"Por mais terras que eu percorra
Não permita Deus que eu morra
Sem que volte para lá..."
"For as many lands as I go,
God, don´t allow that I die
Without returning back there..."
(refrain of the Anthem of the Brazilian Expeditionary)
The purpose of this article is to show a review of the markings of military land vehicles that fought under the Brazilian flag on the battlefields of Italy, in the years 1944 and 1945. This is an article in constant evolution, covering only transport and armored vehicles that acted in Europe and not those who stayed in Brazil. But first, let's see a small summary of what Brazil did during WWII, in Italy.
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| Brazil is present! Propaganda poster extolling the arrival of Brazilians in Italy. Notice the pattern of the Brazilian uniform at the time of disembarkation in Italy, 1944. (more details below) |
The Brazilian Forces in Europe: 1944 - 1945.
The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Portuguese: Força Expedicionária Brasileira, FEB) consisted of about 25.900 men arranged by the army and air force to fight alongside the Allied forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II. This air-land force consisted of (replacements included) a complete Infantry Division, a Fighter Group and a Liaison Squadron.
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| Badges of Brazilian Expeditionary Force |
It fought in Italy from September 1944 to May 1945, while the Brazilian Navy as well as the Air Force also acted in the Battle of the Atlantic from the middle of 1942 until the end of the war. During the almost eight months of its campaign, fighting at the Gothic Line and in the 1945 final offensive, the FEB took 20.573 Axis prisoners, consisting of two generals, 892 officers, and 19.679 other ranks. Brazil was the only independent South American country to send ground troops to fight overseas during the Second World War, losing 948 men killed in action across all three services.
The Brazilian 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division of the FEB (Força Expedicionária Brasileira - Brazilian Expeditionary Force) was subordinate to the Allied 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. On July 2, 1944, the first five thousand FEB soldiers, the 6th Infantry Regiment, left Brazil for Europe aboard the USS General Mann, and arrived in Italy on July 16. They disembarked in Naples, where they waited to join the US Task Force 45.
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| Brazilians soldiers from 6th Infantry Regiment (FEB). disembarking from the troop transport ship USS General Mann at July, 16 - 1944. Notice that the soldiers still wear the Brazilian uniform. In Italy, Brazilians received American uniforms to avoid misidentification. |
Shortly after disembarking, a curious fact occurred during the post-disembarkation parade: as Brazilian soldiers were still wearing the old Brazilian uniforms, in pale greenish color, similar to the German ones, some Neapolitan civilians booed the FEB soldiers, thinking they were Wermacht prisoners of war captured by the Allies. But when they noticed the presence of blacks, mulattos and indians soldiers (the Brazilian Armed Forces were not segregated) and the name “Brazil” inscribed on the sleeves, they realized that they were not Germans.
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| Napoles: post-disembarkation parade of 6th Infantry Regiment (FEB) Brazilian soldiers still wearing the pre-WWII uniforms (see drawings below). Italy, July, 1944. |
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Brazilian Uniforms:
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In late July, two more transports with Brazilian troops reached Italy, with three more following in September and November 1944, and February 1945. In August, the troops moved to Tarquinia, 350 km north of Naples, where Gen. Mark Clark's army was based. In November, the FEB joined General Crittenberger's US IV Corps.
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| General Mark Clark inspecting Brazilian troops Italy, 1944. |
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| General Crittenberger, commander of the American IV Corps, shakes hands with 3rd Sgt. Onofre de Aguiar who has just returned with his patrol, November 1944. |
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| Itinerary of F.E.B. in the Italian Campaign Notice the drawings of two Dodges 6x6 (green circles) in the Napoles - Roma - Livorno road |
The Brazilians joined what was a multinational hodgepodge of forces. The American forces included the segregated African-American 370th Infantry Regiment (92nd Infantry Division) and the Japanese-American 442nd Infantry Regiment.
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Brazilians soldiers from 6th Infantry Regiment disembarking from a FEB CCKW 353 2,5 ton 6x6 truck, for a combat patrol, carrying M1903 Springfield .30 rifles. As much as they asked, the Brazilians never received the M1 Garand .30 semi-automatic rifles from the Americans for the Italian front. |
British Empire forces included New Zealanders, Canadians, Indians, Gurkhas, Black Africans, Jews and Arabs from the British Mandate in Palestine, South Africans and Rhodesians, units of exiles - Poles, Greeks, Czechs, Slovaks, as well as anti-fascist Italians, all serving under British command. French forces included Senegalese, Moroccans and Algerians.
