The Newsweek article that appears on the right informs the reader that the Brazilian military had been successfully fighting the Germans long before their army arrived in Italy (July 16, 1944) and that their air force had sunk as many as 14 U-Boats up to that time. The writer also pointed out that no nation was wearier of this than their Fascist neighbor to the south, Argentina.
The Yank article is written from the perspective of the American G.I.; it lays out a few peculiar facts about life in the World War Two Brazilian Army: "Every type of South American racial strain is represented. This gives a squad the appearance of a capsule League of Nations, except that there are no blonds."
The patch pictured above is that of the Brazilian Expeditionary Forces, called the “Smoking Cobra”. This nicknamed was earned after Hitler was reported to have remarked that "The chances of Brazilians actually fighting for the Allies would be about as likely as a snake smoking tobacco."
Read about the day Brazil declared war on Nazi Germany...
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