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Topic · 04 battles

The FEB in Italy

The Brazilian Expeditionary Force fought in the Apennines, in Italy, between 1944 and 1945: more than 25,000 men and women, according to the Brazilian Army. At Monte Castello, the attacks of November and December 1944 failed because they climbed the hill without touching the heights that defended it; in the one of 21 February 1945, the Franklin Battalion reached the summit at 17:30.

At Montese, on 14 April 1945, the FEB took the town in 2h15; holding it until the 17th cost 426 Brazilian casualties. At the end of April, at Fornovo di Taro, the Brazilians closed the exit of the Taro valley and the German 148th Division surrendered whole, command included: 14,779 prisoners.

Monte Cassino is here because it too was a mountain battle in Italy, and because of a myth: the FEB did not fight there. The first Brazilian echelon landed in Naples on 16 July 1944, two months after the fall of the abbey.

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Battles on this topic

  • Three Brazilian soldiers in helmets and greatcoats, two of them in a trench, talk with an American correspondent taking notes on a pad 01
    The FEB in Italy

    Monte Castello

    24 November 1944 to 21 February 1945 · Monte Castello, Apennines, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

    Why Brazil's FEB failed at the Battle of Monte Castello in 1944 and won on 21 February 1945: the hill was one piece in a system of heights.

    Episode 01Read the game →
  • Armored reconnaissance car stopped in a street of Montese, between houses scarred by shrapnel and stone rubble, with soldiers on the right 02 Premieres Oct 01, 2026
    The FEB in Italy

    Montese

    14 to 17 April 1945 · Montese, Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

    Battle of Montese: the town fell in 2h15 on 14 April 1945; holding it cost the FEB 426 casualties, due to a German reading, not a Brazilian mistake.

    Episode 02Read the game →
  • 1944 topographic military map with the Taro River in a wide braided bed, the town of Fornovo di Taro and national road 62 running along the valley. 03 Premieres Oct 08, 2026
    The FEB in Italy

    Fornovo di Taro

    26 to 29 April 1945 · Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

    April 1945, Fornovo di Taro: Brazil's FEB blocks the exit of the Taro valley and the German 148th Division surrenders whole, command and all. 14,779 men.

    Episode 03Read the game →
  • Low aerial view of the ruins of the abbey on top of Monte Cassino: a stone wall still standing on the right, rubble over the rest of the summit and mountains in the background 14 Premieres Dec 24, 2026
    World War II, 1944

    Monte Cassino

    17 January to 18 May 1944 · Cassino, Lazio, Italy: Monte Cassino and the Benedictine abbey, the valleys of the Rapido, the Liri and the Garigliano, and the Aurunci Mountains to the south

    Battle of Monte Cassino: three assaults hit head-on. The fourth broke through the Aurunci Mountains, and the abbey the Germans did not occupy fell last.

    Episode 14Read the game →
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