The Brazilian Armed Forces were not segregated, which makes us very proud.
Whatever the skin color, blood (and guts) are always the same red!!
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| Private of the 6th. Infantry Regiment (Caçapava) 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division loading his M2A1 105mm howitzer at the battle of Serchio Valley, Italy - October 1944. On the projectile, a variation of the Brazilian soldiers' motto: THE COBRA IS SMOKING!! |
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| Brazilian soldiers in posed photography, in the hills of the Belvedere region. Note the typical Brazilian armament in Italy: the M1903 Springfield .30 rifle and the M3 "Grease Gun" .45 submachine gun |
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 Auri-Verde" (Golden-Green Hour).
The FEB 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.
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| A Brazilian M8, surrounded by effusive Italians in the liberation of Massarosa - Itália - 16 Sept 1944. chalk graffiti on the left rear fender is "VIVA BRASIL"(Hurray Brazil) |
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 FEB 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 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. 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 FEB sector, against the US 92nd Infantry Division, required the assistance of the 8th Indian Infantry Division before it was repelled.
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| After disembarking from their CCKW 353 trucks, Brazilian soldiers advance along a dusty road, somewhere in Italy - 1944. |
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.
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| Soldiers of the 1st Brazilian Expeditionary Infantry Division during the second assault of the battle of Monte Castello 29 November 1944, near Torre di Nerone - Italy |
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| Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Regiment (Sampaio) 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division guard positions after the capture of Monte Castello - Feb. 1945. |
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.
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Brazilian M8 Greyhound "VIRA MUNDO" entering in Montese, Italy. April, 1945 |
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.
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| General Mark Clark in a field inspection of a 105mm Brazilian howitzer battery. |
The Germans were misled into thinking that the FEB's raid over Montese, using M8 armoured cars 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.
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| Polish and American troops meeting in Bologna. Gen. Klemens Rudnicki (at the wheel) shakes hands with Gen. Mark Clark. General Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko is sitting in the front seat. 21 April 1945 |
Brazilian troops were known for their courage and tenacity. Here is a statement given by a German officer to a Brazilian Lieutenant who was captured and interviewed by his German captors. Upon learning that the Lieutenant was Brazilian, the German officer said:
"Frankly, you Brazilians are either crazy or very brave. I never saw anyone advance against machine-guns and well-defended positions with such disregard for life ... You are devils".
Emilio Varoli, "Adventures of a Prisoner in Nazi Germany," in Sohre Reserve Officer Testimony to F.E.B., p. 447.
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 enveloped 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 Bersaglieri "Italia" Division.
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| German Colonel von Kleiber in preliminary talks with Brazilian Major Franco Ferreira about the surrender of the 148th German Infantry Division to the FEB, after the Battle of Collecchio, on April 29, 1945. Notice the Smoking Snake FEB badge in the left arm of Major. |
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 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.
Brazilian vehicle markings in Italy (1944-1945)
Southern Cross:
Vehicles that fought in Italy used specific markings, the most characteristic being the Southern Cross, the representation of the Crux Constellation (Southern Cross).
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| Crux or Souther Cross Constelation One of the symbols of Brazil, present on the flag and several national insignia. |
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| Schematic representation of the Southern Cross (Crucis) |
The military marking presents a declination with respect to the long axis of the stars and was delimited by a white circle (segmented by the use of stencils) and followed almost the Allied star pattern. The vehicles were painted with the standard american Olive-Drab.
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| Brazilian Army South Cross WWII marking |
The Southern Cross was used by Army vehicles and in Air Force vehicles. The Air Force vehicles shows a variation of this marking, with the constellation being inserted in a five-pointed star, similar to the American Air Force star, but with the tips in green-yellow and the Southern Cross on a blue field (Brazilian colors).
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| Brazilian Air Force land vehicles South Cross WWII marking |
These markings were seen on the hoods of the engines or on the roofs of the cabins, as well as on the sides and rear of the vehicles, very similar to the positioning of the Allied Star.
