Customer Reviews

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

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The Black Devil Brigade is most assuredly a watershed in the coverage of World War II oral histories. Mr. Springer personally and diligently interviewed dozens of First Special Service Force veterans and selected and edited, what seems to be...thousands of pages of eyewitness accounts of the most remarkable narrative you will ever examine. Unlike other oral histories this book intertwines the veterans own dialogues in a flowing and explosive tale. The material covers the gamut of emotions...humor, war's brutality, and tragedy, thus making the Black Devil Brigade highly thought provoking. Here you will read of happenings that have been bottled up for sixty years. Many of these stories are short, some are longer, but all are powerful and moving. You will get a sense of what World War II was like for these elites. When reading this book I sat motionless...in awe...while these men describe, in their own accounts, hand to hand combat behind enemy lines with the German Wehrmacht. I simply could not put it down.

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.

Mr. Springer may have been initially motivated by the desire to honor his uncle (killed serving with the First Special Service Force) but his work honors all who served in that unit. One seldom sees an oral history which tells the story of a unit so well. All the contributions by unit members tell the story without the distractions often found in other compilations. Always engaging, you just don't want to put the book down. Not only does one learn about the unit and individuals who made up that unit but one also learns about the equipment used, how it was acquired, and the soldiers' opinions of its performance. An amazing amount of information presented in a way that also entertains and honors the men who served.

Hats off to Joe Springer....! He did the men of 5-2 and the FSSF an honor. My father was a Lieutenant in 5-2 FSSF and one of the main characters of the book, and Joe's Uncle was one of my father's NCO's who was KIA on Anzio. The personal accounts in the book may sound far fetched and exaggerated. However, this is far from the truth. The exploits of the men of the FSSF are a matter of record. Every man who served in the FSSF is a very unique individual. I got to know many of these gentlemen over the years by attending the annual FSSF reunions. And yes, what an honor and a privilege to just meet and speak with them about WWII and life in general. Every man in the FSSF willingly, and knowingly volunteered to join a unit where the odds of being accepted in the unit is less than 20%, and your chances for survival were even less. Thank You Joe for getting my father to open up regarding his experiences during WWII for your book. It also meant so much to him to honor the men in his command who were taken, that were not only soldiers/warriors, but true friends forever.

TAKE ABOUT FIFTY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN WORLD WAR TWO COMBAT VETERANS THAT WILLINGLY VOLUNTEER FOR A WINTER SUICIDE MISSION BEHIND GERMAN LINES. THEY ALL HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF EXPLOSIVES, THEY ARE SKIERS, PARATROOPERS, AND ARE EXPERT SHOOTERS. THEY BECOME THE BEST TRAINED AND HIGHLY MOTIVATED AND FIERCEST SOLDIERS THAT THERE GENERATION AND NATIONS PRODUCED. SEND THEM TO CENTRAL ITALY, ANZIOBEACH, AND SOUTHERN FRANCE WHERE THEY SLAUGHTER FIFTEEN TO TWENTY THOUSAND GERMANS. MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS PASS BY AND THEN THESE SAME FIFTY COMMANDOS INVITE YOU INTO THERE HOMES AND TELL YOU ABOUT THE FUNNY, SAD, AND ASTOUNDING THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO THEM IN COMBAT. THAT IS WHAT THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT.

The book describes combat in the Italian theater, one of the deadliest and fiercest theaters in the entire war. The author, in writing an oral history in the words of those who fought the battles, captures the energy, horror and kinetic energy of heavy, sustained combat. This is a story that moved me deeply. It is violent, gory and true. This book is well written, concise, to the point and informative, and obviously written with love and affection for the troops in the Force. This is a great book and I enjoyed reading about a real life battle from first hand accounts. While reading this book you get to know about what really happen, the lives, and the men who fought so bravely. They should give this book to kids to read at high school so they fully understand the perils that these men faced on the war field in world war two. It opened my eyes to a lot of different things about war.

The book describes combat in the Italian theater, one of the deadliest and fiercest theaters in the entire war. The author, in writing an oral history in the words of those who fought the battles, captures the energy, horror and kinetic energy of heavy, sustained combat. This is a story that moved me deeply. It is violent, gory and true. It's well written, concise, to the point and informative, and obviously written with love and affection for the troops in the Force. This is a great book and I enjoyed reading about a real life battle from first hand accounts. While reading this book you get to know about what really happened, the lives, and the men who fought so bravely. They should give this book to kids to read at high school so they fully understand the perils that these men faced on the war field in world war two. It opened my eyes to a lot of different things about war.

