Brazilian Expeditionary Force The Brazilian Expeditionary Force or BEF ( ; FEB ) consisted of about 25 , 700 men and women arranged by the army and air force to fight alongside the Allied forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II . Brazil was the only independent South American country to send ground troops to fight in WWII . This air - land force fought in Italy from September 1944 to May 1945 , while the Brazilian Navy as well as the Air Force also acted in the Atlantic Ocean from the middle of 1942 until the end of the war . During the eight months of the Italian campaign , the BEF managed to take 20 , 573 Axis prisoners , consisting of two generals , 892 officers , and 19 , 679 other ranks . Brazil lost 948 of its own men killed in action across all three services during the Italian campaign . Overview . Brazil ' s participation alongside the Allied powers in WWII was by no means a foregone conclusion , even though Brazil ( along with Italy , Japan and Romania ) had supported the Triple Entente in World War I . Then Brazilian participation ( 1917 – 1918 ) was primarily naval , although it did send a " military mission " to the Western Front . The Brazilian Navy and Air Force played a role in the Battle of the Atlantic after mid - 1942 . Brazil also contributed an infantry division that entered combat on the Italian Front in 1944 . As in 1914 , Brazil in 1939 maintained a position of neutrality , initially trading with both the Allies and the Axis powers . As the war progressed , trade with the Axis countries became almost impossible and the US began forceful diplomatic and economic efforts to bring Brazil onto the Allied side . These efforts led to the creation of the Joint Brazil - US Defense Commission , which was chaired by James Garesche Ord and worked to strengthen military ties between the two countries during the war . It was designed to reduce the likelihood of Axis attacks on US shipping as soldiers traveled across the Atlantic to Africa and Europe , and minimized the influence of the Axis in South America . At the beginning of 1942 , Brazil permitted the US to set up air bases on their territory in return for the offer by the US to encourage the formation of an iron industry - Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional , in Brazil . The US bases were located in the states of Bahia , Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte , where the city of Natal hosted part of the US Navy ' s VP - 52 . In addition , US Task Force 3 established itself in Brazil . This included a squadron equipped to attack submarines and merchant vessels attempting to trade with Japan . Although Brazil remained 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 , its decision to sever diplomatic relations with Germany , Japan , and Italy . As a result , from the end of January to July 1942 , German U - boat s sank 13 Brazilian merchant vessels . In August 1942 , " U - 507 " alone sank five Brazilian vessels in two days , causing more than 600 deaths : In all , 21 German and 2 Italian submarines caused the sinking of 36 Brazilian merchant ships involving 1 , 691 drownings and 1 , 079 other casualties . The sinkings were the main reason that led the Brazilian government to declare war against the Axis . Berlin Radio pronouncements led to increasing nervousness among the Brazilian population , so unlike 1917 , in 1942 it seemed that the Brazilian government did not want war . In some cities like Rio de Janeiro , the people started to protest against such a situation which included some harassment of German communities . The passive position of the Vargas government proved untenable in the face of public opinion . Ultimately , the government found itself with no alternative but to declare war on Germany and Italy on August 22 , 1942 . The Navy . The participation of the Brazilian Navy in WWII was not directly connected to the BEF and the Italian Campaign , having been largely engaged in the Atlantic campaign . As a result of the Axis attacks , Brazil suffered nearly 1 , 600 dead , including almost 500 civilians and more than 1 , 000 of Brazil ' s 7 , 000 sailors involved in the conflict . The naval losses included 470 sailors of the merchant marine and 570 sailors of the Navy , a total of 36 ships sunk by the Germans , and more than 350 dead in three accidental sinkings . The main task of the Brazilian Navy was , together with the Allies , to ensure the safety of ships sailing between the Central and South Atlantic to Gibraltar . Alone or in coordination with Allied forces , it conducted 614 convoys that protected 3 , 164 merchant and transport troop ships ; In the battle against German submarines , Brazilian frigates and submarines used mines and depth charges . According to German documents , the Brazilian Navy attacked German submarines a total of 66 times . Along the Brazilian coast , a total of twelve Axis submarines ( one Italian and eleven German ) were proven to be destroyed : " Archimede , U - 128 , U - 161 , U - 164 , U - 199 , U - 507 , U - 513 , U - 590 , U - 591 , U - 598 , U - 604 " and " U - 662 " . Among the warships lost by the Brazilian navy , were the minelayer BZ " Camaqua " , which capsized during a storm while escorting a convoy in July 1944 , and the light cruiser BZ " Bahia " , that , despite , had its sinking in the middle of the South Atlantic in July 1945 officially attributed to an accident . During a drill , an anti - aircraft gunner