Since these markings were painted on the battlefield with stencils, some variations in the positions of the insignia are noticed in the photos of the time. The vast majority of variations correspond to the position of the stars: if the Cross is declining counterclockwise, we can say that there is a negative declination.
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| Brazilian Southern Cross in negative declination |
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| Brazilian Army marking Southern Cross in negative declination |
If the stars are turned in a clockwise position, we can say that the marking is in positive declination. These declinations (positive and negative) are seen in most contemporary photographs and are easily detectable.
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| Brazilian Southern Cross in positive declination |
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| Brazilian Army marking Southern Cross in positive declination |
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| Southern Cross declinations infographic |
But since, in the end, who marked the vehicle most of the time was a simple private with a stencil made in the battlefield, sometimes we find truly weird declinations of the Southern Cross in the vehicles. Let's see some examples of Positive and Negative declinations, and some anomalous positions.
Positive declination:
In statistical terms, the Southern Cross in the position of positive declination can be considered as the most numerous and common in the markings of Brazilian vehicles (Army) and rare in the Air Force vehicles, in WWII. Here are some examples...
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| Dodge WC-52 - 9th Engineering Battalion red arrow point the Southern Cross in positive declination This is a medical vehicle of this Battalion (yellow arrow) |
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| Dodge WC-52 with Brazilian soldiers and smiling young italians 3rd Group of motor-towed howitzers 3rd Battery - vehicle n. 85 Southern Cross in positive declination |
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| Dodge WC-52 with Brazilian soldiers and smiling italians, again. 3rd Group of motor-towed howitzers 3rd Battery - vehicle n. 77 Southern Cross in positive declination |
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| Brazilian Dodge WC-52 crossing the Pó River 2nd Group of motor-towed howitzers 4th Battery - vehicle n. 11 Southern Cross in positive declination |
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| Brazilian Jeep OSVALDINHO (little Oswald) Division Artillery - 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division Southern Cross in positive declination |
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| Brazilians CCKW 353 in heavy snow Italy - 1945 Southern Cross in positive declination the second truck is number 7 (yellow arrow) |
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| Brazilian M2 Halftrack armed with .50 MG Browning Southern Cross in positive declination in the front and upper hood positions. Notice the WC-51 in background |
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| Captured Italian Alpine soldiers waiting interrogatory Viareggio - Italy Oct. 31, 1944 The Jeep shows the Southern Cross in positive declination in the top of the hood |
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| Brazilian soldiers discussing a reconnaissance route in a Jeep armed with .50 MG Browning. 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division 1st Recon Squadron Notice the Southern Cross in positive declination in the side |
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| Brazilian M8 Greyhound "LEÂO DO NORTE" (North Lion) 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division 1st Recon Squadron - car n. 19 (yellow arrow) Southern Cross in positive declination (red arrow) The "Snake smoking" stylized painted in the front left (yellow arrow) |
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| Brazilian M8 Greyhound number 18 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division 1st Recon Squadron - car n. 19 Southern Cross in positive declination (red arrow) |
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Brazilian M8 Greyhound "VIRA MUNDO" (Wanderer) entering in Montese, Italy. April, 1945 |
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| Detail of the pic above... Brazilian M8 Greyhound "VIRA MUNDO" (Wanderer) 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division 1st Recon Squadron - car n.6 Southern Cross in positive declination (red arrow) vehicle name in yellow arrow |
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Brazilians Dodge WC-63 towing M1 57mmAT guns in the Victory Parade - Rio de Janeiro, 18 July 1945. Observe the old style uniforms of the soldiers watching the parade in contrast to the American type uniforms of soldiers who fought in Italy (vehicles). Notice the Southern Cross in positive declination (rear and sides) |
Negative declination:
We can observe the Southern Cross markings with negative declination in the Army and Air Force vehicles, being the most predominant style in the Air Force markings. WWII. Here are some examples...
