[1] Known for its tenacity and bravery, the FEB was well-regarded by both allies and adversaries; it served with distinction in several battles, most notably at Collecchio, Camaiore, Monte Prano, and Serchio Valley.

[1] Brazil's navy and air force played important roles in protecting Allied shipping and crippling Axis maritime power, inflicting disproportionately high losses on enemy munitions, supplies, and infrastructure.

In the years leading up to World War II, Brazil was the biggest non-European consumer of German products and ranked ninth among Germany's trading partners overall.

The Pan American States Conference, which took place in Rio de Janeiro from 15–28 January 1942, was convened in the wake of the U.S. declaration of war against the Axis powers.

[6] Pursuant to the conference, Brazil permitted the U.S. to set up air bases on its territory in return for assistance in developing a domestic steel industry, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional, which would serve the American war effort and afterwards benefit the Brazilian economy.

The bases were located in the north-central states of Bahia, Pernambuco, and Rio Grande do Norte, where the city of Natal hosted part of the U.S. Navy's VP-52 bombing squadron, later becoming the largest overseas U.S. airbase.

From the end of January to August 1942, German U-boats sank 18 Brazilian merchant vessels; the spate of attacks was especially severe after June 16, when Hitler personally called for a "submarine blitz" against Brazil, having considered its closer ties with the U.S. to be tantamount to an act of war.

Brazil "erupted in a wave of revulsions" as anti-Axis demonstrations, some of them violent, spread across most major cities, including Rio de Janeiro.

[10] The passive position of the Vargas government proved untenable in the face of public opinion, and on August 22, within a week of the last U-boat attack, the Brazilian cabinet approved a declaration of war against the Axis nations.

[11] Although Brazil continued to provide much needed supplies, war material, and strategic territory for foreign bases, the decision to contribute troops came several months later, at the Potenji River Conference of 28 and 29 January 1943.

Held in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte aboard the USS Humboldt, the meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Getúlio Vargas resulted in greater political, economic, and military cooperation between the U.S. and Brazil, including invitations for the latter to play a larger role in the postwar global order.

Vargas and Foreign Minister Oswaldo Aranha saw the commitment of soldiers as a means of solidifying the strategic partnership with the U.S., and of enhancing Brazilian prestige and influence on the global stage.

The participation of the Brazilian Navy in World War II was not directly connected to the FEB and the Italian Campaign, as it was largely engaged in the Battle of the Atlantic.

[19] 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 the U-861 on July 20, 1944.

[20] By the end of the war, the entirety of the South Atlantic convoy had been turned over to the Brazilian Navy, thereby relieving American and British vessels for urgently needed service elsewhere.

Each RCT had about 5,000 men (corresponding in size to today brigades), divided in three then called "battalions" consisting of four companies each, including supporting units for combat, and other army branches, like artillery, engineering, and cavalry.

Its population was largely rural and illiterate, its economy focused on exporting commodities, and it lacked infrastructure in industry, health care, and education, which was needed to support the war effort with material and human resources.

Faced with the government's passivity and unwillingness, Assis Chateaubriand, a mass media magnate, negotiated with US officials stationed in Brazil, for the creation of an expeditionary army division, composed of volunteers from all of Latin America.

British forces drew from across the empire, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Nepal, Mandatory Palestine, South Africa, Rhodesia, and various African colonies.

After having suffered its first reverses around Barga city, and after the arrival of the 1st RCT at the end of October, the FEB 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.

Between the end of February and the beginning of March 1945, in preparation for the Spring offensive, the Brazilian Division and the U.S. 10th Mountain Division were able to capture important positions in 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.

[44] In the US Fifth Army's sector, the final offensive on the Italian Front began on 14 April, 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.

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.

[47] This, added to the news of Adolf Hitler's death and the taking of Berlin by the Red Army, left the German Command in Italy with no option but to accept the demand for the unconditional surrender of its troops.

Unlike the FEB's Army component, the 1oGAVCA had personnel who were experienced Brazilian Air Force (Portuguese: Força Aérea Brasileira, or FAB) pilots.

By then, the strength of the "Group" had fallen to the standard size of an air squadron: 23 pilots, since some had been killed, others shot down and captured, while others had been relieved from their duties on medical grounds due to wounds or combat fatigue.

[52] On 22 April 1945, the three remaining flights took off at five-minute intervals, starting at 8:30 AM, to destroy bridges, barges, and motorized vehicles in the San Benedetto region.

[54] In contrast to the 1st Fight Squadron, which was an Air Force unit that operated in support of the army, the 1st "Liaison & Observer Flight" (Portuguese acronym: E.L.O.)

Nevertheless, the FEB was viewed by contemporaries as a largely effective fighting force, which "completed all the missions confided to it and compared favorably with the American divisions of the Fourth Corps.