Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB)

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The Brazilian Expeditionary Force or BEF (Portuguese: Força Expedicionária Brasileira, or FEB) was the 25,300-man force formed by the Brazilian Navy, Army and Air Force that fought alongside the Allied forces in the Italian Campaign of World War II.

[edit] Overview

It was by no means a foregone conclusion that Brazil would join the Allied powers in World War II.

Initially Brazil maintained a position of neutrality, trading with both the Allies and the Axis Powers, while Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas's quasi-Fascist policies indicated a leaning toward the Axis powers. However, as the war progressed, trade with the Axis countries became almost impossible and the US began forceful diplomatic efforts to bring Brazil and other Latin American states onto the Allied side.

At the beginning of 1942, Brazil permitted the US to set up air bases in the states of Bahia, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte, where the city of Natal hosted part of the U.S. Navy's VP-52 patrol squadron. In addition to this, US Task Force 3 established itself in Brazil, and this included a squadron equipped to attack submarines and merchant vessels attempting to trade with Japan.

Although technically neutral, this increasing cooperation with the Allies led the Brazilian government to announce, at the Pan American States Conference in Rio on 28 January 1942, the decision to sever diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan and Italy.

From the end of January to July 1942, around thirteen Brazilian merchant vessels were sunk by German U-Boats. Hundreds of people died as a result of these attacks.

In August 1942, one single German submarine, the U-507, sank five Brazilian vessels in two days, causing more than six hundred deaths:

  • On August 15, the Baependy, traveling from Salvador to Recife was torpedoed at 19:12. Its 215 passengers and 55 crew members were lost.
  • At 21:03, the U-507 torpedoed the Araraquara, also traveling from Salvador towards the north of the country. Of the 142 people on board, 131 died.
  • Seven hours after the second attack, the U-507 attacked the Aníbal Benévolo. All 83 passengers died; of a crew of 71, only four survived.
  • On August 17, close to the city of Vitória, the Itagiba was hit at 10:45, with a death toll of 36.
  • Another Brazilian ship, the Arará , traveling from Salvador to Santos, stopped to help the crippled Itagiba, but ended up being the fifth Brazilian victim of the German submarine, with a death toll of 20.

Berlin Radio pronouncements led to increasing nervousness among the Brazilian population. So unlike 1917, in 1942 it seemed that Brazilian government did not want war. In the then capital, Rio de Janeiro, the people started to retaliate against German businesses, such as restaurants. The passive position of the Vargas government was untenable in the face of public opinion. Ultimately, the government found itself with no other choice but to declare war on Germany and Italy on August 22, 1942.

[edit] Command

The Brazilian 1st Division of the BEF was under the command of 15th Army Group of Field Marshal Harold Alexander (later succeeded by General Mark Clark), via the U.S. Fifth Army of Lieutenant General Mark Clark (later succeeded by Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott) and the U.S. IV Corps of Major General Willis D. Crittenberger. The overall organisation of the Allied and German armies in Italy at the time can be found on the Gothic Line order of battle entry.

The Brazilian Air Force component was under the command of XXII Tactical Air Command, which was itself under the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force.

The BEF headquarters functioned as an administrative headquarters and link to the Brazilian high command and War Minister General Eurico Gaspar Dutra in Rio de Janeiro.

General Mascarenhas de Moraes (later Marshal) was the commander of the FEB with General Zenóbio da Costa as commander of the division's three regimental Combat Teams ("RCT") and General Cordeiro de Farias as commander of the Artillery.

The BEF was (theoretically) organized as 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 RCTs, each one equivalent to 5,000 men having three battalions, composed of four companies each.

[edit] The Campaign

Soon after Brazil declared war, it began popular mobilization to create an expeditionary force to fight in Europe. The Brazilian government made a great effort to convince the public that this was the correct action to take. It took almost two years to send about 25,000 men (from an initial estimate of 100,000) to join the Allied war effort in the Italian Campaign.

In early July 1944, the first five thousand FEB/BEF soldiers left Brazil for Europe aboard the USNS General Mann. They disembarked in Naples where they waited to join the US Task Force 45. In late July, two more transports with Brazilian troops reached Italy, with three more following in September, November(1944) and February 1945. The first weeks in Italy were dedicated to acquiring the proper equipment to fight on the Italian terrain and training under American command. The troops moved to Tarquinia, 350 km north of Naples, where Clark's army was based. In November 1944, the BEF was integrated into General Crittenberger's U.S. IV Corps.

