Bernd 08/12/2020 (Wed) 03:16:29 No.39214 del
On the legalist side, the Artillery School-Group (GEsA) is well covered. The 31st was a tense day with no information from superiors - this is a common theme, soldiers not having the slightest clue of what was going on. Finally, at night they received a telephone order to attach a battery of howitzers to the Infantry School-Regiment (REsI). Every week one of the three batteries was ready to act, and this time it was the 2nd under 1st Liutenant Sanches.
Sanches was dispatched to the Dutra to join with a battalion of the REsI already on the road. This order came from the REsI's Colonel Abner, even though the GEsA's Colonel Aldo was in the same quarters. Sanches did previously consult with Aldo - he was sleeping. "They called you, you go"; he seemed completely disinterested in what one of his subordinates was doing attached to another formation. The 2nd Battery left after midnight and did not bring food.
Abner had complained of one thing - Sanches had presented himself without his troops. This was a deliberate delay, as he and the two other battery leaders already disliked the government. On the other hand Abner and Aldo were Goulart loyalists, the latter poorly regarded by his subordinates.
Abner's subordinates, his battalion commanders - at the vanguard, Major Simon - and the captain of his organic tank company were likewise rebel-sympathizing.
The 1st and 3rd Batteries were under Captains da Silveira and Graça, respectively. They left a bit later, under an agreement with staff officers & captains Seixas and Brunner that, as they could not rise up isolated and get besieged, they'd move and wherever they went they'd join up with the rebels.

None of the batteries knew who they'd face on the road.

Another GUEs formation was the 1st 90 mm AA Gun Group. It had 2 "blue" and 2 "red" ("communist") batteries. The pieces were for point defense, taking hours to deploy; asphalt would ruin the tractors' treads. Nonetheless Captain Ustra, of the "blue" 4th, was ordered to cover the column. Not with the 4th but with the "red". This made no sense, and under protest he was allowed to use his pieces, soldiers and corporals. Under him were still "red" sergeants and officers including a "red" Captain Ustra still praises him as a professional; there are such cases of recognizing the enemy's value in this aspect, importantly older than him. He saw through the trap: they were ready to arrest and replace him in the field. With his soldiers and corporals he organized his own conspiracy including arresting the "reds" if necessary.
The battery left without medical support or the food train, but not in a hurry. Leaving at 09:00, it barely moved as tires were emptied and vehicles died off. At 20:00, when they had to return it was far away from the destination. Ustra successfully prevented himself from being a legalist piece on the board, though his battery would've never been useful in the first place.

Ustra's battery was followed by a company of the Engineering School-Battalion, which likewise got nowhere.