accidentally fired 20mm shells into depth charges stored at the rear of the ship . The resulting explosion sank the " Bahia " in three minutes , resulting in the loss of 294 crew . Less than half of them survived to be rescued four days later . Of the three Brazilian military ships lost during the war , only the freighter - troopship " Vital de Oliveira " was due to the action of an enemy submarine , being sunk by " U - 861 " on July 20 , 1944 . Command . The Brazilian 1st Division of the BEF fought with the 15th Army Group under Field Marshal Harold Alexander ( later succeeded by General Mark Clark ) , via the US Fifth Army of Lieutenant General Mark Clark ( later succeeded by Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott ) and the US IV Corps of Major General Willis D . Crittenberger . The entry for the Gothic Line order of battle provides the layout for the Allied and German armies in Italy . The BEF headquarters functioned as an administrative headquarters and link to the Brazilian high command under the secretary of war , General Eurico Gaspar Dutra in Rio de Janeiro . General Mascarenhas de Moraes ( later marshal ) was the commander of the BEF , with General Zenóbio da Costa as chief of the 6th Regimental Combat Team ( RCT ) ( the first BEF RCT to land in Italy ) , and General Cordeiro de Farias as commander of 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 ) , although some of these , like its health services , were found to be deficient and had to be complemented , and in many cases controlled or managed by Americans . The combat units were the 1st , 6th and 11th RCTs , each of about 5 , 000 men in three battalion s ( consisting of four companies each ) , including supporting units for combat , and other army branches , like artillery , engineering , and cavalry . The Brazilian Air Force component was itself under the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force . The campaign . Preparations . Soon after Brazil declared war , it began to mobilize an expeditionary force to fight in Europe . At that time , Brazil was a country with a traditionally isolationist foreign policy , a population which was largely rural and illiterate , an economy focused on the export of commodities , and lacking an infrastructure in industry , health and education systems that could serve as material and human support to the war effort that a conflict of that dimension required . In addition , an action plan that could circumvent this situation ( like the Calogeras Plan of the previous World War ) , was out of the question , since many Brazilian military officers did not see with good will some unavoidable internal consequences resulting in an Nazi - Fascist defeat in Europe , such as increased demands for democratic changes by the population . After all , Brazil was living under a military regime , that had been openly authoritarian from 1937 , and that had flirted with Nazi - fascist regimes until 1941 . Brazil was thus precluded from pursuing a line of autonomous action in the conflict , and found it difficult to take even a modest role in it . Faced with the government ' s passivity and unwillingness , a plutocrat of the mass media at that time , Assis Chateaubriand , came to negotiate with US officials stationed in Brazil , for the creation of an expeditionary army division , composed of volunteers from all of Latin America , which would be financed by him , led by a Brazilian General , and trained by American officials . This initiative was curtailed by the Brazilian government in early 1943 . It took almost two years for the Brazilian government to gather a force of one Army Division with 25 , 000 men ( replacements included ) , compared with an initial declared goal of a whole Army Corps of 100 , 000 , to join the Allies in the Italian Campaign . Arrival in Italy . On July 2 , 1944 , the first five thousand BEF soldiers , the 6th RCT , left Brazil for Europe aboard the USNS " General Mann " , and arrived in Italy on July 16 . They disembarked in Naples , where they waited to join the US Task Force 45 . They had landed without weapons , and since there was no arrangement for barracks , the troops remained on the docks . This caused controversy in the Brazilian media . In late July , two more transports with Brazilian troops reached Italy , with three more following in September and November 1944 , and February 1945 . One notable unit deployed was Brazil ' s Mountain Infantry Battalion . The BEF dedicated its first weeks in Italy to acquiring the proper equipment to fight on Italian terrain , and to training under American command . in as much as the preparation in Brazil , despite the 2 years ' interval since the declaration of war , had proved almost worthless . Among the veterans of that campaign , there was a consensus that only combat could adequately prepare the soldier , regardless of the quality of training received earlier . In August , the troops moved to Tarquinia , 350 km north of Naples , where Clark ' s army was based . In November , the BEF joined General Crittenberger ' s US IV Corps . The Brazilians joined what was a multinational hodgepodge of forces . The American forces included the segregated African - American 92nd Infantry Division and the Japanese - American 442nd Infantry Regiment . British Empire forces included New Zealanders , Canadians , Indians , Gurkha s , Black Africans , Jews and Arabs from the British Mandate in Palestine , South Africans and Rhodesians , units of exiles — Poles , Greeks , Czechs , Slovakians , as well as anti - fascist Italians , all serving under British command . French forces included Senegalese , Moroccans and Algerians . The Germans made much of the political aspect of the presence of the Brazilian force in Italy . They targeted propaganda specifically at the Brazilians . In addition to leaflets , the Germans provided an hour - long daily radio broadcast ( in Portuguese ) from Berlin Radio called " Hora AuriVerde " ( GoldenGreen Hour ) . Combat . The BEF achieved battlefield successes at Massarosa , Camaiore , Mount Prano , Monte Acuto , San Quirico , Gallicano , Barga , Monte Castello , La Serra , Castelnuovo di Vergato , Soprassasso , Montese , Paravento , Zocca , Marano sul Panaro , Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro . The first missions the Brazilians undertook in close connection with the US 370th RCT , were reconnaissance operations to the end of August . Brazilian troops helped to partially fill the gap left by divisions of the US VI Corps 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 , and taken control of the Serchio valley without any major casualties . After having suffered its first reverses around Barga city , and after the arrival of the 1st RCT at the end of October , the BEF was directed to the base of the Northern Apennines , on the border between Tuscany and Emilia - Romagna regions , where it would spend the next months facing the harsh winter and the resistance of the Gothic Line . Allied forces were unable to break through the mountains over the winter and an offensive by German and Italian divisions to the left of the BEF sector , against the US 92nd Infantry Division , required the assistance of the 8th Indian Infantry Division before it was repulsed . Between the end of February and the beginning of March 1945 , in preparation for the Spring offensive , the Brazilian Division and the US 10th Mountain Division were able to capture important positions on the " Northern Apennines " ( noteworthy in the Brazilian sector , for " Monte Castello " and " Castelnuovo " ) , which deprived the Germans of key artillery positions in the mountains , whose effective fire had since the fall of 1944 blocked the Allied path to Bologna . In the US Fifth Army ' s sector , the final offensive on the Italian Front began on April 14 , after a bombardment of 2 , 000 artillery pieces ; an attack carried out by the troops of US IV Corps led by the Brazilian Division took Montese . After the first day of the Allied offensive , the Germans , without much effort , had stopped the main attack of IV Corps led by the US 10th Mountain Division , causing significant casualties among the troops of that formation . The Germans were misled into thinking that the BEF ' s raid over Montese , using M8 armoured cars and Sherman Tanks , could be the real main Allied objective in that sector , which led them to shell the Brazilians with 1 , 800 artillery rounds from the total of 2 , 800 used against all four Allied divisions in that sector during the days of the battle for Montese , when they tried unsuccessfully to take Montese back from the Brazilians . After that , the breaking of the Germans ' lines to the North by forces of IV Corps became unavoidable . On the right , the Polish Division , from the British 8th Army , and the US 34th Infantry Division , from Fifth Army , entered Bologna on 21 April . On 25 April the Italian resistance movement started a general partisan insurrection at the same time as Brazilian troops arrived at Parma and the Americans at Modena and Genoa . The British 8th Army advanced towards Venice and Trieste . At the battle of Collecchio , Brazilian forces were preparing to face fierce resistance at the Taro river region from the retreating German - Italian forces in the region of Genoa / La Spezia that had been set free by troops of the 92nd US Division . These Axis troops were surrounded near Fornovo and after some fighting surrendered . On April 28 , the Brazilians captured more than 13 , 000 men , including the entire 148th Infantry Division , elements of the 90th Panzergrenadier and the Italian 1st ' Italia ' Bersaglieri Division . This took the German Command by surprise as it had planned for these troops to join forces with the German - Italian Army of Liguria to counterattack against the Fifth Army . Fifth Army had advanced , as is inevitable in these situations , in a fast but diffuse and disarranged way uncoordinated with air support , and had left some gaps on its left flank and to the rear . The Axis forces had left many bridges intact along the Po River to facilitate a counter - attack . German Army Command was already negotiating a truce in Caserta , and hoped that a counterattack would improve the conditions for surrender . The events in Fornovo disrupted the German plan , as much by the disarray of their troops as by the delay it caused . This , added to the news of Adolf Hitler ' s death and the fall of Berlin to the Red Army , left the German Command in Italy with no option but to accept the demand for the unconditional surrender of its troops . In their final advance , the Brazilians reached Turin and then on 2 May they joined up with French troops at the border in Susa . That same day brought the announcement of the end of hostilities in Italy . The Air Force . The 1GAVCA ( 1st Fighter Group / 1º Grupo de Aviação de Caça ) was formed on December 18 , 1943 . Its