Father Alessandro Cavalli, the parish priest of Neviano de’ Rossi, strode west with purpose toward the Nazi-occupied village of Respiccio, along the Taro River southwest of Parma, Italy. Shoving his hands into the shabby coat that had served him for too many winters to remember, he grasped perhaps the most important document he would carry in his life—a dispatch demanding the unconditional surrender of the German and Italian divisions in the region. Yet its senders struck Cavalli as unusual. The priest had encountered American, British and German troops, but those who’d entrusted him with the surrender demand were new to him—Brazilians. How odd, he mused, that a nation so distant would send troops to Europe. At least they were Catholic.
The German officers in Respiccio detained Cavalli for three hours, questioning him exhaustively about Brazilian troop strength, unit dispositions, armaments and so forth. Their curiosity was understandable. After all, no one, not even fellow Allies, had expected much of the Força Expedicionária Brasileira (Brazilian Expeditionary Force), or FEB. Yet the division of seemingly rank amateurs had managed to bottle up an experienced, battle-hardened German infantry division. Like Cavalli, the Germans also must have wondered why Brazil had sent troops to Italy when all other Latin American nations, except Mexico, had avoided combat with the Axis.
Having run out of questions—and options—the German officers had the Italian priest deliver a reply to the Brazilian commander, seeking terms of surrender.
Though the surrounded Wehrmacht troops in Respiccio didn’t know it, Germany had only itself to blame for the presence of Brazilian forces in Italy.
Following the 1939 outbreak of war in Europe, Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas—recognizing his country
