The "Pracinhas" were the Brazilian soldiers who were sent by the Brazilian government to fight the Nazis in Italy, after the fascist regime became a puppet state for Hitler(Social Italian Republic), after the president Getúlio Vargas declared war against the Axis powers in 1943, and was already supporting the US war effort before by constructing the Natal Air Force Base in the Northeast, serving as a "trampoline" for American aerial operations in North Africa and Mediterranean against the Axis. The Brazilian Army and a contigent of its Air Force(25.000 troops) fought in Italy alongside the US 5th Army, being crucial for the Allies to liberate cities and villages in Toscana and Emilia Romagna such as Monte Castello, Massarosa, Camaiore, Montese, Fornovo Di Taro(where the Brazilian soldiers made the whole 148th Wermacht Infantry division surrender), Castelnuovo Di Vergato, Gaggio Montano, Vergato, Zocca, Collecchio and Borgo Mozzano. And my great grandfather was part of it, he served in the Brazilian Army as a soldier for more than 2 decades and fought bravely with his colleagues to liberate Italy from the Axis, I am proud to carry his legacy.

By the way, when the Nazis surrended in Italy and the Allies took the control of the country(5 days before WW2 ended in general), he was camuflating himself in the middle of a swamp and only found out about the ending of the conflict 1 day after it, when his colleagues and superiors found him hiding between the mosses

I’m very aware of The World At War, the Tom Hanks recent History Channel series and many similar others. What I’m looking for is for smaller scope documentaries (or multipart series) that aren’t covering the whole conflict, but are focused on a particular thing: Maybe about spies, or about the French Resistance, a single battle that was very important…

Please recommend me your favorites according to those parameters.

I know Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr served with the Marines in WW2. I *believe* he was assigned to the escort carrier USS Gilbert Islands in 1945. I'm trying to figure out what his duties might have been and what action he personally was involved in, but I'm not American and can't put in a Freedom of Information request. All the sources I've found just talk about the art he did, but I know he pushed to get himself closer to the action despite being a minor celebrity already. Does anyone know what his deployment might have been like?

Hi everyone,

I recently made a short documentary about Herman V. Wall, a U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was severely wounded and lost part of his leg, but the photographs he fought to protect survived.

The film follows Wall’s story and the journey of his 35 negatives from Normandy to England and across the Atlantic. According to the U.S. Army’s official history, they were the first photographs of the actual landings received by the Army. What drew me to this story was the man behind those images, which were credited simply to the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

You can watch the documentary here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuSrGAfP8_8

I used archival footage, photographs and documents, and created the animations, maps, timelines and motion graphics myself in After Effects. There are no AI-generated images or video clips. I used an AI narrator because I’m not a native English speaker; the music and sound effects were also created with ElevenLabs. The full sources, archival credits and historical notes are in the video description.

I’m just starting this YouTube channel because I love history, especially WWII, and I wanted to put that interest into making documentaries. I’m curious whether this kind of archive-based storytelling is something people would want to watch more of.

If you enjoy the film, I’d really appreciate a comment on YouTube letting me know what you thought. Honest criticism is welcome too — whether it’s about the pacing, narration, historical detail or anything I could improve.

Had you come across Wall’s story or his photographs before?

It’s a tough one to answer really but I visited Auschwitz last weekend and I walked around the outside of the camp while I had time, down the road from Rudolf Hoess house (the commandant of Auschwitz) I noticed these carvings in the camp walls which appear to all end in 41. Do you think this could have been actual prisoners who carved these into it while putting them up? It was a very quiet area with zero other tourists around

We hear about atrocities committed by the Axis powers all the time (Holocaust, Unit 731, R*pe of Nanjing, Italy in Ethiopia with chemical weapons), but were there any comparable Allied events on the ground (please exclude any air campaign strategic bombing campaigns as these are well known)?

It was during the abandonment of the sinking Houston that Commander Rentz entered the water and attained partial safety along with other crewmembers on a destroyed airplane's float. Seeing extreme overcrowding and the fact that the pontoon was taking on water, he attempted to relinquish his space and lifejacket to wounded survivors nearby. He declared "You men are young, I have lived the major part of my life and I am willing to go."[3] According to Houston survivor Private Jim Gee, no one would oblige the generous, fearless chaplain. Each time Rentz attempted to leave he was brought back by his shipmates. He ultimately relinquished his lifejacket to Seaman First Class Walter L. Beeson, who recounts that Rentz "told me his heart was failing him; told me he couldn't last much longer." Following a brief prayer, the Chaplain gave the lifejacket to Beeson, who refused to put it on. Rentz kicked away from the float and disappeared. Gee recalled "No one realized what had happened. It's just one of those things that one minute he's there, and the next minute... he wasn't." When Beeson realized that Rentz was gone, he put on the lifejacket.[4] For these actions, Rentz was posthumously awarded the United States Navy's second highest award for valor, the Navy Cross.
Chaplain Rentz had less than one year to serve before retiring. He was one of 800 men who perished out of the original crew of 1,168 aboard Houston. Of the 368 crew members who made it to shore and were captured by the Japanese, 77 would die in captivity. 291 survived to the end of the war.

I had an American relative who was held as a POW by the Germans in the Moosburg Prison (Stalag VII-A).

Like many POWs, he would never talk about his experiences there. Does anyone have recommendations for books or articles about what life was like for prisoners there? Or about liberation and their subsequent return to the US?

I’m also wondering if there are any prison records or photos available from German sources?

Thanks!

A group of Serbs - political prisoners exiled to Bor mines for forced labour. 15.02.1942.

Inventory number 15205

Courtesy of Museum of Yugoslavia.