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Battle of Montese
Part of the Invasion of Italy
General Mascarenhas de Moraes, commander of Brazilian forces in Montese.
Date April 14 of 1945 - April 17 of 1945 Location Montese, Italy Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Brazil United States	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Mascarenhas de Morais	Unknown
Units involved
1st Brazilian Infantry Division (11th and 6th RIs)	14th German Army
Casualties and losses
426 dead or injured (estimated)	497 dead, injured or captured (estimated)

The Battle of Montese was fought at the end of World War II, between April 14 and 17, 1945, as part of the Final Allied Offensive of Italian campaign, with combat forces on the one hand units of the 1st infantry division (expeditionary) Brazilian (1st DIE), reinforced by some tanks from 1st American Armored Division; and on the other, troops from the 14th Army of the Army Group C of Wehrmacht.

Location

The municipality of Montese occupies a vast area of ​​hills bordering the Provinces of Modena and Bologna, in the region of Emilia-Romagna. It has numerous rivers, rich vegetation, forests and ancient chestnut groves that surround the medieval villages. It was considered a region of difficult access due to the German fortifications built during the period that lasted Gothic Line. German troops were in possession of the Montese region, having the provinces of Modena and Bologna as borders.

Preparation

Contrary to the expectations of the Allied Command in Italy, the final spring (boreal) offensive, which had begun a week earlier, in the 8th British Army sector, had not advanced much, encountering strong resistance from main German forces in Italy. Thus, the offensive in the sector of 5th American Army (to which the 1st DIE was attached), started on April 14 without benefiting from the advances that were still awaited in the sector "British".

In the "American" sector, the 1st DIE would be the only division allied to achieve the planned objective on the 1st day of the offensive. In Montese, objective of the 1st DIE, in addition to infantry, the action involved artillery garrisons and armored support units, from the cavalry, of which the reconnaissance squad stood out. The 3rd Battalion of the 11th Infantry Regiment, which would advance towards Serreto-Paravento-Montelo, was at the center of the offensive formation, being its main piece. To the right, the 2nd Battalion was aligned, and to the left, the 1st. Thus, on April 14, at 1:30 pm, the Brazilians attacked Montese, making their debut in the treacherous modern urban war.

The advance of the soldiers of the 11th IR was observed by the commanders at Sassomolare, which provided a perfect view of Montese. The takeover of the city, however, would only take place on the 17th, with the support of the 6th Infantry Regiment.

Battle

The achievement of Montese was the main objective of the 2nd Company of the 1st Btl / 11th IR. It had been planned to be carried out in two phases:

• '1st Phase:' Secondary mission- Starts at 9:00 am with the attack of two platoons on two enemy outposts. As planned in the planning, the two platoons attacked the objectives, with strong reaction from the enemy. The 1st platoon was stopped by strong enemy fire, managing to achieve the goal a few hours later. The 2nd platoon was detained in a minefield and was punished by the concentration of artillery fire. In this attack, his commander was shot dead in the head. Due to these setbacks, the objective defined for the 2nd Platoon was not achieved.
• '2nd Phase:' Main attack on the city - Starting at 12:00, also with two platoons. At 11:45, the commander confirmed the operation, considered as "H" time for the main attack.

At the set time, the 1st Platoon attacked the summit, after winning 1/3 of the route, it was hit by intense artillery fire (dam), which ended up cutting the phone cord in several points, making contact between the teams difficult. In addition, some soldiers were hit.

Having overcome these setbacks, the platoon reached the top of the Montese elevations, however, it had lost contact with the company due to the cut of the telephone wires. The radio, due to the distance and undulations of the terrain, had also stopped working. Then the summit was hit by heavy artillery bombardment, aiming to dislodge the Germans who still remained in the casemates and trenches. After which, the platoons attacked to consolidate their position. The reaction was useless on the part of the Germans present, who were slaughtered or captured.

The 2nd Combat Group, right after joining the 1st, was used to dominate resistances that opposed the right flank. Placed in a favorable situation and shooting from a short distance over a shelter where an enemy machine gun had been located, after a few attacks the position was conquered. As night fell on the 14th of April, the positions on the hillside of the city were consolidated, leaving a balance of some Germans dead and eight prisoners, on the side of the 1st DIE there was one dead and three wounded. On the morning of the 15th, with German artillery still punishing the city, Brazilian troops finished cleaning the city.

The desperate attempt by the German forces to retake the city, from then on, started what would, until today, be the bloodiest battle involving Brazilian forces in foreign territory since the Paraguay War. The Germans made a mistake in considering the Brazilian division's attack on Montese (who in the same attack, in addition to the support of American tanks, also used their own M8 tanks and M10 destroyer tanks, and [[ M4 Sherman]), as being the main allied target in that sector, because of that only about 1800 Brazilian artillery shots were fired against the Brazilian division, (equivalent to 64%) of the total of 2800 shots used against all 4 allied divisions. in that sector of the Italian front. The battle would be considered closed on April 16, with the end of the German counterattacks. Although the work of "cleaning" in and around the city against snipers continued until the 17th.

Consequences

After 3 days of fighting, Montese was practically devastated: of the 1,121 houses in the village, no less than 833 had been destroyed. The struggle also claimed the lives of 189 civilians in the small town. The Brazilian Division carried out an irreproachable campaign regarding the achievement of the objective, but at a high cost: about 430 casualties, among the dead (34), wounded, soldiers imprisoned by the enemy and disappeared. On the German side, the estimate at the time and confirmed in subsequent excavations, reached 497 casualties, among those killed and imprisoned, the latter being exactly 453.

Montese's conquest significantly marked the beginning of the so-called Operation GrapeShot or Spring Offensive . In addition to the victories obtained by the Allies in other locations, this victory contributed decisively to the complete dismantling of the German lines of defense in the sector of the V army and consequently in the rest of Italy.

Subsequently, the municipality of Montese, freed and grateful to the winning troops, paid tribute to Brazilian troops by naming one of its squares with the name "Piazza Brasile". Even today, it is possible to find ruins of German positions in the region. The takeover of Montese reverberated favorably at the top and earned praise from the American Command at the 1st DIE.

Bibliography

• The National Defense ; Quarterly Magazine edited by [[Army Command and Staff School | Brazilian Army Command & Staff School] since 1918, ISSN 0011-7641
• Barone, João. 1942: Brazil and its almost unknown war Ed. Nova Fronteira, 2013. ISBN 9788520935200
• Böhmler Rudolf. Monte Cassino Editora Flamboyant, 1966. ASIN B000MMKAYM
• Brayner, Floriano de Lima. The Truth About FEB: Memoirs of a Chief of Staff in the Campaign in Italy, 1943-1945 Ed. Civilização Brasileira, 1968.
• Celso Castro; Vitor Izecksohn & Hendrik Kraay New Brazilian Military History FGV, 2004. ISBN 85-225-0496-2
• Crittenberger, Willis D. Final Campaign in Northwest Italy BibliEx, 1951. ISBN 85-7011-219-x (from the 1997 reissue).
• Donato, Hernâni. Dictionary of Brazilian Battles IBRASA, 1996 (1st edition, 1987). ISBN 8534800340
• Fundação Emílio Odebrecht. The Army in the History of Brazil (vol. III, Republic) Rio de Janeiro: Biblioteca do Army Editora. ISBN 8570112092
• Moraes, Marechal Mascarenhas de. Memórias (Volume 1) Bibliex, 1984. ISBN 8570110790
• Neto, Ricardo Bonalume. Our Second War: Brazilians in combat, 1942-1945 Expressão e Cultura, 1995. ISBN 8520801919.
• Oliveira, Dennison de. The German Soldiers of Vargas Juruá Editora, 2008. ISBN 9788536220765
• Souza, Simonal Silva de. Battle of Montese Primyl Editora, 2005. ISBN 8590526011

See also

• Urban warfare
• Gothic Line
• Lapa Azul is a documentary brazil eiro de 2007 that reports the experiences of the Brazilian pracinha s, of the III Battalion of the 11th Regiment Infantry of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) during World War II.

External Links

• Brazil in War, a commemorative series of the 60 years of the end of the Second World War, about Brazil's participation in that conflict. Veja Magazine, April 2005.
• [1] Brief description and numerical indications of traditional Brazilian magazine "A Defesa Nacional", which deals with military matters.

{{draft-battle}} {{draft-Brazil-FEB}} {{Campaign in Italy}} {{Brazilian Expeditionary Force}}