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| Brazilian jeep undergoing maintenance in a makeshift "elevator". 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division 1st Infantry Regiment (Sampaio) - Command Detachment (310 K) Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination |
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| Brazilian jeep with large rollbag in the front 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division 1st Infantry Regiment (Sampaio) - Command Detachment (310 K) Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination |
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| Dodge WC-52 , Jeeps and CCKW´s on a winding path on steep terrain. 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination in the Dodge |
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| Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination in the fenders |
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| CCKW 353 from Brazilian Expeditionary Force XXII Tactical Air Command 350th Fighter Group - 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron Pisa, Italy - 1945. Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination in the Brazilian Air Force Star |
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| Brazilian WC-51 from 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron "Senta a Pua", used for pilots transport. Pisa,. Italy - 1945 Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination in the Brazilian Air Force Star (red arrow) and vehicle number: 20 (yellow arrow) |
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| The same vehicle above, but the left side view... Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination in the Brazilian Air Force Star (red arrow) and FAB (Força Aerea Brasileira - Brazilian Air Force) in the left upper corner (yellow arrow) |
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| Brazilian Jeep from 1st Fighter Group. Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination in the Brazilian Air Force Star (red arrow) and vehicle number (yellow arrow) |
Weird positions with Southern Cross
As mentioned before, the Brazilian markings in Italy were not totally standard, as they were painted on American material, in the Theater of Operations itself. Often, the soldiers in charge of these markings were confused with the placement of the stencils or even painted the stars freehand (with brushes), using only the stencil ring as a reference. To be more illustrative, I made a sequence of placements of the Crosses, from what would be correct to the final result:
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2nd Group of Towed Howitzers - vehicle n. 1 - Italy, 1944. Original pic from Silva Family: Captain Gunner Paulo Teixeira da Silva Notice the Southern Cross: the positive declination stencil was mirrored horizontally and rotated clockwise in 90º |
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| Brazilian M8 Greyhound (and Jeeps) in the liberation of Montese 1st. Expeditionary Infantry Division - 1st Recon Squadron Notice the Southern Cross: the positive declination stencil was mirrored vertically and rotated clockwise in 90º Pointed by the yellow arrow, the German sign "Beware-mines", used as a souvenir by this specific vehicle. Montese, Italy - April, 1945. |
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| Same M8 Greyhound above, immediately after the battle. The stencil of Southern Cross in positive declination was mirrored vertically and rotated clockwise in 90º. Notice the the "BEWARE-MINES" board in detail |
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| Another Brazilian M8 Greyhound with happy Italians. M8 Greyhound (vehicle n. 9) VILA JAGUARA with VIVA BRASIL (Hurray Brazil) chalk graffitti in his rear left fender (yellow arrow) In red, the stencil of Southern Cross in positive declination was mirrored vertically and rotated clockwise in 90º. Massarosa, Italy - September, 1944. |
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| The color profile of vehicle above. |
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A CCKW 353 6x6 fuel tanker refueling a Brazilian P-47D Brazilian Expeditionary Force - 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron 350th Fighter Group - XII Tactical Air Command Pisa, Italy - February 1945. Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination rotated counterclockwise in 90º. Tarquinia, Italy - 1944. |
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| This WC-54 Ambulance from Air Force shows a Brazilian Star outlined in white. At first glance, it looks like a Southern Cross in negative declination, but it is actually a Southern Cross in positive declination and mirrored horizontally. The presence of the Epsilon Star (which is offset to the right) is what unveils the stencil error... Brazilian Expeditionary Force - 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron 350th Fighter Group - XII Tactical Air Command Tarquinia, Italy - 1944. |
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| The closeup pic of the WC-54 above... Southern Cross in positive declination and mirrored horizontally. Notice the little Epsilon Star, that should be shifted to the right, appears shifted to the left. Brazilian Expeditionary Force - 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron 350th Fighter Group - XII Tactical Air Command Tarquinia, Italy - 1944. |
Brazilian vehicle markings in Italy (1944-1945)
- Bumper codes and markings in Brazilian Army vehicles:
The FEB vehicles (Army and Air Force) used markings and numbers very different from each other. While the Army vehicle markings specified the Units and the vehicle numbering only covering Brazilian units, the Air Force Unit markings (perhaps because they were smaller...) cited the American Units to which they were subordinate. Let's start by the Army...
Generally (but not always...), the code letters/numbers on the front bumpers meant (in sequence):
- FEB : abbreviation (in Portuguese) of Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Força Expedicionária Brasileira).
- 3-digit numeral: Unit designation followed or not by a letter (Company, Battery, etc...)
- Southern Cross marking
- Vehicle Number (not always present).