In 1944, the Italian Front resembled the multi-national force make up of the French Front in 1918. The forces fighting were constitute by: Americans (including segregated African- and Japanese-Americans), British, French, members of the British Commonwealth and French and British colonies (New Zealanders, Canadians, Indians, Gurkhas, Black Africans, Morrocans, Algerians, Jews and Arabs from the British Mandate in Palestine, South Africans), as well as Brazilians, Poles, Greeks, Czechs and anti-fascist Italians who made one of their main contributions to the Allied war effort. [1].

The Germans gave political importance to the presence of the Brazilian force in Italy. German propaganda included pamphlets[2] directed to the fighting Brazilians and an hour a day radio broadcast in Portuguese from Berlin Radio called "Radio AuriVerde" (GoldenGreen Hour).

The first missions of the Brazilians were reconnaissance operations to the end of August. The Brazilian troops helped to fill the gap left by divisions of the Fifth Army and French Expeditionary Corps that left Italy for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.

On September 16, the 6th RCT took Massarosa. Two days later it also took Camaiore and other small towns on the way north. By then, the BEF had already conquered Monte Prano, controlled the Serchio valley without any major casualties. After took and having been in action around Barga city and the arrived of 1st RCT in the ending of October, the BEF was directed rightly to the base of the Apennines where it would spend the next months facing the harsh winter and the resistance of the Gothic Line[3].

After the Brazilians and troops of U.S. 10th Mountain Division took those positions on Apennines from February 18 to March 5, 1945 the German mass retreat had become unavoidable with the Spring offensive in April. Bologna was entered on 21 April by the Polish 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division from Eighth Army and U.S. 34th Infantry Division from Fifth Army, on 25 a General partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement started at the same time as Brazilians arrive at Parma and Americans at Modena and Genova, Forces of British VIII Army advanced toward to Venice and Trieste. After that, the main concern of the Allied forces in Italy was pursuing the enemy. After capturing a large number of Germans Collecchio, 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. More than 20 thousand men including the entire 148th Infantry Division, elements of the 90th Light Infantry Division (Germany) & the Last former Division of Italian Fascist Army surrendered to the Brazilian Forces on April 28.

On May 2, the Brazilians reached Turin and met 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 news that Hitler was dead put an end to the fighting in Italy, and all German troops surrendered to the Allies in the following hours.

[edit] The Air Force

The 1oGAVCA (1st Fighter Group) was formed on December 18, 1943. The Commanding Officer was Ten.-Cel.-Av. (Aviation Lieutenant Colonel) Nero Moura.

The Group was divided into four flights, Red, Yellow, Blue and Green. Each flight had a complement of roughly twelve pilots who had been flying together. The CO of the Group and some officers were not attached to any specific flight.

The Group had 350 men, including 43 pilots. Unlike the FEB's Army component, the 1oGAVCA had personnel who were experienced Brazilian Air Force (Portuguese: Força Aérea Brasileira, or FAB) pilots. One of them, for example, was Alberto M. Torres, the pilot of a PBY-5A Catalina that had sunk U-199, operating off the Brazilian coast.

The Group was sent to Panama for combat training. There, 2o Ten.-Av. Dante (Aviation Second Lieutenant) Isidoro Gastaldoni was killed in a training accident. On May 11, 1944, the Group was declared operational and became active in the air defense of the Panama Canal Zone.

On June 22, the 1oGAVCA was sent to the U.S. to convert to the Republic P-47D Thunderbolt.

On September 19, 1944 the 1oGAVCA left for Italy, arriving at Livorno on October 6. There it became part of the 350th Fighter Group of the USAAF, which in turn was part of the 62nd Fighter Wing, XXII Tactical Air Command, of the 12th Air Force.

