Black Devil Brigade : The True Story of the First Special Service Force in World War II, an Oral History

by Springer, Joseph A.

• ISBN13: 9780935553505
• ISBN10: 0935553509
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Motorbooks Intl

Summary

The American and Canadian army volunteers who formed the innocuously named First Special Service Force in the Montana outback were assembled to perform virtually suicidal raids against German facilities in Norway and the Italian Alps. Filled with first-person accounts from unit members, this history documents the last-minute cancellation of those missions and the force's eventual service first in the Aleutian Islands and later in Italy, where their daring night raids earned the moniker Schwartzer Tuefel -- Black Devils -- from their German enemies. Illustrated with photos of the unit in training and combat, this history also examines how the risk-taking Black Devil Brigade, the antecedent of the current U.S. Army Special Forces, suffered disproportionate casualties and was often misused as line infantry. The story ends with the unit's key role in the 1944 invasion of southern France, after which it was dispersed.