The Black Devil Brigade: The True Story of the First Special Service Force in the World War II [Hardcover]

Organized into 10 chapters and the author insightfully pieces the narrative together with short and astute bridges.
Chapter 1 includes the remarkable story of recruiting the men for a suicidal mission...to destroy dams and heavy-water factories...behind enemy lines in 1942 Norway. One wonders why soldiers would put their lives at such unnecessary risk. Here you can examine...volunteer to volunteer...the reasons in their own words.

Chapter 2 covers the First Special Service Force and their arrival at Ft William Henry Harrison located near Helena, Montana. This is my second favorite chapter. The Canadian and American grew together and became close as brothers. This section also covers their reflections of training...the harshest training any infantry unit would receive in the Second World War. This training involved parachute training, ski training, forced marches, hand to hand combat training, explosive training, land survival, amphibious training, and extensive training in enemy small arms. This section also includes extensive member accounts about the citizens of the Hard Rock state of Montana, and the capital, Helena.

Chapter 3 comprises adventures of their trip to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. The Japanese evacuated prior to their arrival but the words of their voyage to Kiska is filled the humorous tales.

Chapter 4 comprises their trip to Italy to attack a hard fought over mountain named Monte La Difensa. This mountain in the Liri Valley was attacked by three divisions but all failed. They called upon the First Special Service Force and this was their first combat experience. The material and reflections of close quarter combat included in this chapter is astounding. It also includes their reflections of losses.

Chapter 5 describes three mountain offenses against Italian mountain peaks near Cassino. The Italian winter and German resistance take enormous toll of their numbers and Force personnel were well below 1,000 during this time. Many platoons were down blow twenty percent but the Force continued to advance despite these grievous losses.

Chapters 6 and 7 describes the story of Anzio. These two chapters are my favorites of favorites. Outnumbered, the Forcemen begin to creep behind enemy lines to slice throats and kill and capture Germans by the hundreds. The Forcemen would put a death sticker on the forehead of the enemy dead. It was during this time the Germans gave the unit the nickname, "The Black Devil Brigade." Again, this is all described in a stirring...word by word account...by the warriors themselves. The story of Anzio is nothing short of exhilarating. I could not put it down.

Chapter 8 describes the breakout of Anzio and describes the liberation of Rome by the first man...a Forcemen...to enter Rome.

Chapter 9 describes their invasion of southern France and their lightning drive to the border of Italy. Unbelievable combat images are also in this chapter.

Chapter 10 describes the end of the Force. This is a very short, but moving chapter.

There is almost 100 pictures, maps, index, and table of deceased...and arranged by date of death (a -first- to my knowledge). I wish I could say this book is perfect but it has a few problems. There are many typos in the print. It looks to me like the publisher and editor never proofread the book. The pictures are very grainy and there is no table of contents page. Regardless of these benign problems the book is exceptional...a ten star effort...and a fitting tribute to the members of the First Special Service Force, the first Special Forces unit...ever. I am profoundly grateful to Mr. Springer for doing a distinctive service on behalf of these great warriors.