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Episode 8 – The myth of "The 3 Braves of Montese"

·34 min·2 clips

Pietro says Sabaton was not completely wrong because three Brazilians were buried together by Germans near Precária.

1. World War II Daily Podcast episode 8 examines the myth of the “Three Heroes of Montese” and the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, or FEB. 2. Pietro Deserti hosts the episode alone because Samuel is absent after a technical issue with the intended recording. 3. The episode asks whether the famous Montese story about three Brazilians refusing surrender can be supported by evidence. 4. Pietro names Geraldo Rodrigues de Souza, Arlindo Lúcio da Silva, and Geraldo Baeta da Cruz as the three men in the legend. 5. He says the story appears in Sabaton’s “Smoking Snakes” and is widely known even among listeners unfamiliar with FEB. 6. The original version describes three Brazilian soldiers encountering about 150 Germans, fixing bayonets, and dying in combat. 7. Another version says the three stayed behind to cover a retreat and were later honored by Germans with a burial. 8. Pietro says the Brazilian Army recognized in 2021 that the story was inflated and lacked scientific support. 9. He then shifts to April 14, 1945, when FEB attacked Montese as part of the offensive against the last Wehrmacht bastion in the Italian Apennines. 10. He notes that the 11th Infantry Regiment assaulted Montese with two battalions, while a third battalion attacked the right flank. 11. Pietro separates the three men by unit and role, saying Geraldo Baeta was a stretcher bearer, Arlindo was a machine gunner, and Geraldo Rodrigues served in a command unit. 12. He argues that these assignments make the legend’s shared battlefield encounter unlikely. 13. Pietro traces the first newspaper reference to journalist Valter Prestes, who wrote about three Brazilian dead found by a burial battalion and a German-inscribed cross. 14. He says Prestes placed that material near Precária, not Montese, and that the article’s photo evidence was not high-resolution enough to read the markings. 15. Pietro then cites Colonel Delmiro de Andrade’s 1950 memoir, which moved the burial story to Zocca about 20 kilometers from Montese. 16. He also cites Sergeant Gentil’s 1951 memoir, which mentions “three Brazilian heroes” written on a sketchy piece of wood. 17. Pietro later details how Geraldo Baeta died while rescuing wounded men under German artillery, and how Arlindo was killed after firing on a machine-gun nest. 18. He explains that Geraldo Rodrigues died alone near Casa Natalino after shrapnel hit his foxhole, and his burial record appears later than the others. 19. The episode is a solo, explanatory history talk with frequent digressions to photos, memoirs, and references shared by Pietro. 20. Listeners interested in FEB, Montese, and wartime memory will get the most from it, while listeners wanting a short battle recap may skip it.

As heard by us

A careful Montese correction that keeps names, units, and battlefield details in proper order.

Episode 8 revisits a well-known Brazilian Expeditionary Force story and draws a useful line between what gets repeated and what the record actually supports.

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Why you'd press play

You get a myth stripped back to records, artillery, and a very slow push on Montese.

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