João Baptista Mascarenhas de Morais
Marshal João Baptista Mascarenhas de Morais (born November 13, 1883 in São Gabriel , † September 17, 1968 in Rio de Janeiro ) was a Brazilian army officer and commander of the Brazilian Expeditionary Corps in Europe during World War II .
Life
Mascarenhas de Morais was born in São Gabriel, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul . His father was a merchant and the son of a veteran of the Farrapen Revolution .
He attended the Praia Vermelha military school in Rio de Janeiro and maintained a legalist position in the many military revolts of the 1920s and early 1930s. During the revolution of 1930, Mascarenhas was loyal to President Washington Luis and was arrested by the rebels of Getúlio Vargas , the president himself was arrested and expelled in the same year. After his release, Mascarenhas continued to serve in the army and was arrested for the second time in 1932 for calling for support for a military and civil uprising against Vargas in São Paulo . After the uprising was put down, Mascarenhas was released and no longer prosecuted.
In 1935, while he was in command of the Realeng Military School, Mascarenhas de Morais took part in the fight against the communist uprising in Rio de Janeiro. This time he was loyal to the constitutional government of Getúlio Vargas. In 1937 he was promoted to general and in the following years was commander of the 9th Military Region in Recife and the 7th Military Region in São Paulo.
In 1943 he was appointed commander of the first infantry division of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB), the 1st DIE ("Primeira Divisão de Infantaria Expedicionária"). After the establishment of the 2nd and 3rd divisions, he became the commander of the entire Brazilian expeditionary force. He was also head of the Brazilian military commission in the USA and observed the Allied operations in Italy in 1943 , even before the arrival of the Brazilian expeditionary force.
On July 16, 1944, the first Brazilian troops arrived and Mascarenhas de Morais commanded the Brazilian armed forces until the surrender of the Axis Powers in Italy on May 2, 1945. On April 28, the Brazilians took over 13,000 soldiers, including the entire 148. Infantry Division, parts of the 90th Panzer Grenadier and the Italian Bersaglieri regiments "Monte Rosa", "San Marco" and "Italia" captured.
After the end of the war he returned to Brazil and was appointed Marshal by the Brazilian Congress in 1946 and was given command of the 1st military region in the then capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. After a brief retirement, Mascarenhas returned to active service in 1951 and became Chief of Staff of the Brazilian Armed Forces during the second Vargas government (1951-1954). After the President's suicide, in August 1954, he retired and wrote his memoirs about his time as commander of the FEB. A special law of Congress passed him (as still active in the service with all duties and privileges) with the rank of field marshal . He died in Rio de Janeiro in 1968.
literature
- Maximiano, Cesar (with Bonalume, Ricardo N. & Bujeiro, Ramiro): Brazilian Expeditionary Force in World War II . Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2011. ISBN 978-1-849084833 (Print version).
- João Baptista Mascarenhas de Morais: The Brazilian Expeditionary Force, By Its Commander. US Government Printing Office, 1966.
- Edwards, Paul M .: Between the Lines of World War II: Twenty-One Remarkable People and Events. McFarland & Co. Inc. Publishers 2010 ISBN 978-0-786446674 . Chapter 9 "The Smoking Cobras".
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mascarenhas de Morais, João Baptista |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mascarenhas De Morais |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Brazilian army officer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 13, 1883 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sao Gabriel , Rio Grande do Sul |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th September 1968 |
| Place of death | Rio de Janeiro |