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Of Courage and Determination: The First Special Service Force, "The Devil's Brigade," 1942-44
In the dark, early days of the Second World War, the Allies found themselves with their backs against the wall. With their armies, tactics, doctrine, and equipment in tatters, the Allies turned to special operations forces to carry the fight to the Axis enemy until their conventional forces could be built up once again. Specially selected and trained, these forces struck fear into the hearts of the enemy. One such unit, the First Special Service Force (FSSF) or Devil's Brigade, was created for a hazardous mission in Norway. This unique formation was composed of both Americans and Canadians who served side by side without distinction of nationality.
A killer elite, the FSSF consistently demonstrated courage and deter- mination and earned itself an unrivalled combat record at Monte la Difensa and Anzio in Italy and in the invasion of southern France.
A killer elite, the FSSF consistently demonstrated courage and deter- mination and earned itself an unrivalled combat record at Monte la Difensa and Anzio in Italy and in the invasion of southern France.
- GenresHistory
408 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 11, 2020
I was never aware of the First Special Service Force until - well it's getting to be quite a few years ago - i learned that a friend's father was a member. Since then I've been a bit interested in the history. And seen the "Devil's Brigade" movie several times.
As might be expected, the movie is not entirely accurate, but it's pretty good. This book provides many more details about the reasons for putting the force together, and the actual battles and events that they were involved in. It delves a bit too deeply into administrative details - like trying to co-ordinate pay and benefits between Canadian and American forces, rank insignia, marching commands etc. But the authors did a tremendous amount of research to gather the information. And since they were Canadian authors with perhaps some assistance from either the government and or veterans groups, the story is told mainly from a Canadian perspective.
The force was assembled initially with a plan of doing large scale commando attacks on strategic targets in Norway - thus the training in mountains and snow. However, the Norwegian royal family and senior government officials in exile weren't real crazy about having a force going into their country to blow up all the hydro-electric dams and bridges, no matter how much inconvenience it would cause to the Germans. So, long story short, they were reallocated to North Africa and Italy.
The training was arduous, as shown in the movie, and the force was unbelievably fit. One example, they were shipped out to the east coast to train on attacking from sea. One task was the ability to deploy from a transport ship to landing craft by climbing down cargo nets (I guess). US Army platoons typically took a minute to do this. The US Marines naturally were faster, taking about 52 seconds. The SSF platoons took 33 seconds.
The force distinguished itself in Italy, attacking a German mountain stronghold by scaling a cliff in the dark - a side that the Germans weren't guarding because nobody could attack from that side. And then fought with the main forces into Rome and through Italy.
However, they suffered a lot of casualties. What I had never considered was the difficulty they had finding replacements, particularly men with high level training roughly equivalent to what the original force had received. And it was impossible to maintain a 50:50 Canadian/American split, since the US had much larger reserves to draw on. Ultimately the force was disbanded and distributed back within their respective armies, although they were allowed to keep a Special Services Force badge on their uniforms.
As I mentioned, the story is mainly on the Canadian side of things. I think I'll try to find a book or two giving the American side of the story.
As might be expected, the movie is not entirely accurate, but it's pretty good. This book provides many more details about the reasons for putting the force together, and the actual battles and events that they were involved in. It delves a bit too deeply into administrative details - like trying to co-ordinate pay and benefits between Canadian and American forces, rank insignia, marching commands etc. But the authors did a tremendous amount of research to gather the information. And since they were Canadian authors with perhaps some assistance from either the government and or veterans groups, the story is told mainly from a Canadian perspective.
The force was assembled initially with a plan of doing large scale commando attacks on strategic targets in Norway - thus the training in mountains and snow. However, the Norwegian royal family and senior government officials in exile weren't real crazy about having a force going into their country to blow up all the hydro-electric dams and bridges, no matter how much inconvenience it would cause to the Germans. So, long story short, they were reallocated to North Africa and Italy.
The training was arduous, as shown in the movie, and the force was unbelievably fit. One example, they were shipped out to the east coast to train on attacking from sea. One task was the ability to deploy from a transport ship to landing craft by climbing down cargo nets (I guess). US Army platoons typically took a minute to do this. The US Marines naturally were faster, taking about 52 seconds. The SSF platoons took 33 seconds.
The force distinguished itself in Italy, attacking a German mountain stronghold by scaling a cliff in the dark - a side that the Germans weren't guarding because nobody could attack from that side. And then fought with the main forces into Rome and through Italy.
However, they suffered a lot of casualties. What I had never considered was the difficulty they had finding replacements, particularly men with high level training roughly equivalent to what the original force had received. And it was impossible to maintain a 50:50 Canadian/American split, since the US had much larger reserves to draw on. Ultimately the force was disbanded and distributed back within their respective armies, although they were allowed to keep a Special Services Force badge on their uniforms.
As I mentioned, the story is mainly on the Canadian side of things. I think I'll try to find a book or two giving the American side of the story.
December 30, 2017
Interesting. The logistics were a nightmare.
February 12, 2018
A superb historical record of a little known or celebrated Force. A very educational read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews