The Historical facts:
The following is from the book Canadians at War 1939-1945.
The First Special Service Force - or the force , as it was called - an elite unit of both Canadians and Americans was formed in 1942. It had some 700 Canadians and 1700 Americans of all ranks distributed throughout three regiments. It was a tough outfit, trained to drop by parachute and fight in mountains or on skis.
The force had its first taste of mountain fighting in Italy in December 1943, when it helped take a group of German-held hills barring the Allied advance on Rome. Two Battalions scaled the sheer face of a 3000 foot peak and drove the enemy form their caves and pillboxes around the summit. Within four days, all the neighboring ridges were also cleared. The Force had done superbly in its first action but it had suffered 400 casualties. Canadian losses totaled 27 killed and 64 wounded.
Later the same month, the Force was sent to fight alongside U.S. troops on the approaches to Cassino. And, in February 1944, the unit was committed to the Anzio beachhead, which the Allies had established in an attempt to outflank German forces south of Rome.
Churchill called the Force's Leader. U.S. Maj. Gen. Robert Frederick, "the greatest fighting general of all time." The Force itself won the nickname "The Devil's Brigade," a term apparently inspired by the blackened faces members wore on patrols and in battle. A German officer's diary recorded: "The black devils are around us every time we come into the line, and we never hear them come."
The Force ended its fighting days in August 1944 in the largely unopposed invasion of southern France and was disbanded later that year. The Americans were formed into an infantry regiment; the Canadians went back to their own army, some of them to the 1st Parachute Batallion.
The following is from the book Canadians at War 1939-1945.
The First Special Service Force - or the force , as it was called - an elite unit of both Canadians and Americans was formed in 1942. It had some 700 Canadians and 1700 Americans of all ranks distributed throughout three regiments. It was a tough outfit, trained to drop by parachute and fight in mountains or on skis.
The force had its first taste of mountain fighting in Italy in December 1943, when it helped take a group of German-held hills barring the Allied advance on Rome. Two Battalions scaled the sheer face of a 3000 foot peak and drove the enemy form their caves and pillboxes around the summit. Within four days, all the neighboring ridges were also cleared. The Force had done superbly in its first action but it had suffered 400 casualties. Canadian losses totaled 27 killed and 64 wounded.
Later the same month, the Force was sent to fight alongside U.S. troops on the approaches to Cassino. And, in February 1944, the unit was committed to the Anzio beachhead, which the Allies had established in an attempt to outflank German forces south of Rome.
Churchill called the Force's Leader. U.S. Maj. Gen. Robert Frederick, "the greatest fighting general of all time." The Force itself won the nickname "The Devil's Brigade," a term apparently inspired by the blackened faces members wore on patrols and in battle. A German officer's diary recorded: "The black devils are around us every time we come into the line, and we never hear them come."
The Force ended its fighting days in August 1944 in the largely unopposed invasion of southern France and was disbanded later that year. The Americans were formed into an infantry regiment; the Canadians went back to their own army, some of them to the 1st Parachute Batallion.