Brazil. An Brazilian Expeditionary Force Shoulder Patch And Booklet

"Brasil" Shoulder Patch (two pieces of pickle green cotton sewn back-to-back, white embroidered lettering "BRASIL" on the obverse, slotted on the reverse, measuring 60 mm (w) x 65 mm (h)); and Brazilian Expeditionary Force Booklet (entitled "Corpo Expedicionario Brasileiro / DOMINANDO O OCEANO ou COMO VIVER NO MAR... JUNNO 1944 / Contribuiçao da Infantaria Divisionaria Expedicionaria" (Brazilian Expeditionary Force / Dominating the Ocean of How to Live on the Sea...June 1944 / Contribution of the Expeditionary Infantry Division Corps), published by the Ministry of War at Rio de Janeiro in 1944, printed in black ink on a thick newsprint stock, single staple-bound, measuring 117 mm (w) x 157 mm (h), soiled). Fine.

  
The Brazilian Expeditionary Force or BEF (Portuguese: Força Expedicionária Brasileira; FEB) consisted of about 25,700 men arranged by the army and air force to fight alongside the Allied forces in the Mediterranean Theatre during the Second World War. This air-land force consisted of (replacements included): a complete Infantry Division, a Liaison flight, and a Fighter squadron. 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 BEF managed to take 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, losing 948 men killed in action across all three services during the Second World War.