The Brazilian pilots initially flew from October 31, 1944 as individual elements of flights attached to 350th FG squadrons, at first in affiliation flights and progressively taking part in more dangerous missions. Less than 2 weeks later, on November 11, the Group started its own operations, flying from its base at Tarquinia, using its tactical callsign Jambock. FAB Thunderbolts were marked by Brazilian Air Force stars, replacing the white U.S. star in the roundel.

The 1oGAVCA started its fighting career as a fighter-bomber unit, its missions being armed reconnaissance and interdiction, in support of the US Fifth Army, to which the FEB was attached.

On April 16, 1945, the U.S. Fifth Army started its offensive along the Po Valley. By then, the Group was reduced to 25 pilots, some having been killed and others shot down and captured; some others had been relieved from operations on medical grounds due to combat fatigue. The Yellow flight was thus disbanded, its remaining pilots being distributed among the other flights. Each pilot flew on average two missions a day.

On April 22, 1945, the three remaining flights took off at 5-minute intervals, starting at 8:30 AM, destroying bridges, barges and motorized vehicles in the San Benedetto region. At 10:00 AM, a flight took off for an armed reconnaissance mission south of Mantua. More than 80 tanks, trucks, and vehicles were destroyed beyond fortified German positions, and barges. By the end of the day, the Group had flown 44 individual missions, having destroyed more hundreds vehicles as well as barges. This was the day when more sorties than ever were made by the Group. April 22 is commemorated each year as the Brazilian Fighter Arm Day.

The 1oGAVCA 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 destroyed:

  • 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)

[edit] The Outcome

During eight months of the campaign, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force managed to take 20,573 Axis prisoners (two generals, 892 officers and 19,679 other ranks) and had 443 of its men killed in action.

The soldiers buried in the FEB cemetery in Pistoia were later removed to a mausoleum built in Rio de Janeiro. The mausoleum was proposed and promoted by Mascarenhas de Moraes (then a Marshal). It was inaugurated on July 24, 1960 and covers an area of 6,850 square meters.

[edit] The Nickname

Due to the Brazilian dictatorship's unwillingness to get more deeply involved in the Allied war effort, by 1942 a popular saying was that "Snakes will smoke before the BEF embarks (to fight in Europe)." ("Mais fácil uma cobra fumar do que a FEB embarcar")[4] As a result of this the Brazilian Expeditionaries called themselves Cobras Fumantes (literally, Smoking Snakes) and wore a divisional shoulder patch which showed a snake smoking a pipe.

Until the BEF entered combat the expression "a cobra vai fumar" ( "the snake is going to smoke") was often used in Brazil in a context similar to "pigs will fly." After the war the meaning was reversed, signifying that something will definitively happen and in a furious and aggressive way.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Celso Castro; Vitor Izecksohn & Hendrik Kraay (2004). Nova História Militar Brasileira. FGV - Fundação Getúlio Vargas. ISBN 8522504962.  in Portuguese
  • Clark, Mark [1950] (2007). Calculated Risk. New York: Enigma Books. ISBN 978-1929631599. 
  • Moraes, Mascarenhas (1966). The Brazilian Expeditionary Force By Its Commander. US Government Printing Office. ASIN: B000PIBXCG. 
  • R.Brooks, Thomas (2003). The War North of Rome (June 1944-May 1945). Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306812569. 
  • Ready, J.Lee (1985). Forgotten Allies: The Military Contribution of the Colonies, Exiled Governments and Lesser Powers to the Allied Victory in World War II. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0899501178. 
  • Ready, J.Lee (1985). Forgotten Allies: The European Theatre, Volume I. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0899501291. 

[edit] Photo Gallery

FEB Desembarque.jpg

FEB Soldiers arriving in Italy in 1944.
FEB Engenharia.jpg

Engineering battalion build a bridge in the north of Italy in 1945.
FEB Artilharia MonteCastelo.jpg

Artillery position near Monte Castelo in 1945.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ready, J.Lee, "Forgotten Allies: The Military Contribution of the Colonies, Exiled Governments and Lesser Powers to the Allied Victory in World War II"
  2. ^ Propaganda leaflets of World War 2: Italian theatre of operations / Po Valley Campaign
  3. ^ R.Brooks, The War North of Rome, p.220 to 224
  4. ^ (Portuguese)FEB's participation in World War II. Brazilian Army Retrieved July 31, 2007

[edit] External links