the black devils of anzio
Appearing above is the shoulder flash that members of the Devil's Brigade wore. The Devil's Brigade, aka Freddy's Freighters, aka The First Special Service Force (1SSF), was a brigade made up of Americans and Canadians during the Second World War. Originally conceived for a top secret invasion into Norway, the Force was instead sent to Italy where they earned the nickname "The Black Devils" from the Germans. These guys were no joke. The Americans were mostly convicts and the Canadians were the handpicked best of the "best trained army on earth." Together these guys formed the most brutal, ferocious, murderous, killing force ever assembled. I've been a long time fan of the movie and have just read the book. The Germans hated being put up against these guys because they knew they'd be shown no mercy.
The Force was the brainchild of a man named Geoffrey Pyke. I'm trying to cut out the swearing on this site but there's only one way to describe him: batshit insane. Here he is:
He had tons of other ideas that he was always bothering London with like the disposable ice boat. He claimed he could make ice harder than steel and that a battleship could be made out of it. Whatever. Then he came up with the idea of the Weasel. It was like Rambo's snowmobile but with more guns. Then he decided that a force of Americans and Canadians should be assembled for a suicide mission into Norway using the Weasel. The plan was to blow up as much stuff as humanly possible. That was the plan. Anyway, Lord Mountbatten thought this guy was a flat out genius and listened to whatever he said. So he made sure Pyke got what he needed to get this thing off the ground including the support of Churchill himself. Well the Canadians were all for it but the Americans thought this was the craziest idea they had ever heard. Here they were trying to win the war and here's Churchill on about snow machines and ice boats and invading Norway instead of France.
The Pentagon had a letter writing department whose job it was was to tell civilians who had crazy ideas about how to win the war, that they should just get back into their armchairs and let the Army figure this one out. The top guy in that department was named Col. Frederick.
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His superior told him to write a letter to Churchill telling him that the whole Weasel idea was a waste of time and money and to forget it. Frederick researched everything he could about the Force and "Project Plough" and wrote the best damned letter of his life explaining every little reason why it couldn't work. Then he gave it to Eisenhower who sent it back with a note of his own asking who told him to write that letter and didn't he know that Churchill himself was behind this? There was no way they could brush off Pyke, Mountbatten, and Churchill that easily! So Frederick said "Whatever" and went back to work writing letters. Well, to make a long story short, when it came time for Mountbatten to give command of the the Force to someone, he thought why not give it to the guy who knows the most about it? So Frederick got the job. Frederick thought he'd make the best of it and made them train like no unit had ever trained before. They learned hand-to-hand combat, demolition techniques, mountain fighting, and Arctic fighting. At the end of it all, Frederick had created the world's first elite fighting force.
Well, these guys were primed and ready to fight but at the last minute Churchill woke up and said "What am I doing? Snow machines? Norway? Battleships made out of ice? No, no, no. Cancel all that stuff. We're going to France." So the Force had nothing to do except invade Alaska. They got there but all the Japs had gone because it was Alaska and no one cared. Finally, some general in Italy needed more troops for the "meat grinder" and was looking for anyone who would come. The Force couldn't wait to get there and start cleaning house.
When they got there they were given a mission that the entire Fifth Army couldn't seem to accomplish: take Mount Difensa. Difensa was occupied by the Germans with a bunch of 88s. It rose over an important road so taking this mountain meant that the allies could get their supplies through and continue the push. But Difensa had held them up for three weeks. Rather than do what everyone else had tried and go up the front of the mountain, Frederick decided they would simply climb the sheer cliff in back because the Germans would never expect it. Now I thought this scene in the movie was just added for color but then I saw this:
This is a Forceman loading up with supplies so that he can climb a rope straight up a sheer rock face 1000 feet high. So the plan was that the entire Brigade would load themselves up, climb the ropes in three hours, then kill every German in sight. I don't know about you, but if I just put that pack on I wouldn't be able to jump a foot let alone climb 1000 feet and then be expected to engage the enemy. And this was a climb that was only attempted by two people before; one died trying and the other had to be rescued. But the Force were different and thought nothing of it. Anyway, the Force got to the top lickety-split and did in three hours what Fifth had tried for three weeks: they took Difensa. A German captain was captured at the top of the mountain and said "You can't be here! It is impossible to come up those rocks!" Shut up Kraut, you don't know the 1SSF. Anyway, after that, everyone--especially the Germans--knew about the Black Devils and they were given all the toughest jobs. Their final casualty figures ended up something like 1200 percent but they never gave up an inch of ground. EVER!
To the Devil!