Niterói (RJ) – The 21st Campaign Artillery Group (21st GAC) held a ceremony in honor of the first shot fired by the Brazilian Expeditionary Force Artillery on Italian soil, executed on September 16, 1944, and to the shipwrecked merchant ships Baependy and Itagiba, torpedoed off the Brazilian coast during World War II. The event aimed to pay tribute to the heroes of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force and to the crew of the merchant ships sunk by the German submarine U-507.
In the opportunity, a series of representative pictures of the 21st GAC was inaugurated, with works composed of images by renowned photographers, such as Marcello Cavalcanti and Paula Mariane Silva da Costa. The works “Sunset at Fort Barão do Rio Branco” and “Photo Complex Historical Park Monte Bastione” were inaugurated.
Civil and military authorities were present at the ceremony, with highlight to the Director General of the Diplomatic Historical Museum of Itamaraty, Ambassador Daniela Xavier; the Chief of the Fleet Staff, Rear Admiral Manoel Luiz Pavão Barroso; the Director of the Army Historical and Cultural Heritage, Brigadier General Luciando Antonio Sibinel; and the Commander of the Divisionary Artillery of the 1st Army Division, Brigadier General Fabiano Lima de Carvalho.
Anniversary of the first Brazil-Italy radiotelegraphic transmission in World War II
Rio de Janeiro (RJ) – The School-Communications Battalion (BEsCom) celebrated the 78th anniversary of the first Brazil-Italy intercontinental radiotelegraphic transmission in the battlefields, during World War II. Between September 10 and 15, 1944, the station operated for the first time with Brazil, establishing contact with the International Radio Company of Brazil.
The solemnity, which took place on September 16, was honored by the Brazilian military member of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, First-Lieutenant Moysés Ferraz, by his wife, Mitzi, and by the President of the Brazilian Academy of Terrestrial Military History, Israel Blajberg.
The celebrated achievement was the result of a meeting on Italian soil, in which the Commander of the 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division, General Mascarenhas, determined that steps be taken to obtain a more efficient means of delivering messages to Brazil, which used to take an average of four days to be delivered, following the following path: Embassy of Brazil-US Army-Washington-Brazil.
The mission, accomplished by Lieutenant Hervé, was a milestone for Army Communications, with the elements of Information Security and Electronic Warfare. The Transmission Company had the opportunity to contact more modern and secure techniques of message transmission, which made it more difficult for the enemy to control the spectrum.
*** Translated by the DEFCONPress FYI team ***