Of course, variations in position and the presence of different numbers or letters were sometimes observed as well as totally non-standard markings, as in other Armies. See in the infographic below these details and the markings on the sides and rear of the vehicles:
In the M8 Greyhounds, these markings were less strict in terms of positions...
- Bumper codes and markings in Brazilian Air Force vehicles:
The "bumper markings" were typically used on the right front corner of the engine hoods of 1.5 and 2.5 ton trucks and 3/4 ton Dodge Jeeps. On 1/4 ton Jeeps, these numbers could be seen on the front bumpers and on the windshield frames. The Air Force was a little more liberal with tagging than the Army, which explains a greater variety of placement of unit tags.
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| Notice the variation of positions of "bumper markings" in Air Force vehicles. |
Let's see some examples...
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| The WC-54 radio car (left) has only the FAB (Força Aerea Brasileira) marking on the door. All other markings are American. The WC-54 ambulance (right) it's the same with the Southern Cross (positive declination) mirrored on the door, which we've already seen above. |
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| The same WC-54 ambulance just above, seen from the rear. Notice the Air Force markings on this vehicle (see the profile below) Tarquinia, Italy - 1944. |
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| Notice the Southern Cross in positive declination mirrored on the door. The Brazilian Star on the engine hood is in positive declination. |
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| Do you remember this WC-51 from 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron "Senta a Pua", used for pilots transport we´ve already seen above? Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination in the Brazilian Air Force Star in the side and vehicle number and Unit designations in front of the hood (not in the front bumper...) Pisa, Italy - 1945 |
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| The same WC-51 above, but seen from behind. Note the Units markings typical of the 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron Pisa, Italy - 1945 |
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| Dodge WC-51 3/4 ton from 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron under maintenance Notice the markings in the front bumper. Maybe the vehicle number was visible on the engine hood... Cantonment in front of the garrison of the Transport Section Pisa, Italy - 1945. photo: Adyr Mosss Collection - jambock.com.br |
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| CCKW 353 from 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron Notice the Brazilian Star in the door and the vehicle number (17) in the front right corner of the hood. Pisa, Italy - 1945. |
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Notice the M6 bomb service truck with tarp (left) and no tarp (right). The red arrows point to the Brazilian Stars on engine hoods and the green arrows to the number of vehicle in the corners of the hoods. 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron - Pisa, Italy -1945. |
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| Here's a different marking... The squadron commander Major Nero Moura standing beside a 2.5 ton CCKW 353, with the American door markings erased and identified with BRAZIL, by chalk graffiti. First days of the 1st BR FS in Tarquinia, Italy - 1944. photo: John William Buyers Collection - jambock.com.br |
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| Asp. Atílio Bochetti, Supply Officer, stand with the personal Jeep of Major Nero Moura, Commander of the 1st Brazilian Fighter Aviation Group. Thanks for the correction, Vicente Vazquez!!! Notice the markings in the front bumper and in the windshield frame the number of vehicle (4), the 12th Air Force badge, the names BRASIL and FAB (Força Aérea Brasileira - Brazilian Air Force) Pisa, Italy -1945. photo: John William Buyers Collection - jambock.com.br |
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Brazilian Air Force Jeeps under mintenance... Notice the vehicle number in the windshield frame and the "standard" markings in the front bumper Tarquinia, Italy - 1944. |
With the end of the War and the return of the Brazilians to South America, all usable material was brought to Brazil, being put to use together with the material that had remained in the country. As noted earlier, the Southern Cross has defaulted on negative declination and bumper tags have changed in meaning and position...But that's another story.
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| Brazilian EE-9 Cascavel (Rattlesnake) Mk I Magro (Skinny) a vehicle of the first series of the famous Brazilian armored car family, still with Stuart 37mm turret. Notice the Southern Cross in negative declination standard of Brazilian Army in post-WWII era. Brasilia, Brasil - 1974. |
The expression "The snake will smoke" is an old Brazilian saying that means something difficult to be done, and if it happens, serious problems can arise. The saying emerged during the beginning of World War II, as a provocation by the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) to the most pessimistic who said "it is easier for a snake to smoke than for Brazil to enter the War".
This phrase has become a motto and symbol of the 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division, in Italy.
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| A Cobra vai fumar! (The Snake will smoke!) |
Até logo!!
See you, soon!!
