brazilian pilots were also very praised for their important air-to-ground operations.
The Outcome
During eight months of the campaign, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force managed to make 20.573 Axis prisoners (two generals, 892 officials and 19.679 privates) and had 443 of its men killed in action.
The soldiers buried in the FEB cemetery in Pistoia were later removed to the a mausoleum built in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960ies.
Sources
http://cliente.enersulnet.com.br/victorbarone/br/htm/feb.htm
http://www.battlefront.co.nz/Article.asp?ArticleID=251
Referenced By
Eurico Dutra | Eurico Gaspar Dutra | History of Brazil (1930-1964)
|
