Battle of Fornovo di Taro The Battle of Fornovo di Taro was the last battle fought by the Brazilian Expeditionary Forces during the Second World War . Attack at Fornovo . While the northeast and northwest of Fornovo contingent of the 1st RI and 11 RI blocked the possible outputs of the enemy , the 6th IR Colonel Nelson de Melo preparing attack Fornovo with the help of two batteries of artillery , of reconnaissance squadron , an engineering company and a U . S . company of tanks . On the morning of April 28 Zenobio phoned Mascarenhas , who was in Montecchio , proposing that another battalion was launched to fight , to help the 6th IR . Mascarenhas , based on its assessment of the situation of castle , stated that this additional battalion would not be necessary . Therefore , the movement of siege and raid was conducted by three battalions , as previously planned . The main offensive was triggered by Major Gross , who advanced to the region of Collecchio , in the south . When he was 6 km from Fornovo , met serious opposition , resisting violent counterattacks , at 9 o ' clock on the 28th , and 1 am on the 29th . Meanwhile , within walking distance of Fornovo , the 3rd Battalion of Major Silvino , and Reconnaissance Squadron Captain Pitaluga attacked by Southwest . Wondolowski writes : " The Brazilians , very determined , they were crushed all German attempts to break the siege . " You can also add that the Brazilians have had to send troops to Piacenza and a pocket to North Cremona and thus did not need all their strength for the mission to block Highway 62 . Vicar Negotiates German Surrender . On the afternoon of April 27 , a day before the offensive against Fornovo , Maj . Lamb West persuaded the vicar of a village to take the suggestion of the Germans to surrender . The priest walked 6 km to Respício near Fornovo , then talked with German officers . Asked about the power and the location of the Brazilian forces , the vicar said that the Germans were surrounded and had to surrender . One of the oldest of these officers , who improve their Italian during a period when they served as Ambassador Germany in Rome asked the vicar to obtain in writing the conditions for the surrender and return to them . As a result , on the morning of 28th , very early , before it closed in the attack of 6 RI , [ Nelson de Mello , wrote an ultimatum of unconditional surrender , and through Castelo Branco , Requested approval of Mascarenhas by its terms . The vicar took this ultimatum to the Germans and returned with a message , signed by Major Kuhn , Chief of Staff of the 148th Division , saying that the answer would be given after consultation with his superiors . The Surrender . While the Germans postponed the decision , the 6th IR proceeded according to plan . Then , at 10 : 30 pm , after which the men of Gross repulsed strong counter - attack enemy , Major Kuhn and two other German officers crossed the line from Brazil to negotiate details of the surrender . Gross led them to the headquarters of the 6th IR in Collecchio . Nelson de Melo , knowing that the mission of the three Germans had been authorized by the commander of Division 148 , General Otto Fretter - Pico , Went quickly to talk to Montecchio Mascarenhas . This ordered Brayner and Castle who got along with the German negotiators . Therefore , in the rain , the two officers were taken to Colecchio . Castelo Branco describes : " a room of a country villa , I was introduced to three German officers of the General Staff of the Division . They asked for surrender terms . We said it could only be unconditional . They talked to military honor and principles of humanity . . . and accepted the surrender ! " There are several thousand men , two generals and so on . As a result the terms imposed at the meeting of Collecchio , which lasted all night , which were modified only by the insistence that Mascarenhas put down their arms immediately ( to April 29 and not 30 ) , the first Germanic Division to capitulate in Italy surrendered to the Brazilians . " Nothing less than 14 779 Germans and Italians became prisoners in two nearby fields , installed by the Brazilians . The German General Otto Fretter - Pico and General Italian Mario Carloni were escorted to Florence by General Falconiere and General Zenobio , who delivered them to the 5th U . S . Army , along with six million liras also taken by the Brazilians . " In a fight , on the outskirts of Fornovo five Brazilians were killed and about 50 were injured . What had been achieved was remarkable in military operations : the surrender of a German and an Italian division to a single Allied Division , Brazil .