commanding Officer was Ten . - Cel . - Av . ( Aviation Lieutenant Colonel ) Nero Moura . The group had 350 men , including 43 pilots . The group was divided into four flights : Red ( " A " ) , Yellow ( " B " ) , Blue ( " C " ) , and Green ( " D " ) . The CO of the group and some officers were not attached to any specific flight . Unlike the BEF ' s Army component , the 1GAVCA had personnel who were experienced Brazilian Air Force ( Portuguese : Força Aérea Brasileira , or FAB ) pilots . One of them was Alberto M . Torres , who had piloted a PBY - 5A Catalina that had sunk " U - 199 " , which had been operating off the Brazilian coast . Among the 48 pilots of the Brazilian Unit who carried out war missions , there was a total of 22 losses ; five of the pilots were killed by anti - aircraft fire , eight had their planes shot down and bailed out over enemy territory , six had to give up flying operations on medical orders , after suffering nervous breakdowns , and three died in flying accidents . The group trained for combat in Panama , where 2 Ten . - Av . ( Aviation Second Lieutenant ) Dante 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 1GAVCA traveled to the US to convert to the Republic P - 47D Thunderbolt . On September 19 , 1944 the 1GAVCA left for Italy , arriving at Livorno on October 6 . 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 31 October 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 two weeks later , on November 11 , the group started its own operations flying from its base at Tarquinia , using its tactical callsign " Jambock " . Brazilian Air Force stars replaced the white US star in the roundel on the FAB Thunderbolts . The 1GAVCA 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 US Fifth Army started its offensive along the Po Valley . By then , the strength of the Group had fallen to 25 pilots , some having been killed and others shot down and captured . Others had been relieved from operations on medical grounds due to combat fatigue . The Group disbanded Yellow flight and distributed the surviving pilots among the other flights . Each pilot flew on average two missions a day . On 22 April 1945 , the three remaining flights took off at 5 - minute intervals , starting at 8 : 30 AM , to destroy 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 . They destroyed more than 80 tanks , trucks , and vehicles . By the end of the day , the group had flown 44 individual missions and destroyed hundreds of vehicles and barges . On this day the group flew the most sorties of the war ; consequently , Brazil commemorates April 22 as ' Brazilian Fighter Arm ' Day . The 1st Brazilian Fighter Group accomplished 445 missions , with a total of 2 , 546 flights and 5 , 465 hours of flight on active service . It destroyed 1 , 304 motor - vehicles , 13 railway waggons , 8 armoured cars , 25 railway and highway bridges and 31 fuel tanks and munition depots . In all , the 1GAVCA flew a total of 445 missions , 2 , 550 individual sorties , and 5 , 465 combat flight hours , from November 11 , 1944 to May 6 , 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 wrought : Total of operations of the First Brazilian Fighter Group in the Italy Campaign : Aftermath . The bodies of the soldiers buried in the BEF cemetery in Pistoia were later transferred to a mausoleum in Rio de Janeiro . Marshal Mascarenhas de Moraes had proposed and promoted the construction of the mausoleum and it was inaugurated on July 24 , 1960 . It covers an area of 6 , 850 square meters . Brazil ' s participation in WWII was more extensive than its participation in World War I . During WWII , Brazil provided a meaningful tactical and strategic contribution . Although the FEB / BEF was a division above the average size , it was just one of about 30 Allied military formations ( 20 divisions and 10 brigades ) on the Italian Front at that time . Although the division played an important part in the sectors in which it operated , none of these sectors were the main one on that Front , which was , after the German retreat to the north of Rome , the East of the country near to the Adriatic Sea , under the responsibility of the British 8th Army . Besides , the Italian Front had become secondary for both sides after D - Day and the invasion of Southern France . Nickname . Due to the Brazilian dictatorship ' s unwillingness to get more deeply involved in the Allied war effort , by early 1943 a popular saying was : " It ' s more likely for a snake to smoke a pipe , than for the BEF to go the front and fight . " ( " " Mais fácil uma cobra fumar um cachimbo , do que à FEB embarcar para o combate . " " ) . Before the BEF entered combat , the expression " a cobra vai fumar " ( " the snake will smoke " ) was often used in Brazil in a context similar to " when pigs fly " . As a result , the soldiers of the BEF called themselves " Cobras Fumantes " ( literally , " Smoking Snakes " ) and wore a divisional shoulder patch that showed a snake smoking a pipe . It was also common for Brazilian soldiers to write on their mortars , " The Snake is smoking . . . " ( " A cobra está fumando . . . " ) . After the war the meaning was reversed , signifying that something will definitively happen and in a furious and aggressive way . With that second meaning the use of the expression " a cobra vai fumar " has been retained in Brazilian Portuguese until the present , although few of the younger generations realize the origin of the expression .