In the context of World War II, Brazil declared war on the so-called “Axis Powers”, represented by Germany, Italy and Japan, in August 1942. The organization formed to send Brazilian fighters to the front western Europe was named StrengthExpeditionaryBrazilian (FEB). FEB officers received military training in the United States at the General Staff Command School of Fort Leavenworth. The expedition left for Europe on June 30, 1944. But what happened for Brazil to enter the Second World War? We will explain it below.
Break with the "Axis"
In 1942, Brazil was in the middle of the dictatorship of the new state, commanded by GetulioVargas. Such dictatorship maintained very close relations with the “Axis Powers”, notably with Germany. This approximation occurred both in the economic sphere and in the political-ideological sphere. Vargas' police chief, represented by the person of FilinthMuller, for example, came to establish an exchange of information and learn interrogation and torture techniques with the gestapo – political police Nazi.
After the war broke out in 1939, and especially after the entry of the United States, in 1941, Vargas started to establish a “double political game” with the two sides, without wanting to get upset even with the Powersallies not even with the Powersof the axis. This hesitant stance, however, came to an end when Nazi submarines attacked and sank five Brazilian merchant ships between August 5 and 17, 1942.
FEB and entering the war
As a result of what happened, even in August, the Vargas government, pressured both by the United States and by the national population, declared war on the Axis and prepared to enter combat with the creation of the FEB, although some American and British commanders were opposed to that. As historian Boris Fausto says:
[…] The Brazilian alignment on the side of the anti-fascist front was completed with the sending of an expeditionary force – FEB – to fight in Europe, as of June 30, 1944. The FEB was not an Allied-imposed initiative. On the contrary, it consisted of a decision by the Brazilian government, which had to overcome the restrictions of the Americans and the frank opposition of the British. Some leaders from these two countries considered it problematic to successfully integrate Brazilian troops into the war effort. [1]
After being trained by the Americans, the Brazilians flew to the Mediterranean and infiltrated Italian terrain. It was basically in the liberation of Italy from the Nazi-fascist yoke that more than 20 thousand Brazilian soldiers fought. The general commander was the General Mascarenhas de Morais, and the conflict continued until May 2, 1945. More than 400 Brazilian soldiers died, and thousands were wounded. The dead were buried in Pistoia, Italy. Then, in 1960, the transfer of the ashes of the fighters' bodies to Rio de Janeiro was provided. Janeiro, where they were accommodated in the Monument to the Dead of World War II, in the embankment of the neighborhood of Glory.
GRADES
[1] FAUSTO, Boris. history of Brazil. EDUSP: São Paulo, 2013. P. 326.
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