BLACK DEVIL BRIGADE IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF SMALL UNIT ACTION IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR. JOSEPH SPRINGER GIVES US A GRIPPING, CRAFTSMANLIKE JOB OF PIERCING TOGETHER THE INCREDIBLE EXPLOITS OF THE MEN OF THE 1ST SPEICAL SERVICE FORCE INTO A COLLECTIVE ORAL HISTORY. RECRUITED FROM US AND CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS FOR A SUICIDE MISSION BEHIND THE ENEMY LINES IN NORWAY, THE BOOK COVERS THE UNITS 1942 CONCEPTION TO THEIR 1944 DISBANDMENT IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. THE FORCE WERE THE ELITE OF THE ALLIED FORCED DESPITE THEIR CONTINUED ANONYMITY. TASKED FOR IMPOSSIBLE SPECIAL FORCE MISSIONS, SUCH AS THE NIGHT ASSAULT ON A HUGE MOUNTAIN TOP IN ITALY (ALA THE MOVIE 'THE DEVILS BRIGADE'), THEY STRUCK SHEER TERROR INTO THE VERY HEART OF THEIR ENEMIES, KILLING WELL OVER 12,000 GERMANS, AND ACHIEVING INCREDIBLE RESULTS IN ITALY AND SOUTHERN FRANCE WITH AN EQUALLY INCREDIBLE 600% LOSS RATE. HUMOR, FEAR, HUNGER, COLD, HEAT, AND THE GRATUITOUS HORRORS OF COMBAT ARE RECORDED ON EVERY PAGE. THE FORCEMEN VEIW COMBAT (AND DEATH) IN A VERY UNCOMPLICATED, ABRUPT, AND VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD MANNER. THEIR UNUSUAL ATTITUE IS QUITE PREVELANT FROM COVER TO COVER. THE FORCEMEN SEEM OVERTLY MODEST AT TIMES, ALMOST AS IF THEIR EXTRAORDINARY CAPABILITES WERE THE DAY TO DAY NORM FOR OTHER COMBAT UNITS. THE BLACK DEVIL BRIGADE CAPTURES THE BROTHERHOOD AND HUMAN SPIRIT IN THE ACT OF BRUTAL COMBAT. AND SADLY, YOU WILL LEARN THE PERSONAL AND MOVING DETAILS OF THEIR HORRNEDOUS LOSSES. ULTIMATELY, SPRINGER'S BLACK DEVIL BRIGADE COMES ACROSS AS A REMARKABLE RECORD OF SMALL UNIT ACTION IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The "Black Devil Brigade" is an outstanding, informative, and easy to read literary work. Mr. Springer has an ability to make you feel as if you know the men in his book. It is obvious he has done an enormous amount of research; and this is conveyed to the reader without confusion. It is very interesting how it is presented from first hand accounts, and also how many of those accounts from different men build together to reveal the complete story. Highly recommended!!!

The Black Devil Brigade is a personal story of the First Special Service Force in World War II. This brigade consist of US and Canadian commandos fighting in Italy. At first I was not overly impressed with this book. The grainy photos and primitive maps are substandard. Moreover, I encountered errors in the manuscript due to little or no professional editing. More importantly, and in light of historical research, there is the lack of a table of contents. Despite these shortfalls, and problems notwithstanding, the extraordinary personal recollections recorded in this hardback makes it one of the finest overall personal and oral narratives I have ever had the pleasure to read. I recommend this book to all serious students of history, or any reader in search of an extraordinary story of warfare.

I found Joe's book very enjoyable to read. Once I got started reading, I found it hard to put the book down. I like reading what exactly happened without any writer's spin put on to the story. As you read you can imagine it happening just like that. War is a cruel and destructive part of our history and it should not be sugar coated and in Joe's book it is not. A lot of people enjoy reading true history and that is what this book represents. I think it is great that he has shared these men's story with us. We should be greatful to all the men and women who fought and died in WWII. We should, also, charish every moment with veterans that we have because we are losing history everyday. They have fought in some of the greatest battles in our country's history and I am glad that Joe has capture one particular group in his book. I recommend reading this book to anyone who is a teacher, history buff, or PROUD AMERICAN!